Conservative Economist Endorses Obama???

[David G]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/bu...3&ref=business

Well... not explicitly. It's an interesting article overall, and toward the end he says --

Whether competition among governments is good or bad comes down to the philosophical questions of what you want government to do and how much you fear government power. If the government’s job is merely to provide services, like roads, schools and courts, competition among governmental producers may be as good a discipline as competition among private producers. But if government’s job is also to remedy many of life’s inequities, you may want a stronger centralized government, unchecked by competition.


These are two fundamentally different visions. The next election, and to some degree every election, is about which one voters find more compelling.

Maybe Mankiw is not intending to endorse Obama. But - since it has long been acknowledged by all but the most parsimonious of Libertarians that part of government's role is, indeed, to remedy some of life's inequities - and any polling you can dig up will likely confirm that... maybe what he is actually doing is offering a forecast of Obama's re-election.

[JBreeze]

Did you note Mankiw's comments about corporate taxes? More tax cuts........

... As of April 1, when Japan cut its tax rate, the United States was left with the world’s highest statutory corporate tax rate. This is one reason corporate tax reform is now high on the policy agenda. President Obama has proposed cutting the rate to 28 percent from its current 35 percent, while Mitt Romney — for whom I am an adviser — has proposed cutting it to 25 percent. While their proposals differ in some key details, it is noteworthy that they agree on the direction this rate should head....

Dean Baker had a couple of comments about gov't policy about redistributing income upward:

Greg Mankiw Hides the Role of Government in Redistributing Income Upward

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/...eat+the+Press)

My take is way too much emphasis is placed on NYT-type economist....here is an overall rebuttal from INET:

[seanz]

Do you think the Obama administration has engaged in "un-conservative" economics?