(The response to a recent Twitter string of mine, concerning a column on the New Deal by Noah Smith, mentioned below, suggests that many people would like to learn more about critical assessments of the New Deal by economists and economic historians. With their interest in mind,…
This question has gained new urgency as the federal government scrambles to bring emergency funding to millions of small businesses across the country under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP consists of forgivable loans that borrowers may use to cover employee payroll, rent, and utilities for…
Twelve years after the 2008 financial crisis, America’s housing finance system is once again under strain. The acute decline in economic activity that coronavirus fears and government-mandated lockdowns have caused is disrupting cash flows for millions of households and businesses. In just four weeks, 22 million people…
One year ago the U.S. economy was robust with unemployment at historically low levels and real incomes rising. No one would have predicted that a year later the economy would come to a halt and more than 20 million people would be applying for unemployment benefits. This…
One of the more controversial provisions of the CARES Act consists of the $454 billion it allows the U.S. Treasury to devote to "backstopping" (that is, to supplying partial funding for) the Federal Reserve's emergency lending. In a previous post, I argued that these Treasury backstops help…