Wrap Up for March 2021

Infrastructure costs are also affected by citizen voice.

The shift to electronic vehicles is likely to increase overall energy demand.

Part II of Scott Sumner's explanation of MMT.

Some changes in jail incarceration rates from 2005 to 2018.

"Inflation mongering is back."

Potential GDP is controversial, but important.

Adam Tooze doesn't care for Bitcoin, and explains why.

How much did the pandemic affect GDP in 2020?

John Cochrane provides some eye opening graphs: What happened to GDP per capita?

Europeans have gained some "rights to repair" in electrical goods.

Innovation is localized and temporary. And, South Korea leads in innovation rankings.

"Technological progress and TFP are not the same thing."

Perhaps the Trump era has been good for the Republican party.

"Market Power in Neoclassical Growth Models"

Frank Lloyd Wright helped his clientele build a "refuge in a troubled world".

Some long run trends in global connectedness.

One on one tutoring improves educational outcomes.

From the San Francisco Fed: "The Impact of COVID on Potential Output"

A proposal for a public-ownership rental option.

Less proactive police behavior also comes with fewer arrests and more homicides.

"government debt is not just a means of funding government. Treasuries are the rocket fuel of financial markets."

How could tensions between the Fed and the Treasury be addressed?

Might the pandemic lead to permanent changes in production systems?

"High minimum wages stimulate the accumulation of occupation-specific human capital at community colleges but discourage enrollment in academic programs offered by universities."

There's a link between social isolation and impaired cognitive function. On the other hand, some have benefited from the social distancing of at home work.

For John Stuart Mill, liberty was incompatible with systemic inequality.

New rental construction is high, but a growing percentage is intended for the high end of the market.

Noah Smith interviews Patrick Collison.

The media narrative for addiction to painkillers was overly simplistic, which in turn made it difficult to access painkillers for chronic pain.

The productivity of good deflation has at times been confused with the bad deflation of depression.

Is there a neglect of learning potential in early adolescence?

Emergency room visits are the main contributor to medical debt.

An interesting and thought provoking discussion between Ed Nelson and David Beckworth, re Milton Friedman's monetarist legacy.

Ryan Cooper makes "the case for trailer parks".

Kenneth Rogoff is concerned about "the dollar's fragile hegemony". 

Just the same, as David Beckworth notes, it's not easy for investors to walk away from U.S. debt.

It's time to address the bitter resentment of the heartland.