Three Cheers for Kevin Hassett

Numerous news reports suggest that President Trump will tap Kevin Hassett to chair the Council of Economic Advisers.  This would be an excellent choice.  Here is an overview of Kevin's perspectives on economic policy, and here is my old review of his book Dow 36,000.

You have got to be kidding me

If I did not know the source, I might have thought that this report was from The Onion:

The Trump administration is considering changing how U.S. trade deficits are calculated, a move that would make the deficit look larger on paper, the Wall Street Journal reported.  

People involved in the discussions told the Journal that the leading idea is to count �re-exports� � goods that are imported to the U.S., and then exported to a third country unchanged � as imports, but not exports.

The change would inflate the trade deficit number, an important figure in trade negotiations and policy.

The Path Ahead on Climate Change

Click here to read an article in today's NY Times that I coauthored with Martin Feldstein and Ted Halstead.