The Weekend Quiz – June 1-2, 2019

Welcome to The Weekend Quiz. The quiz tests whether you have been paying attention or not to the blog posts that I post. See how you go with the following questions. Your results are only known to you and no records are retained.

Quiz #532

  • 1. The private domestic sector can save overall even if the government fiscal balance is in surplus as long as net exports are positive.
    • False
    • True
  • 2. Central bankers are talking about the possible need for more quantitative easing (QE) as their economies start to slow down. By adding bank reserves, QE is similar to a net fiscal injection in this respect.
    • False
    • True
  • 3. While continuous national governments deficits are recommended if the non-government sector desires to save, they do imply continuously rising public debt levels as a percentage of GDP under current institutional arrangements.
    • False
    • True

Sorry, quiz 532 is now closed.

You can find the answers and discussion here

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Here is a somewhat off-topic question.

    There has been a big problem with special-interest money not just in buying politicians with campaign contributions, but, in buying off economic departments in universities and turning their research and teaching into propaganda. For example, much of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University is funded by the Koch brothers.

    I see an extra problem for universities with regards to the massive travel to conferences, etc., in which many professors engage. Because this extensive travel would be a substantial fraction of, and in some cases even exceed, the salaries of the professors, the conference organizers would have to at least pay for the travel of the professors who give papers, etc., at the conferences.

    This would be most problematic for “private events.” The Koch brothers, the Cato Institute, etc., could fund massive luxury getaway conferences that would end up being bribes for the invited professors.

    Could a way to combat this be to replace travel-to-in-person conferences with video conferences hosted through applications such as Skype?

  2. 3/3 – it must be because I read Prof Mitchell’s great textbook!!! Which I recommend wholeheartedly.

    Gregory Long – that is interesting about the Mercatus Centre. I sometimes listen to their podcasts in the spirit of “knowing your enemy”. One called Macro Musings has had quite a few discussions of MMT and is not all together dismissive- but never a Mosler or a Mitchell invited – but they want “nominal gdp targeting” which to my mind still rests on interest rates as the sole mechanism for stabilisation.

    I think if I were a macroeconomist wanting to be on the right side of history and worth inviting places in the future I’d be disassociating myself PDQ from outfits like Petersen and Cato. I’d be trying to make myself relevant.

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