Gary Burtless

Economist with Brookings Institution, affiliate of U. of Wisc. Poverty Institute and Retirement Research Ctr. at Boston College.

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

A truly lovely profile of one of the most insightful, thoughtful, and kind economists in the world: @davidautor.
https://t.co/7JjGwOkyI7

[NBER @nberpubs]

Wage insurance, which subsidizes trade-displaced workers reemployed at a lower wage, shortens unemployment durations, increases long-term earnings, and is self-financing, from @ReviseNRetweet, Brian K. Kovak, and Adam Leive https://t.co/d1waq4H1AU

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

This merely shows that anti-war activism took a long time to achieve its goal, which was to end the war. Would US commitment to the So. Vietnamese have ended *without* all the anti-war activism? Excuse me for my deep skepticism.

[Reuben Rodriguez @ReubenR80027912]

@GBurtless The draft ended December 28, 1972. A full four years after antiwar protests crested

The war itself ended in 1975. A full decade after anti war protests began in earnest

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

The last claim seems very improbable, since … checks notes … the Nixon Admin. *did* end the draft and the Congress & Ford Admin. *did* ultimately stop funding the war & *did* allow So. Vietnam to collapse.

What am I missing?

[Reuben Rodriguez @ReubenR80027912]

@mattyglesias If protests in the mid-late 60s were not about the war but rather mainstreaming a type of anti-statis, anti-western hegemony, amorphously leftist viewpoint

…then they succeeded wildly

If the protests were against the draft or ending the war they failed pretty miserably

[Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait]

Krugman is right about the economy and the people are wrong https://t.co/zOHjlbqyPd

[Oliver Kim @oliverwkim]

Happy birthday to Albert Hirschman, who would be 109 today.

Hirschman—anti-fascist, resistance hero, later a development economist—may be the most interesting person to ever take up the profession.

🧵 and blog post on his remarkable life and work.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

I’m mystified. Why is it bad or some kind of danger when experts and nonexperts are reminded of the limits of our current knowledge? More precisely, it is worthwhile to be reminded that even well-intentioned and highly informed experts make erroneous predictions.

[City Journal @CityJournal]

.@AllisonSchrager: "The Fed should stop publishing the dot plot, which proves only that the economy is unpredictable while shattering the illusion that the Fed knows something that the rest of us don’t." https://t.co/w2jtu4aaRe

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

Wait: I thought Nixon needed a pardon to preclude the possibility he’d be charged for his biggest known infractions … the cover-up of the Watergate crimes.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

By "failing" do you mean "failing to find a significant effect of the tested treatment"? If so, I think we differ on the goal and scientific rationale for a randomized controlled trial.

[Jeff Mosenkis @mosenkis]

RCTs keep failing, so they're obviously not the strongest methodology

[Lawrence Katz @lkatz42]

Bob Solow was a true intellectual giant with pathbreaking work on growth, macro fluctuations, and wage setting. He was generous, incisive, and insightful and taught me both micro and macro theory at MIT. I never stopped learning from him. May his memory be a blessing.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

Note: Primary schooling became mandatory in Massachusetts in 1852; in New York State in 1853. By 1918, elementary schooling was compulsory in all 48 states.

It seems doubtful Biden had anything to do with it.

[Detroit News Pitchbot @detnewspitchbot]

@mattyglesias Back when kids could earn their keep in the mines. In Biden’s America, we are forced to send kids to “schools” which doesn’t pay anything.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

… though that is hardly the case in 2023 USA. (You can look it up in plenty of credible household surveys.)

[Alex Goodwin @AlexM2233]

@JustinWolfers The economy could be good and products and services unaffordable to most people at the same time.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and F.D. Roosevelt were all clearly better and more consequential than Biden IMHO.

To be sure, it's early innings. Biden is blindingly superior to Trump and W. But better than Obama? Explain, please.

[Magdi Jacobs @magi_jay]

If you are left of center, Joe Biden is the best President on foreign policy this country has ever had and it's not even close

[Jim Tankersley @jimtankersley]

W/ Biden and Trump both courting auto workers in MI today, a quick refresher on auto industry jobs created/month under recent presidents.

*Clinton: 1,800
*Bush: -5,800
*Obama: 2,800
*Trump (pre-Covid): 600
*Trump (total): -200
*Biden: 4,000

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Would up cutting this for length but it surprised me that LA didn't do better on the best-food-in-US lists.

[Irwin Collier @irwincollier]

A great thread.

[Gary Burtless @GBurtless]

Though, to be sure, former US President John Tyler sided with the Confederacy, which sought by violence to break up the United States.

[David Frum @davidfrum]

45 men have served as president. Some great leaders, others mediocre. Only one sought by violence to overthrow the Constitution. That one now stands multiply indicted for his crimes. Some flinch from this truth. Others deny it. It's a lot to face. But anything else is a lie.

[Brookings Econ @BrookingsEcon]

My bottom line for inviting you to be dedicated to the economics profession like I have, it's extremely rewarding, and we need you.

Look at the world we live in, it needs a lot of support from people who have a great empathy for humans, said @MaryDalyEcon.

[Harold Pollack @haroldpollack]

There's nothing substantive to admire about Senator Tuberville. But the real problem here isn't him. It's an ossified legislative body in which one eccentric member can blockade hundreds of needed government appointments. https://t.co/t28JNKR855

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

Finished Of Boys and Men by @RichardvReeves. Just excellent and so necessary. Covers some of the themes I wrote about in my book.

1/ The bottom line: the left is missing the crisis happening w men today and we need to talk about it openly and without fear.