On October 14, Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen, and Robert J. Shiller were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. Fama and Shiller are leading proponents of opposing views about the rationality of financial markets. Justin Wolfers...
After months of debate over a potential taper, Chairman Bernanke announced that the Fed will hold off tightening the quantitative easing policies enacted after the Great Recession.A Washington Times article quoted Ford School economist Justin...
Justin Wolfers wrote an opinion article for Bloomberg about the U.S. Department of Labor's release of bad statistics. In the article, "Labor Department's Bumbling Bureaucrats Can't Count," Wolfers explains that bad data can not only be misleading,...
A recent New York Times article, "U.S. Cuts Take Increasing Toll on Job Growth," explores the sequester's dampening effect on the economy through emergency furloughs, hiring freezes, bid delays, contract cancellations, and more.While the sequester...
The current inflation rate is at half of its 2 percent target, Reuters reports, which is a "major test" for the Federal Reserve. The article also reports that the inflation rate is likely to remain short of target for several years.Since the...
Justin Wolfers was quoted in a New York Times article, "College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession," which discusses data from a recent U.S. Department of Labor report.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the overall...
According to the Easterlin Paradox, posited by Richard Easterlin in 1974, greater average well being does not correlate with higher average income, that is, more money doesn't necessarily make one happier. Indeed, some version of the credo "money...
Reuters quoted Justin Wolfers in an article about a new Brookings Institution report about rising income inequality. The report, entitled "Rising Inequality: Transitory or Permanent?" looked at incomes in the U.S. between 1987 and 2009. It found...
NPR's Morning Edition interviewed Justin Wolfers in a segment about happiness in America and whether the U.S. should add such a measurement to its list of national statistics like GDP and unemployment.How to ask people about happiness remains a key...
Justin Wolfers was quoted in a New York Times article about efforts by the Federal Reserve Board to reduce unemployment and increase U.S. economic growth. While some economists have argued that the Fed has done all it can to improve the economy,...
Justin Wolfers spoke with National Public Radio's Morning Edition about requiring gun owners to hold liability insurance in order to help keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who may use them irresponsibly. By requiring gun owners to...
In a recent Los Angeles Times article Justin Wolfers commented on fears of a new recession following news that the U.S. economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012. Total economic output shrank by 0.1% in the last three months of 2012, causing...
Justin Wolfers was quoted in a segment on American Public Media's Marketplace about Federal Reserve Board deliberations in the run-up to the Great Recession. The Fed recently released transcripts for its 2007 meetings that show substantial...
Justin Wolfers was quoted in a Today.com article looking at growing public concern surrounding national debt and political dysfunction in America. The article points to a January Gallop poll in which 20 percent of respondents said they view the...
The so-called fiscal cliff has dominated economic news lately, but economist Justin Wolfers spoke with Jacki Lyden of NPR's All Things Considered on non-cliff economic news stories of 2012. According to Wolfers, professor of economics and public...
In their Bloomberg View column, Ford School economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers examine the findings of a recent study showing that high achievers from low-income families rarely apply to top colleges. "The real crisis in American...
American Public Media's Marketplace spoke with Justin Wolfers for the program's holiday edition of the Freakonomics podcast. In a playful segment about gift-giving, Marketplace asked Wolfers and other economists for advice on choosing that perfect...
Justin Wolfers spoke with National Public Radio's All Things Considered about Intrade, a website that invites users to place bets on the likelihood of various events, from current affairs to pop culture. Intrade recently announced it could no longer...
With automatic federal deficit reduction measures set to take effect in January, Justin Wolfers appeared on MSNBC's "NOW with Alex Wagner" to discuss the role of tax reform in reducing the U.S. deficit. Wolfers discussed various perspectives on the...
Justin Wolfers spoke with the New York Times about the effectiveness of polling voters about their expectations in order to forecast the outcome of elections."More information produces better results," Wolfers told the New York Times. Asking voters...
American Public Media's Marketplace spoke with Justin Wolfers in a segment about whether some insurance companies might be "too big to fail."The Marketplace story, which reported that federal regulators are investigating the "systematic importance"...
Economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have opined in a column for Bloomberg View that if markets are any indicator, the Republican Party is not the party of fiscal responsibility.In the piece, Stevenson and Wolfers consider how markets view...
Justin Wolfers spoke with Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National about using economics to understand the changing public perception of same-sex marriage."The starting point is for an economist to think about what is marriage, what does...
Ford School economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers argue a resurgent stock market indicates Americans are in better shape than they were in September 2008, which marked the height of the U.S. banking and financial crisis."Against this...
With the consumer price index at just 0.1 percent in July – well short of the Federal Reserve's 2-percent target – economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers contend the Fed should act vigorously when it meets again in September, according to...
Highly regarded economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have opined in a column for Bloomberg View that the divisive rhetoric between Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. economy is rooted in political posturing, not economic reality."In...
Highly regarded economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have agreed to join the Ford School faculty. Stevenson joins the Ford School as an associate professor of public policy on September 1. Wolfers, who will split his appointment between...
Professor of economics at U.C. Berkeley and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy Brad DeLong will be joined by Ford School economicsts Josh Hausman, Betsey Stevenson, and Justin Wolfers for a conversation on recent U.S. macro policy from inflation to the labor market.
This annual forum brings together Ford School economists for a discussion of the current state of the U.S. economy. From inflation to the labor market, faculty experts reflect on the most crucial issues facing the American economy, and the top-of-mind issues for its citizens.
Join Ford School professors Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers, and Ford School Dean Michael S. Barr for a discussion on the challenges of navigating an economic crisis during the COVID-19 public health emergency.