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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   30070 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024

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I wish there were a book called "Things That 90% of Economists Agree On".

Consensus Among Economists 2020

Flexible and floating exchange rates offer an effective international monetary arrangement. (90 percent)

Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (95 percent)

If the federal budget is to be balanced, it should be done over the course of the business cycle rather than yearly. (93 percent)

Fiscal policy (e .g., tax cut and/or expenditure increase) has a significant stimulative impact on a less than fully employed economy. (94 percent)

Appropriately designed fiscal policy can increase the long-run rate of capital formation and economic growth. (90 percent)

The Earned Income Tax Credit program should be expanded. (90 percent)

Immigration generally has a net positive economic effect for the US economy. (97 percent)

Antitrust laws should be enforced vigorously. (93 percent)

Addressing biases in individuals and institutions can improve both equity and efficiency. (90 percent)

See also the surveys conducted by the University of Chicago's Clark Center for Global Markets. (The website seems to be a bit broken at the moment, possibly due to a recent domain-name change. Older surveys can be found using the Internet Archive.)

Capping annual rent increases by corporate landlords at 5 percent, as proposed by President Biden, would not make middle-income Americans substantially better off over the next ten years. (85 percent)

Capping annual rent increases at 5 percent, as proposed by President Biden, would substantially reduce the amount of available apartments for rent over the next ten years. (72 percent)

Capping annual rent increases at 5%, as proposed by President Biden, would not substantially reduce US income inequality over the next ten years. (79 percent)

Very nice, thank you sir!

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