Ed Dolan
@dolanecon.bsky.social
Economist, Senior Fellow at Niskanen Center. Political economy, social policy, environmental economics and more.
As @pkrugman.bsky.social explains, the GOP is shooting itself in the foot with its cutoff of SNAP funding. Just a glance at this map shows that SNAP cutoffs hit red counties (well, darker green on this map) harder than blue. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-hunger...
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 PM
As @pkrugman.bsky.social explains, the GOP is shooting itself in the foot with its cutoff of SNAP funding. Just a glance at this map shows that SNAP cutoffs hit red counties (well, darker green on this map) harder than blue. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-hunger...
1/2 Alarmed by the decrease in college enrollment? Most of the drop is in low-quality schools, says @prestoncooper93.bsky.social . Although humanities majors like me will be saddened by erosion of deeper learning in favor of career-boosting majors. prestoncooper93.substack.com/p/why-the-co...
September 23, 2025 at 12:18 PM
1/2 Alarmed by the decrease in college enrollment? Most of the drop is in low-quality schools, says @prestoncooper93.bsky.social . Although humanities majors like me will be saddened by erosion of deeper learning in favor of career-boosting majors. prestoncooper93.substack.com/p/why-the-co...
Forget about meaningless year-on-year inflation. What's important is what is happening now. August CPI inflation was 4.5 percent compounded annual rate -- and rising fast.
September 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Forget about meaningless year-on-year inflation. What's important is what is happening now. August CPI inflation was 4.5 percent compounded annual rate -- and rising fast.
1/2 To follow the rise of inflation, watch the annualized monthly rate, not the %change from a year ago.
July 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
1/2 To follow the rise of inflation, watch the annualized monthly rate, not the %change from a year ago.
Greg Ip, @wsj.com: "If governments could borrow as much as they wished and set interest rates by fiat, why don’t more do it? Because there is no free lunch. If interest rates are persistently too low, something bad will happen, usually inflation." www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
July 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Greg Ip, @wsj.com: "If governments could borrow as much as they wished and set interest rates by fiat, why don’t more do it? Because there is no free lunch. If interest rates are persistently too low, something bad will happen, usually inflation." www.wsj.com/economy/cent...
BLS reports the unemployment rate decreased but the labor force fell by 130k and the employment population ratio was unchanged. On balance, a mixed picture on strength of job market. www.bls.gov/news.release...
July 3, 2025 at 2:39 PM
BLS reports the unemployment rate decreased but the labor force fell by 130k and the employment population ratio was unchanged. On balance, a mixed picture on strength of job market. www.bls.gov/news.release...
3/3 Or a little of both? Here's my take: www.milkenreview.org/articles/the...
June 26, 2025 at 12:15 PM
3/3 Or a little of both? Here's my take: www.milkenreview.org/articles/the...
2/3 Or just learn to live with fewer people, like the Japanese? wapo.st/3Ggi5rO
June 26, 2025 at 12:15 PM
2/3 Or just learn to live with fewer people, like the Japanese? wapo.st/3Ggi5rO
Who is going to bring in the harvest? And MAGA's effects on rural America don't stop there. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-will-...
June 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Who is going to bring in the harvest? And MAGA's effects on rural America don't stop there. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-will-...
@paulkrugman discusses the bad job market for recent college grads open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
June 19, 2025 at 12:37 PM
@paulkrugman discusses the bad job market for recent college grads open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
2/2 Interestingly, Zwolinski's embrace of the Hayekian option stops short of dismissing the label "libertarian" altogether, as Hayek himself did in his famous "Why I Am Not a Conservative." www.cato.org/sites/cato.o...
June 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
2/2 Interestingly, Zwolinski's embrace of the Hayekian option stops short of dismissing the label "libertarian" altogether, as Hayek himself did in his famous "Why I Am Not a Conservative." www.cato.org/sites/cato.o...
Just the facts, ma'am: New CBO estimates show that Trump's tax bill would take $1,559 from the average family in the lowest income decile and give $12,044 to the average family in the top income decile. www.cbo.gov/system/files...
June 13, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Just the facts, ma'am: New CBO estimates show that Trump's tax bill would take $1,559 from the average family in the lowest income decile and give $12,044 to the average family in the top income decile. www.cbo.gov/system/files...
2/2 For more about tax cliffs and disincentive deserts in the US, see here: www.niskanencenter.org/work-disince...
June 8, 2025 at 1:02 PM
2/2 For more about tax cliffs and disincentive deserts in the US, see here: www.niskanencenter.org/work-disince...
