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Thomas Philippon Claims the US Has Grown Less Competitive Than Europe. Seriously?! I Take Him to Task in My NRO Review of His Book
With profits rising, productivity growth slowing, investment middling despite near-zero interest rates, and large competitors gaining market share, proponents of income redistribution insist that an increase in monopoly rents — profits earned by cooperating with competitors to raise prices and restrict output rather than competing honestly with them — has misallocated resources, increased income inequality, and slowed middle- and working-class wage growth. If cronyism increasingly misallocates resources, theoretically policymakers can redistribute income without significantly slowing growth and diminishing prosperity — the proverbial free lunch. Politicians such as Elizabeth Warren insist… Read MoreI Take Sides in Taylor Swift’s Fight with Private Equity Over Music Rights on Fox Business
Ed Conard take sides in Taylor Swift’s fight with private equity over music rights Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Listen to Ed Conard and Stuart Varney's discussion. Read MoreDebating What Warren Gets Wrong About Private Equity on FBN’s “Cavuto Coast to Coast”
Neil Cavuto and I debate what Elizabeth Warren gets wrong about investors and private equity—investment makes the US middle class 30% more prosperous than their counterparts in Northern Europe. Read MoreDefending JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s $31m Salary on FBN’s Making Money with Charles Payne
Charles Payne, Heather Higgins, and I defend JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s $31 million annual salary on “Fox Business’s Making Money with Charles Payne.” Read MoreAmerican Innovation Drives Prosperity in the U.S. and Abroad on Varney & Co
I discuss how American innovation is driving economic prosperity for the middle class here in the United States and in Europe on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Read MoreThe Success of the Most Successful Workers Benefits the Middle Class on Varney & Co.
I explain why the success of the most successful workers benefits the middle class on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Read MoreSanders’ and Warren’s Wealth Tax Proposals Will Hurt the Middle Class
I explain why Bernie Sanders’ and Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax proposals will ultimately hurt the middle class. We also discuss Walmart stock performance, WeWork’s delayed IPO and leadership fight, and, surprisingly the strength of my tennis game on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Read MoreWarren’s Proposals Will Extract a Heavy Cost From the Middle Class
I explain why Elizabeth Warren’s proposals will extract a heavy cost on the middle class on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Read MoreDemocrats Are Campaigning for European Socialist Policies That Would Hurt the Middle Class on FBN’s Varney & Co
David Asman and I discuss how Democrats are campaigning to bring European socialism to America which would slow growth and hurt the middle class. Read MoreDebating the Logic Underpinning the Expected Fed Rate Cut on Fox Business’s “Making Money”
Charles Payne, David Nelson, and I debate the logic underpinning the expected Fed rate cut on “Fox Business’s Making Money with Charles Payne.” Read MoreEd Conard Responds to Pres. Trump’s Claim That Fed Policy Is Fostering Trade Deficits with China on FBN’s “Varney & Co.”
Ed responds to President Trump’s claim that Fed policy is fostering trade deficits with China, on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.” Read MoreA Strong Economy Makes Trump the Favorite to Win in 2020 on Fox Business’s “Varney & Co.”
