Nothing Is Sacred : Economic Ideas for the New Millennium

by Robert J. Barro

• ISBN13: 9780262524155
• ISBN10: 0262524155
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Since the 1970s, Robert Barro's academic research has significantly influenced macroeconomic theory. For more than a decade, his writing has also enlivened the pages of publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Business Week. In Nothing Is Sacred, Barro applies his well-honed free market arguments to a remarkably diverse range of issues. These include global problems such as growth and debt, as well as social issues such as the predictive value of SAT scores, drug legalization, the economics of beauty, and the relationship between abortion rights and crime reduction. The book opens with a series of essays on famous economists, past and present, and other prominent figures whose work has economic implications, including Joe DiMaggio and Bono. In the book's second part, Barro discusses the economics of social issues. In the third part, he considers democracy, growth, and international policy, and in the final part he examines fiscal policy, monetary policy, and the macroeconomy. Throughout, he shows that even the most widely held beliefs are not sacred truths but are open to analysis.

Author Biography

Robert J. Barro is Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Thoughts on Friends and Other Noteworthy Persons	p. 1
Milton Friedman and His Memoirs	p. 1
Adam Smith, Including Thoughts on Ken Galbraith and David Ricardo	p. 6
George Stigler and the Chicago School of Economics	p. 12
Gary Becker, the Great Economic Imperialist	p. 17
Robert Mundell, the Father of International Macroeconomics	p. 22
Bob Lucas and Rational Expectations	p. 26
Larry Summers, the Economist as Treasury Secretary and Harvard President	p. 32
Bono, the Rock Star as Amateur Economist	p. 36
Domingo Cavallo--The Second Coming of the Argentine Savior?	p. 44
Al Gore in the Balance	p. 53
George W. Bush and Compassionate Conservatism	p. 58
Joe DiMaggio	p. 62
Economics of Social Issues	p. 67
The Economics of Beauty	p. 67
Abortion and Crime	p. 73
Colombia and U.S. Drug Policy	p. 77
SAT Scores and Meritocracy in Higher Education	p. 81
Napster, Prozac, and Intellectual Property Rights	p. 84
Microsoft and Antitrust Policy	p. 88
Personal Accounts for Social Security: Not a Free Lunch	p. 91
Economic Growth, Democracy, and Things International	p. 95
Eastern Germany--A Lesson in Welfare Dependency	p. 95
Inequality and Economic Growth	p. 101
Democracy in the New Congo?	p. 104
Chile's Presidential Election	p. 108
Mexico's New Democracy	p. 111
Dollarization in Russia?	p. 114
Yankee Imperialism in Asia	p. 118
Dollarization and the Grand Ecuadorean Experiment	p. 122
My Brief Tenure at the World Economic Forum	p. 126
What to Do with the International Monetary Fund?	p. 129
Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, and the Macroeconomy	p. 133
Budgets and Tax Cuts	p. 133
September 11 and the War on Terror--What Does It Mean for the Economy?	p. 137
Fiscal Profligacy at the American Economic Association	p. 144
It's the Economy--Economic Evaluations of the U.S. Presidents	p. 147
Serious and Nonserious Fiscal Reforms	p. 150
Mr. Greenspan and U.S. Monetary Policy	p. 154
And the Winner of the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election Was ...	p. 158
Oil--The Good Guys and the Bad Guys	p. 161
Exuberance and Pessimism in the U.S. Stock Market	p. 165
Index	p. 171
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