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Borrowing from One Pocket to Lend to the Other
Public pensions funds are the key budget challenge facing many state and local governments. Why? Because it’s been easy for officials to promise future pension benefits without setting aside enough...
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Gaming the Budget Window
Faced with continuing gridlock over a soup-to-nuts extenders bill, congressional leaders have gotten creative in their legislative strategy. Exhibit A is a stripped-down bill that passed the Senate by...
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House Prices: Demographics Giveth and Taketh Away
Over at the Bank for International Settlements, Elod Takats has a new working paper that examines how demographics may affect asset prices (ht Torsten Slok). As he notes, standard economic theories...
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How Should Tax Reform Treat Employee Stock and Options?
The tax treatment of employee stock and options raises a classic Goldilocks problem. We want to tax this compensation neither too much or too little. In a recent policy brief, I consider three...
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Talking Money, Inflation, Fiat, & Bitcoin
For your weekend listening pleasure (?): I visit the ReConsider podcast to chat money, inflation, fiat currencies, gold, Bitcoin, & Uncle Sam’s balance sheet. Starts at 4:59....
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Three Things You Should Know about the Buyback Furor
Record stock buybacks—driven in part by the corporate tax changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—have sparked a media and political furor. Unfortunately, they’ve also created a great deal of...
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Designing Carbon Dividends
Carbon dividends are the hottest idea in climate policy. A diverse mix of progressive and conservative voices are backing the idea of returning carbon tax revenues to households in the form of regular...
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Should Congress Use The Income Tax To Discourage Consumer Drug Ads?
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and a score of Democratic cosponsors want to use the tax code to discourage direct-to-consumer advertising by drug companies. Their bill, the End Taxpayer Subsidies for...
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Remembering My Dad, Donald Marron, 1934 – 2019
My dad died unexpectedly last Friday. He lived a remarkable, generous life. Obituaries in Bloomberg, NYT, and WSJ give a taste of his success in business, charity, and the arts. He was truly a...
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Brainteasers From My Dad
When my sister and I were little, our Dad would challenge us with riddles and word games. I mentioned three in my eulogy for Dad: 1. Imagine a two-volume dictionary sitting on a shelf. Each volume has...
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Economic Policy in the Time of COVID-19
COVID-19 poses a severe threat not only to public health but also to the overall US economy. The nation’s policy response should focus on four basic strategies. First, we should embrace those economic...
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If We Give Everybody Cash, Let’s Tax It
Giving people cash is a great way to soften COVID-19’s economic blow. But it’s sparked a classic debate. Should the federal government give money to everyone? Or target it to people with low incomes?...
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The Worst Jobs Day Ever
Driven by the COVID-19 shutdown, April marked the greatest job loss in American history. The unemployment rate skyrocketed to 14.7 percent, and employers cut 20.5 million jobs. Those figures are...
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A New Solution for Taxing Cryptocurrency Staking
Taxing digital assets poses many tax policy puzzles. So many, in fact, that the Senate Finance Committee recently asked for advice on how to do it. I have a new solution for one puzzle: how to tax the...
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