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Articles by Thomas Grennes
Is Trump an Ardent Protectionist or a Deal-Making Free Trader?
President Donald Trump’s tariff policy has been called the “most disruptive policy shock in trade history.” The direct negative effects of the tariffs on consumption and production have been well-established. However, the erratic manner of introducing tariffs has broader adverse effects. Adding and subtracting tariffs adds to uncertainty, reduces credibility, and is possibly unconstitutional. The policy is unpredictable because Trump has two contradictory goals.
The United States Has Always Been a Melting Pot
Vice-Presidential candidate J.D. Vance has been widely criticized for his gratuitous advice to American women on childbirth. The criticism can be extended to the broader goal of Vance and other isolationists, which is to defend American culture from past and future foreign influences. Their intent to purify culture from things foreign demonstrates extreme ignorance of American immigration history.
The Limitations of OPEC
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is reputed to be a powerful force in world energy markets, and recently Russia has conspired with OPEC to raise energy prices. The OPEC cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, tried to exploit its monopoly power in 2023 by reducing production. It enjoyed temporary success as its revenue increased from selling a lower quantity of oil at a higher price.
Emeriti Faculty | Agricultural and Resource Economics
VIEW: Alphabetical By Group V Smith University Distinguished Professor Emeritus
How Diversity Conceals More Than It Reveals — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
Offices with titles such as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” have become common in business, government, and universities. Employees are sometimes required to take courses in diversity training, and, in some well-known cases, employees have been dismissed for refusing to participate. In spite of its widespread use in college admissions, and in hiring and promotion decisions in business and government, the exact meaning of “diversity” remains unclear.
COVID Recovery Shows the Need for Better Immigration and Regulatory Policies
The unexpected arrival of the COVID pandemic has been an enormous negative shock to the world’s health and its economy. Death and destruction have been extremely costly, but the cost would have been much higher without the development of COVID vaccines in record time. Nine months after COVID was recognized as a destructive virus, BioNTech introduced its new vaccine. Major contributors to vaccine development, as well as other forms of COVID relief, were foreign-born scholars and managers.
Against the Jones Act
Economist Josh Hendrickson asserts that the Jones Act is properly understood as a Coasean bargain. In this view, the law serves as a subsidy to the U.S. maritime industry through its restriction of waterborne domestic commerce to vessels that are constructed in U.S. shipyards, U.S.-flagged, and U.S.-crewed. Such protectionism, it is argued, provides the government with ready access to these assets, rather than taking precious time to build them up during times of conflict.
Danger Ahead - Discourse
In the U.S., government debt continues to rise. At the end of fiscal year 2020, debt held by the public reached 102% of GDP, the highest level since the end of World War II. Meanwhile, the latest $1.9 trillion spending proposal by President Biden would further exacerbate the problem. Some government agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office, now consider the federal debt to be at a crisis level. So does the International Monetary Fund.
Why Sweden Can Handle Its Spending Better Than America
With Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren among the front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination, Americans have heard more about socialism lately. It’s a vague term that could refer to anything from the rigid central planning of the former Soviet Union to the social democracy of Sweden. American progressives tend to associate their bold ideas, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, with the latter.
Blame U.S. National Debt If We Can't Regularly Hit 3%
Blame U.S. National Debt If We Can't Regularly Hit 3% U.S. GDP was lower by $175 billion dollars in 2017 because of it. Read Full Article »
Blame outsized debt if we can't hit 3 percent growth consistently
Opinions remain divided about whether government debt constitutes a serious problem. Putting aside the simpler issue of future tax burdens, should we be worried about whether government debt bogs down America’s economy? Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he is “very worried” about the growing amount of U.S. debt.
Excessive debt is already taking a toll on our country’s GDP
Are current U.S. debt levels unsustainable? Will our grandchildren face national bankruptcy? Or does debt not matter, at least not right now? Earlier this year prominent economist Olivier Blanchard caused a stir in fiscal circles when he suggested that current levels of debt may be less worrisome than many experts think.
Commentary: Excessive debt is already taking a toll on GDP
Are current U.S. debt levels unsustainable? Will our grandchildren face national bankruptcy? Or does debt not matter, at least not right now? Earlier this year prominent economist Olivier Blanchard caused a stir in fiscal circles when he suggested that current levels of debt may be less worrisome than many experts think.
