Good thread that is more optimistic than I am. I think the point that Europe needs to be economically relevant is key, and a self-interested US would have little interest in cutting it off. Where we disagree, I think, is in how much capacity the US has for self-harm.
@themetresgained Thanks for the piece. I don’t think a useful level of financial literacy is teachable in a school setting. Better to push defaults and habits like, eg, The Barefoot Investor-type rules of thumb.
@Mark_Graph I find it odd that the youngest three cohorts fell by close to the same %s (both absolutely and relatively) from 2005, which was the same as 2000 (which was unambiguously pre-housing boom) to 2015. Even those 45s in 2015 (youngest of that cohort) were 35 in 2005. Yet so affected?
@MattGLilley@mumbletwits@themetresgained And of course, even taxing real gains creates biases in favour of spending over saving. If anything, income spent is treated ‘concessionally’ relative to income saved.
Save for retirement: assets accumulate and middle income people have wealth. Move to pay as you go, don't count future benefits as "wealth." Suddenly the same people seem bereft. Zucman et. al. measured wealth inequality jumps, though nothing changes. Great point.
Most unusual career change in my book @isabelleboemeke:
Brazilian fashion model asks experts how to fight climate change. They tell her nuclear power is vital but politically toxic. So she becomes the world's first nuclear influencer. Makes nuclear cool again.
@s8mb@bswud I haven’t yet read the piece but I don’t think that’s quite right. Even if the initial cause of a recession is real, the depth and length is typically explained by monetary factors: with a non-fiat currency, real shocks lower velocity, reducing NGDP > RGDP.