World debt at $250 trillion is 3x global GDP – an all-time record. If we include unfunded liabilities and derivatives, total debts and liabilities would amount to over 25x global GDP.
"Populism" is remarkably slippery to define, but many people claim to know it when they see it--and to worry about its resurgence. Here, I'll offer some thoughts about the current populist moment. I've spent some time thinking about this lately because the Journal of Economic Perspectives, where I work as Managing Editor, published a four-paper "Symposium on Modern Populism" in the Fall 2019 issue. The papers are:
Catherine L. Kling and Fran Sussman have "A Conversation with Maureen Cropper" in the Annual Review of Resource Economics (October 2019, 11, pp. 1-18). As they write in the introduction: Maureen has made important contributions to several areas of environmental economics, including non-market valuation and the evaluation of environmental programs. She has also conducted pioneering studies on household transportation use and associated externalities." There also is a short (~ a dozen paragraphs) overview of some of Cropper's best-known work, I had not know that Cropper identified as a monetary economist when she was headed for graduate school. Here is her description of her early path to environmental economics:
Will the new technologies of 3D printing and robotics lead to a reduction in international trade? After all, if countries can use 3D printing and robotics to make goods at home, why import from abroad?
When employers pay the health insurance premiums for their employees, these payments are exempt from income tax. If health insurance payments by employers were taxed as income, the government would collect about $200 billion in additional income taxes, and another $130 billion in payroll taxes for supporting Social Security and Medicare (according to the Analytical Perspectives volume of the US budget for 2020, Table 16-1).
As I explained on CNBC: Even the most optimistic assumptions are unlikely to change the trend of weak global growth.