Share this page!

Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
Twitter logo
12 Oct, 6 tweets, 2 min read
Watch here my debate ⁦@fordschool⁩ with @MayaMacGuineas on whether the federal deficit is unsustainable. fordschool.umich.edu/events/2020/fe…
We need a different paradigm while thinking about the deficit. Of course we need more stimulus. The difficult question is: What do we need in the future?
A move to austerity as soon as possible is dangerous & misguided. Fails to appreciate the big structural changes in our economy, which is the emergence of a massive excess of private savings over private investments at a reasonable interest rate. What I call secular stagnation.
We need to absorb private savings and the best way is expansionary fiscal policy.
Need to think about debt burdens in a reasonable way. We need to decide what are the important deficits.
If we make necessary investments, and do it sensibly, they will grow the GDP enough to generate enough tax collection that we won't have a rising debt to GDP ratio.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Lawrence H. Summers

Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LHSummers

Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
12 Oct
I have a Viewpoint out in JAMA with my colleague @Cutler_econ – The COVID-19 Pandemic and the $16 Trillion Virus. It is particularly relevant today ja.ma/3diC0U9
1/13
We estimate the cost of the COVID virus for the US. Bottom line cost: $16 trillion. This is $200,000 per family or 90% of a year’s GDP.
2/13 Image
Some other metrics: this is 4x the output loss of the Great Recession, 2x the cost of all wars since 9/11, and roughly the cost of climate change in the next 50 years. Let me explain the estimates.
3/13
Read 13 tweets
Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
11 Oct
1/ Very important column by @NickKristof in @nytopinion this weekend on the gravity of the tax compliance crisis facing this country today.

nytimes.com/2020/10/10/opi…
2/ Whatever you think about tax collection and the merits of investment in IRS that @NatashaRSarin and I have discussed:

nber.org/papers/w27571

It is indefensible that you are more likely to get audited if you live in the Mississippi Delta than on Park Avenue
3/ And it’s outrageous the IRS is so underfunded it has been unable to pick up the phone when taxpayers call for help

And unacceptable that it does not have agents to work the cases of a few hundred high-income individuals whose failure to even file taxes cost the IRS billions
Read 4 tweets
Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
25 Jun
Glenn Hubbard asked me today at a talk with the @EconClubNY, "How do you expect higher-ed to be evolving both in terms of delivery and addressing opportunity?" I told him I think the two things go together.
I am very proud of the fact that I put in place a set of policies during my time as President of @Harvard that was widely emulated, that basically said if your family had an income below $60,000, you didn’t have to pay a cent to come to @Harvard.
This changed the composition of student body, the applicant pool and influenced what other universities did. It was a really great thing.
Read 14 tweets
Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
27 Apr
My conversation with @HarvardHBS Prof. Robin Greenwood on public health, economic policy, politics, financial markets and what the crisis means to higher education. Watch here: hbs.edu/mba/blog/post/…
These events are not a huge surprise. As President of @Harvard, I said global health should be a priority b/ two of most important things to happen in 21st century were the rise of developing world & the century of biology. Those two things come together @ global health issues.
It’s mostly not our policy that is reducing the performance of the economy, it’s the disease itself. You can open the economy all you want but not many people are going go shopping when they think 10 percent of their neighbors have a potentially fatal, contagious disease.
Read 12 tweets
Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
15 Apr
National governments have gone big. The IMF and World Bank need to do the same. My column with Gordon Brown in today's @washingtonpost
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
As @federalreserve & other central banks have expanded their balance sheets in previously unimaginable ways, the international community needs to do Mario Draghi’s famous phrase "whatever it takes" to maintain functioning global financial system. Here are 3 ways to do it.
First, the IMF, World Bank and regional development banks need to be as aggressive as the world’s central banks in expanding their lending. This means recognizing both that the current near-zero interest rate environment makes it possible to use more leverage.
Read 6 tweets
Lawrence H. Summers Profile picture
11 Apr
.@USTreasury Secretary @stevenmnuchin1 insistence that America’s major airlines partially repay taxpayer funds aimed at shoring up the industry has set up a clash between the Trump administration and the carriers bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via @bpolitics
If airline industry wants no payback to government, let them try their luck with other funders. If airline execs were not complaining, we could be sure the terms were too generous.
Airlines running of their business on a high leverage, low cash reserve basis was a strategic choice which for years worked great for their shareholders. Now it hasn’t. Too bad. Not a rationale for a bailout.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get email notifications when new thread is out from this Author!

Check out other threads from this Author!

Read all threads by @LHSummers