America’s strong economy, driven by President Trump’s pro-growth policies of tax cuts and regulatory restraint, puts him in the best position to win in 2020, on Fox Business’s "Varney & Co." Read MoreJoe Scarborough and Ed Conard Debate Pres. Trump’s Immigration Plan on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
Joe Scarborough and I debate President Trump’s new immigration plan and its emphasis on high-skilled immigration to produce economic growth on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Read MoreMatthew Continetti in NRO Analyzes My Proposal on How to Help the Middle Class
How to Help the Middle Class by Matthew Continetti for National Review Ed Conard, former business partner of Mitt Romney and author of Unintended Consequences and The Upside of Inequality, appears on the most recent episode of Conversations with Bill Kristol. The interview is worth your time. It arrives at a moment when conservatives are debating what economic policies are best for the middle class. Conard challenges some widespread assumptions and offers intelligent if controversial suggestions. First, like his American Enterprise Institute colleague Michael Strain, Conard says the middle class is neither stagnating… Read MoreDebating a Book’s-Worth of Economic Issues on “Conversations with Bill Kristol”
I cover a book’s-worth of economic issues in my 90 minute discussion with Bill Kristol on “Conversations with Bill Kristol.” Read More
HIGHLIGHTS
A New Year’s Resolution Worth Making
Real Clear Politics By Edward Conard | December 31, 2014 With oil prices plunging below $60 a barrel, the U.S. economy growing at an annualized 5 percent last quarter, and the Dow soaring above 18,000, it's easy to overlook academic research published in 2014 that will likely have a lasting impact on economic debate. In particular, a half-dozen highly credible studies debunked widely-held economic myths. Each of these studies illustrate the need to confront wishful thinking with a great deal of skepticism. The year began with Harvard's Raj Chetty and… Read MoreEd Conard on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
On the show, Jon Stewart and Ed discuss Unintended Consequences and why risk-taking isn't the enemy of a properly functioning economy. Read MoreEd Conard debates Vice President Biden’s former chief economist, Jared Bernstein, on income inequality
At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles on Monday, a top-level discussion of income inequality, economic mobility, and poverty revealed differing interpretations of the data, their causes, and their implications for public policy. AEI visiting scholar Edward Conard faced off against Vice President Biden’s former chief economist Jared Bernstein. The Bernstein/Conard debate over inequality went something like this: Bernstein suggested that inequality was bad for the bottom of the wage scale, as evidenced by stagnant or falling wages at the lower end of the income distribution, relative to many… Read MoreEd Conard defeats the IQ2 Motion: “Income Inequality Impairs the American Dream of Upward Mobility”
Despite a highly partisan crowd of voters, Ed defeated the IQ2 Motion: "Income Inequality Impairs the American Dream of Upward Mobility.” Thirty percent of the voters moved to Ed’s side of the motion—one of the largest swings in the history of IQ2. Opening Statement If income inequality truly impaired mobility, there would be telltale signs: Growing inequality would have reduced mobility. It hasn’t. Even Emanuel Saez, of the liberal Piketty and Saez duo, admits, the chance of a low-income child reaching any higher level of income has increased. Economies with more… Read MoreEd Conard debates Nobel Prize winning economist Joe Stiglitz
Ed and Joe Stiglitz face off on economics and income inequality. Read MoreThe Purpose of Spectacular Wealth, According to a Spectacularly Wealthy Guy
In the New York Times Magazine Adam Davidson comments on Ed Conard's new book. Read MorePlease Don’t Soak the Rich
Wall Street Journal review of Ed book, Unintended Consequences. Read MoreEd Conard on Fareed Zakaria
Ed discusses his new book and the value of risk taking for the economy. Read MoreEd Conard debates Alan Krueger on Obama’s economic record and if he’s to blame for slow growth on Bloomberg TV
Given the last five years of economic activity, is Obama the worst president since WWII? Read MoreNo Role for Fed in Income Distribution
NEW YORK TIMES by Ed Conard | October 27, 2014 The Federal Reserve has neither the mandate to redistribute wealth nor the tools to do it effectively. Should it try, it will likely fail. Were it to succeed, it would likely lower middle- and working-class incomes. Either way, it would violate one of America’s founding principles — no taxation without representation — as well as its mandate to promote stable prices. A blatant political act like this would justify Congressional intervention and jeopardize the Fed’s critically needed independence. A Federal… Read MoreEd Conard on ABC News
Ed argues that innovation and incentives improve the U.S. economy. Read MoreRescuing Subprime Borrowers Won’t Fix the Economy
Fortune Magazine By Edward Conard | June 11, 2014 In their new book, House of Debt, Atif Mian and Amir Sufi make a persuasive argument that a decline in consumption caused by a drop in home prices slowed the economic recovery more than a weakened banking system. Even if banks were strong, they argue, the demand for loans would still be weak. Mian and Amir Sufi blame a sharp increase in savings by highly levered homeowners for the fall off in consumption and borrowing; as a result, the authors urge taxpayers to… Read More