Summary: Noah Smith discusses various economic ideas, including a proposal to reform corporate taxation to boost investment and exports. He also addresses the stagnation in construction productivity due to land-use restrictions and the fragmentation of the construction industry. Lastly, he highlights the need for better-targeted Medicare pricing reforms to balance cost savings with the potential impact on innovation.
a DBCFT is mathematically equivalent to two other policies: a value-added tax (VAT) plus a wage subsidy. (View Highlight)
if we’re looking for ways to increase construction productivity, harmonizing regulations across regions is probably more promising than simply approving more megaprojects. (View Highlight)
So it’s possible that a lot of what looks like “irrationality” is just human beings being unable to deal with complex calculations. That doesn’t kill the idea of behavioral economics — it just means we need different theories about why people don’t act like homo economicus. (View Highlight)