1/2 Everyone who studies social policy knows about "benefit cliffs" that penalize certain people for earning more. But In the UK, apparently, they have cliffs that dwarf ours. on.ft.com/4kPLGaN
June 8, 2025 at 1:02 PM
1/2 Everyone who studies social policy knows about "benefit cliffs" that penalize certain people for earning more. But In the UK, apparently, they have cliffs that dwarf ours. on.ft.com/4kPLGaN
According to @dsquareddigest.bsky.social , infrastructure projects are hard not because of NIMBYs, but more because of the structure of the system we have for making sure NIMBYs can't stop those projects. A paradox, no? hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-nimbys...
May 8, 2025 at 7:33 PM
According to @dsquareddigest.bsky.social , infrastructure projects are hard not because of NIMBYs, but more because of the structure of the system we have for making sure NIMBYs can't stop those projects. A paradox, no? hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-nimbys...
Trump's rule-breaking is going far beyond what even the most pessimistic imagined. These data shows that rule-breaking populist rulers do not make their countries great -- far from it! tiny.cc/pya7001
May 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Trump's rule-breaking is going far beyond what even the most pessimistic imagined. These data shows that rule-breaking populist rulers do not make their countries great -- far from it! tiny.cc/pya7001
Worried about empty shelves at Walmart? You should be. Empty harbors = empty shelves.
April 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Worried about empty shelves at Walmart? You should be. Empty harbors = empty shelves.
2/2 Some in MAGA want to make a token gesture at recognizing this inequality by increasing income tax on millionaires. But the truly rich don't pay income taxes -- they live off untaxed capital gains. Even the MAGA populists are afraid to touch them. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
April 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
2/2 Some in MAGA want to make a token gesture at recognizing this inequality by increasing income tax on millionaires. But the truly rich don't pay income taxes -- they live off untaxed capital gains. Even the MAGA populists are afraid to touch them. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
@edwardluce.bsky.social : "The official position of the world’s oldest constitutional republic is that the courts should have no say in who its executive deports and on what grounds. Foreign travellers to the US should beware." on.ft.com/4cygfhv
April 15, 2025 at 12:45 PM
@edwardluce.bsky.social : "The official position of the world’s oldest constitutional republic is that the courts should have no say in who its executive deports and on what grounds. Foreign travellers to the US should beware." on.ft.com/4cygfhv
If "making stuff" is what we want, what is wrong with mining, construction, and farming? Total "making stuff" employment in US is stable, not falling! www.wsj.com/economy/us-m...
April 14, 2025 at 3:25 PM
If "making stuff" is what we want, what is wrong with mining, construction, and farming? Total "making stuff" employment in US is stable, not falling! www.wsj.com/economy/us-m...
In most years the US barely saves enough to cover investment needs, let alone gov budget deficits. We need the financial inflows that are the mirror image of trade deficits to fill the gap, and would need them even more for successful reindustrialization www.niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...
April 11, 2025 at 3:05 PM
In most years the US barely saves enough to cover investment needs, let alone gov budget deficits. We need the financial inflows that are the mirror image of trade deficits to fill the gap, and would need them even more for successful reindustrialization www.niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...
Trump wants an investment boom in the US, but: "Economists warn the world could face a growth-sapping investment crunch as companies sit on the sidelines until the trade-war fog clears." www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
April 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Trump wants an investment boom in the US, but: "Economists warn the world could face a growth-sapping investment crunch as companies sit on the sidelines until the trade-war fog clears." www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
"THE 2025 [V=Dem]REPORT unfortunately finds no signs of the third wave of autocratization cresting or even slowing down. No matter how we slice the data and look at it from different perspectives using different metrics, the overall trend of worsening, stands." www.v-dem.net
April 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"THE 2025 [V=Dem]REPORT unfortunately finds no signs of the third wave of autocratization cresting or even slowing down. No matter how we slice the data and look at it from different perspectives using different metrics, the overall trend of worsening, stands." www.v-dem.net
Former Fed vice chair Lael Brainard explains who is on track to gain and who will lose by Trump's package of tax and spending cuts.
wapo.st/4hSwO93
wapo.st/4hSwO93
April 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Former Fed vice chair Lael Brainard explains who is on track to gain and who will lose by Trump's package of tax and spending cuts.
wapo.st/4hSwO93
wapo.st/4hSwO93
The world we live in: "When a Big Law partnership is $2mn a year, people can have some principles because the fall isn’t so bad.” The calculation changes entirely, the person says, “when they are making $20mn a year”.
on.ft.com/43Au6lh
on.ft.com/43Au6lh
April 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
The world we live in: "When a Big Law partnership is $2mn a year, people can have some principles because the fall isn’t so bad.” The calculation changes entirely, the person says, “when they are making $20mn a year”.
on.ft.com/43Au6lh
on.ft.com/43Au6lh