As a former member of President Obama’s economic team, I have a soft spot for the fiscal stimulus legislation he signed just a month after his inauguration. Christina Romer Read Quote
The stimulus legislation, technically known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was a mixture of tax cuts for families and businesses; increased transfer payments, like unemployment insurance; and increased direct government spending, like infrastructure investment. Christina Romer Read Quote
Recovery measures work better when they raise confidence – as Franklin D. Roosevelt understood. His fireside chats, and his inaugural address proclaiming he would fight the Great Depression with the same resolve he would muster against a foreign foe, were aimed at reassuring Americans. Christina Romer Read Quote
Recent research suggests that New Deal programs may actually have had their primary impact on the economy by influencing consumer and business expectations of future growth and inflation. Christina Romer Read Quote
A natural way that an economist approaches a problem is to say, here’s where I think the economy is going; this is what we need to deal with the problem. Christina Romer Read Quote
I think something that forces financial institutions to write down underwater mortgages, I think, would be a sensible thing to do. Christina Romer Read Quote
A successful argument for a government manufacturing policy has to go beyond the feeling that it’s better to produce ‘real things’ than services. American consumers value health care and haircuts as much as washing machines and hair dryers. Christina Romer Read Quote
In the four decades after World War II, manufacturing jobs paid more than other jobs for given skills. But that is much less true today. Increased international competition has forced American manufacturers to reduce costs. As a result, the pay premium for low-skilled workers in manufacturing is smaller than it once was. Christina Romer Read Quote
Thanks to former President George W. Bush – remember the compassionate conservative? – I have a good name for the fundamental principle that should guide the Democratic alternative: compassionate deficit reduction. Christina Romer Read Quote
Most arguments for instituting or raising a minimum wage are based on fairness and redistribution. Even if workers are getting a competitive wage, many of us are deeply disturbed that some hard-working families still have very little. Christina Romer Read Quote