Commentary: Excessive debt is already taking a toll on GDP
Are current U.S. debt levels unsustainable? Will our grandchildren face national bankruptcy? Or does debt not matter, at least not right now? Earlier this year prominent economist Olivier Blanchard caused a stir in fiscal circles when he suggested that current levels of debt may be less worrisome than many experts think.
Commentary: Excessive debt is already taking a toll on GDP
Are current U.S. debt levels unsustainable? Will our grandchildren face national bankruptcy? Or does debt not matter, at least not right now? Earlier this year prominent economist Olivier Blanchard caused a stir in fiscal circles when he suggested that current levels of debt may be less worrisome than many experts think.
The Jones Act: Session IV: Charting a New Course: Options for Jones Act Reform
For nearly 100 years the Jones Act has restricted the transportation of cargo between two points in the United States to ships that are U.S.-built, crewed, owned, and flagged. Meant to bolster the U.S. maritime industry and provide a ready supply of ships and mariners in times of conflict, the act has instead presided over a steady deterioration in the number of ships, sailors to crew them, and shipyards to build them.
By Land or by Sea: Does the Jones Act Cause Land-Based Transport Congestion?
The Jones Act has survived for nearly a century, and it retains strong political support in the Congress and among government regulators. It requires that ships carrying cargo from one U.S. port to another (cabotage) must be American-built, -owned, -crewed, and -flagged. Its apparent goal is to strengthen American shipbuilding and the American Merchant Marine.
Trade wars are lose-lose situations
Trade wars are inherently destructive. They interfere with voluntary exchange, one of the fundamental forms of human cooperation. Both parties lose trade wars. The United States imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum in June against its trading partners. Nearly all partners are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). They complained that U.S. tariffs violated its agreement to not raise tariffs against members. These partners also imposed retaliatory tariffs against U.S. exports.
How We Hurt Our Own Relief Efforts After Hurricanes Like Irma and Harvey
Humans may not be able to control the occurrence of major hurricanes, such as Harvey or Irma, but prudent action could reduce the damage done to people and property. For example, reforming flood insurance so that insurance rates better reflect actuarial risk could, over time, reduce the number of people and structures locating in areas vulnerable to flooding. Perhaps most importantly, eliminating self-imposed barriers to a quick and effective hurricane response could reduce damage.
Transformative Changes in World Energy Production and Trade
Major changes in oil production have transformed the US from a major importer to a major producer and sometime exporter of oil. The market power of OPEC and its non-member collaborators has been weakened (Libya and Nigeria have been exempted from current quotas). In addition to new sources of oil production, we are now hearing increasingly about limits to oil demand and when the peak oil DEMAND will be reached (Bloomberg).
Donald Trump Should Repeal the Costly Jones Act on Shipping
President Donald Trump has issued executive orders to reduce business regulation and to relax restrictions on domestic energy production. Along with many Democrats and Republicans, he supports improvements to our deteriorating national infrastructure. Is it possible to do all three, all without doing further harm to the federal budget? Reforming or repealing the venerable Jones Act might just provide a good start.
EconoMonitor : Thoughts From Across the Atlantic » Will the Boom in U.S. Energy Production Bring Back Manufacturing Jobs?
The United States has experienced unprecedented increases in energy production recently, and political leaders from both parties have promised that greater energy abundance would bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. A study by PwC (2011) claimed that a high-level of shale gas recovery could lead to approximately one million more manufacturing jobs by 2025 when compared to low shale gas recovery scenarios.
On subject of trade, both Trump, Clinton too protectionist
Trade is a fundamental form of cooperation. When a customer buys tomatoes at a farmers’ market, both parties gain from the voluntary transaction. It is a win-win activity. Similarly, international trade results in net gains for people in both trading countries. The advantages of trade are reflected in the higher incomes of countries most open to trade. It is no coincidence that the United States is one of the richest countries in the world and also one of the largest trading countries.
Sorry, Sanders: Why the US can’t be Sweden or Denmark
Leaders of the Democratic Party have moved to the left of the political spectrum. Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has mounted a successful campaign against Hillary Clinton. He and his supporters have identified Denmark and Sweden as examples of countries with larger government sectors that they would like the United States to emulate.
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