National output gaps matter

A Reuters market analyst (John Kemp) has created a stir by effectively declaring that the global economy is governed by some global NAIRU – a non-accelerating rate inflation rate of unemployment – such that the advanced economies cannot reduce their unemployment rates by expansionary fiscal policy and major structural reforms are needed. In a recent article – Mind the global output gap – he argues that “(e)scalating food and fuel prices are a sign the global economy is approaching full resource utilisation and the limits of sustainable output”. He claims that the “high unemployment and idle factories” in the advanced economies are not a sign of a “cyclical lack of demand’ but rather reflect “structural shifts”. From a policy perspective this is natural rate theory on a global scale and effectively denies that sovereign governments can influence domestic demand and real output (within their own policy boundaries) through aggregate demand management. This is the ultimate neo-liberal denial of the effectiveness of fiscal policy. It doesn’t stand scrutiny as you might expect.

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Polly wants a cracker

If you watch the 1937 cartoon – I Wanna Be a Sailor – it doesn’t take much imagination to think of the first two young parrots on the perch who are being taught their “skills” by a somewhat vexed mother parrot to be mainstream economists and the financial commentators who parrot these economists. Repeat after me: Polly wants a cracker – the Budget deficit is on an unsustainable trajectory – Polly wants a cracker – there is a mountain of public debt that threatens America’s future – Polly wants a cracker. If only these economists would take the lead of the third little parrot being coached by his mother. When he is exhorted to recite the mindless mantra that is expected of him he says “I don’t want a cracker see, I wanna be a sailor like my pop … see” … we need more commentators who will ask the right questions – challenge the politicians and their lackeys to explain what they mean rather than talk as if it is too complex for us to comprehend. It is not complex at all – spending equals income – if the private sector goes on holiday the public sector better be around town. If the private sector stays on holidays – the public deficit will persist. Otherwise – recession occurs and unemployment increases. The problem is that the mainstream commentators and the economists that provide them with the copy haven’t got off the perch yet and recite the same mindless stuff day-in, day-out. Polly wants a cracker.

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You cannot have more jobs by cutting spending

Its all weather today with severe winter storms giving grief to people (and some friends) in the US at present. Closer to home Northern Queensland, fresh from being flooded, will be hit later tonight by Tropical Cyclone Yasi which is now classified as a Category 5 and will have winds up to 300 kms per hour. My friends up in Townsville are staying calm though. Down here in Newcastle it has been around 40 degrees Celsius for the third day now with no real change coming. So weather extremes – and yes I think they are becoming more pronounced but I am an economist so that is just my uninformed (non climate change sceptic) opinion. But today I am writing about a speech the Australian Prime Minister gave to CEDA yesterday (February 1, 2011) that exposed her lack of understanding of how the macroeconomy works. The problem is that I suspect no-one else in the room who listened would have thought that her message was fundamentally inconsistent. The lesson is that cannot have more jobs by cutting spending despite what the Prime Minister thinks.

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Deterministic fiscal rules undermine public responsibility

Yesterday I was listening to the ABC Radio National program – Counterpoint – which interviewed author David Freedman about his 2007 co-authored book A Perfect Mess. I was very interested in this book when it was published. It is about the value of mess and the costs that organisational freaks impose on us. In the case of fiscal policy – the essence of good macroeconomic management is to allow policy settings to be responsive when needed. Why? To ensure that government action supports aggregate demand and is consistent with private sector saving desires. The control freaks want to impose “organisation” on governments by legislating debt brakes and this type of organisation amounts to a fundamental denial of the need for fiscal policy to be reactive and flexible. That is, of-course, no surprise given that deterministic fiscal rules are proposed by ideologues that are fundamentally opposed to public intervention in the first place. Deterministic fiscal rules in fact undermine public responsibility.

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Please note: there is no sovereign debt risk in Japan!

Sometimes you read an article that clearly has a pretext but then tries to cover that pretext in some (not) smart way to make the prejudice seem reasonable. That is the impression I had when I read this Bloomberg opinion piece by William Pesek (January 31, 2011) – Pinnacle Envy Signals New Bubble Is Inflating – which I was expecting to be about real estate bubbles but which, in fact, turned out to be an erroneous blather about Japanese debt risk. Please note: there is no sovereign debt risk in Japan!

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Saturday Quiz – January 29, 2011 – answers and discussion

Here are the answers with discussion for yesterday’s quiz. The information provided should help you work out why you missed a question or three! If you haven’t already done the Quiz from yesterday then have a go at it before you read the answers. I hope this helps you develop an understanding of modern monetary theory (MMT) and its application to macroeconomic thinking. Comments as usual welcome, especially if I have made an error.

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Oh for a decent public employment service!

I am away today with a full day of commitments from an early flight to the late evening. So I called up Victor and to see if he would write another blog which I know are of great interest. Today he is writing about some of the early manifestations of the neo-liberal onslaught on sound government services – in this case our former public employment service which was abolished and the services privatised. This is one of the examples in which the neo-liberals have not only converted unemployment from being a target of policy (to keep it low) into a tool of policy (to discipline inflation) but it also is one aspect of what I call the “unemployment industry” which sprung up to deal with entrenched joblessness that deficient approach to macroeconomic policy generated. It was amazing how the outsourcing and privatising of government services created a bevy of private profit-seekers who sought the booty on offer. In 2001 the OECD held out our privatised labour services as the exemplar of its Jobs Study agenda. What they were extolling was a corrupt, inefficient and ineffective system of shuffling the unemployed between various (mostly) meaningless training programs and work-for-the-dole compliance placements. But then the OECD has hardly had high standards so we shouldn’t have been surprised about that. Anyway, enough from me – the plane is ready … over to Victor.

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The madness along the Atlantic crosses the Pacific

Today the Australian government demonstrated how poor their grasp of macroeconomics is and how badly they are managing our economy. In response to the very destructive floods that have ravaged the most populated states on the east coast (Queensland, NSW and Victoria) and wiped out billions in income-generating assets and businesses, they decided to increase taxes to “pay” for the reconstruction relief. This is at at time when the economy is slowing, inflation is moderating and the banks cannot get enough treasury debt to satisfy their prudential requirements. Further, it is at a time when there are 12.5 per cent of willing labour resources lying idle and long-term unemployment is rising. I noted in yesterday’s blog – Its grim on both sides of the Atlantic – that things are really bleak in the UK (now contracting again courtesy of its government policies) and in the US (about to contract courtesy of its government’s mismanagement). In both cases, the malaise is being caused by a dysfunctional ideology being imposed by policy makers onto very fragile economies. Well it seems that the madness along the coastlines of the Atlantic has crossed the Pacific. The imposition of a flood levy is a nonsensical and destructive policy act.

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Its grim on both sides of the Atlantic

I have been sick today which is rare and have had trouble remaining vertical for very long. So the blog is a little shorter than usual. Just as well the subject matter might have disrupted my recovery. I note the UK economy is being deliberately sabotaged by its elected representatives which seems to conjure up a very weird construction of what we elect governments for. And in that context, the deficit terrorists are ramping up their calls for major fiscal retrenchment in the US. I thought Americans could read English – maybe they missed the British Office of National Statistics National Accounts release – it is pretty obvious – real GDP growth now negative again courtesy of a negative contribution from government in the December quarter. And the terrorists seem to want the same for the US. Its grim on both sides of the Atlantic.

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