This panel is extremely good, but the high point for me was watching Larry Summers shred the idea that you can spur growth by transferring money to people who have a higher marginal propensity to consume. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…
For those who don't understand why this is daft: in a society where some event--say, a massive financial crisis--has caused investment to plummet to near zero, this might actually work. We do not normally live in that world.
In normal times, you are choosing whether the money gets spent on consumption goods or investment goods, not whether it gets spent or stuck in a hole in the ground.
The Great Recession revived the "Paradox of Thrift" argument, and while it's arguable whether it's ever true, it definitely doesn't generalize outside of banking crises.
