4 ms·

Along the points you bring up, John Cochrane had a fantastic series about why wealth taxes are such a terribly economic inefficient mechanism to raise revenue a

Along the points you bring up, John Cochrane had a fantastic series about why wealth taxes are such a terribly economic inefficient mechanism to raise revenue and why virtually no economists support them. https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2020/01/wealth-and-taxes-overview.html https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2020/01/wealth-and-taxes-...

ruined 5y ago
virtually no economists in a particular school. if you take a more literal view and see federal taxation as destruction of money rather than a means of raising revenue, its applications become clearer.
throw0101a 5y ago
> […] and why virtually no economists support them. You mean besides Piketty, Stiglitz (Nobel), and Krugman (Nobel)? * https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/economists-stiglitz-and-piketty-us-needs-a-wealth-tax.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/economists-stiglitz-and-pike... * https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1088529094478872578 https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1088529094478872578 While I'm sure he's good in his specialty, it seems like Cochrane does not understand macroeconomics and how debt-financed government spending works: * http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/a-dark-age-of-macroeconomics-wonkish/ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/a-dark-age-of-ma... * http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/brad-delongs-foolishness/ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/brad-delongs-foo... Further, I'm curious to know if he did a survey of economists to substantiate his claim of "no economists". Besides the three prominent ones mentioned above, there seems to be ongoing research on the subject and so it is hardly a settled matter: * https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/09/05/estimating-the-economic-impact-of-a-wealth-tax/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/09/05/estimatin... * https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/the-liberal-economists-behind-the-wealth-tax-debate.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/the-liberal-e...
- dcolkitt 5y ago
  Only 7% of surveyed top economists disagreed with the statement that a wealth tax would be much more difficult to enforce than the existing tax code. https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/wealth-taxes/ https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/wealth-taxes/
  - throw0101a 5y ago
    > We invited our US panel to express their views on three separate issues related to the wealth tax: […] And how was the criteria for this panel chosen? What would a random sampling of, say, NBER affiliated scholars give? Given previous surveys from Chicago Booth were done, it seems that there's an ideological slant to those they ask for advice: * https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/ideology-and-economics/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/ideology-and-ec... Further, given how wrong the Chicago school has been on macroeconomics for the last few decades, I would question anything coming out of there. Fama and French for example have done good work on markets, but they are and were wrong on deficit spending and stimulus since 2009.
    - holograham 5y ago
      dont know anything about the economics panel/survey but citing Krugman on HN is pretty weak given his most infamous quote: "The Internet's effect on the economy is no greater than the fax machine's. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-krugman-internets-effect-economy/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-krugman-internets-eff...

ruined 5y ago

virtually no economists in a particular school. if you take a more literal view and see federal taxation as destruction of money rather than a means of raising revenue, its applications become clearer.

throw0101a 5y ago

> […] and why virtually no economists support them. You mean besides Piketty, Stiglitz (Nobel), and Krugman (Nobel)? * https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/economists-stiglitz-and-piketty-us-needs-a-wealth-tax.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/economists-stiglitz-and-pike... * https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1088529094478872578 https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1088529094478872578 While I'm sure he's good in his specialty, it seems like Cochrane does not understand macroeconomics and how debt-financed government spending works: * http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/a-dark-age-of-macroeconomics-wonkish/ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/a-dark-age-of-ma... * http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/brad-delongs-foolishness/ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/brad-delongs-foo... Further, I'm curious to know if he did a survey of economists to substantiate his claim of "no economists". Besides the three prominent ones mentioned above, there seems to be ongoing research on the subject and so it is hardly a settled matter: * https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/09/05/estimating-the-economic-impact-of-a-wealth-tax/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/09/05/estimatin... * https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/the-liberal-economists-behind-the-wealth-tax-debate.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/us/politics/the-liberal-e...

dcolkitt 5y ago
Only 7% of surveyed top economists disagreed with the statement that a wealth tax would be much more difficult to enforce than the existing tax code. https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/wealth-taxes/ https://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/wealth-taxes/
- throw0101a 5y ago
  > We invited our US panel to express their views on three separate issues related to the wealth tax: […] And how was the criteria for this panel chosen? What would a random sampling of, say, NBER affiliated scholars give? Given previous surveys from Chicago Booth were done, it seems that there's an ideological slant to those they ask for advice: * https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/ideology-and-economics/ https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/ideology-and-ec... Further, given how wrong the Chicago school has been on macroeconomics for the last few decades, I would question anything coming out of there. Fama and French for example have done good work on markets, but they are and were wrong on deficit spending and stimulus since 2009.
  - holograham 5y ago
    dont know anything about the economics panel/survey but citing Krugman on HN is pretty weak given his most infamous quote: "The Internet's effect on the economy is no greater than the fax machine's. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-krugman-internets-effect-economy/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paul-krugman-internets-eff...