Arnold Kling deciphers two contrary outlooks on the economic stimulus package. One from Kevin Murphy and another from Brad DeLong.
It’s a great, short look at competing economic philosophies, and why there’s such difference of opinion regarding the stimulus package. I don’t agree with Kling’s conclusion, but his explanation is very much worth reading.
One of Murphy’s key criticisms of fiscal stimulus is that to some degree, it will pull private resources into the public sphere, where they will most likely be allocated less efficiently. As unemployment rises, the degree to which this will occur shrinks. Given that companies announced over 68,000 layoffs just today, these concerns would appear to be diminishing.