Summary: It’s “Debt Ceiling Season!” This means that the federal government is on track to reach the limit to which is approved to borrow. Once the limit is reached, it must cut spending or increase the debt limit. This episode delves into the history of the debt and examples of how other countries manage limits on government borrowing. The suggested Teaching Ideas exercise includes use of FRED data to understand the relationship of the debt, deficit and business cycles over time.
For some, the student loan repayment pause that started in 2020 has allowed people to purchase houses, cars, and have babies. Most student loan borrowers have not made any payment towards their loans because there is no incentive to; especially with the Biden Administration promising $10,000 of loan forgiveness. If loan repayments were to resume it could be detrimental to those that are not prepared to start making those payments again.
Original Air Date: April 15, 2022
Length: 22 Minutes 44 Seconds
Discussion Prompt: What do you think the macroeconomic consequences would be if the government resumed loan payments?
In this AEA Research Highlights podcast Author Jason Baron discusses the effects of different types of school spending on student outcomes and how school budgets should continue to evolve. Baron’s finds that increased spending on teacher salaries and supportive services positively affected test scores, dropout rates, and postsecondary enrollment, while spending on new buildings and renovations had less of an impact.
Original Air Date: February 18, 2022
Length: 22 Minutes 14 Seconds
Article Citation: Baron, E Jason. 2022. “School Spending and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Revenue Limit Elections in Wisconsin.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14 (1): 1-39.
Today, fewer than 1% of cars in the United States are electric. According to technology historian Tom Standage, the spike in gas prices may push the transition faster than people think. When switching from gas to electric cars, there is more to consider than just the labor market and the demand for gasoline. Standage believes everything will change.
Prices are still rising even though corporate profits are at a 40-year high. However, the rising inflation is not thought to be due to corporate greed but likely to other causes such as lingering pandemic issues and decreased competition in the markets. The Federal Reserve Bank has tried to fight this inflation by raising interest rates which will hopefully lead to less pressure on businesses to raise their prices.
California Ports were not prepared for the consumer purchasing patterns shift from the pandemic. Instead of vacations, families were buying a new refrigerator or couch. This unpredictable increase in demand combined with the ports’ fragile system caused a supply chain issue that is still affecting America today.
During World War II, when inflation was very high, the United States government took many different actions to fight it including implementing an income tax, rationing, and price ceilings. Today we have the Federal Reserve which means we will hopefully not have to resort to these drastic measures to fix inflation ever again.
Even before the pandemic, childcare has been inaccessible and too expensive for families. Experts Beth Mattingly and Tom Weber discuss the childcare crisis and the impact it has on parents, the labor force, and the economy.
Federal student loan interest and payments are set to resume after January for about 45 million Americans who carry an astounding $1.8 trillion in student debt. Louise Seamster, a sociologist at the University of Iowa, discusses wealth disparities between black and white borrowers and how student debt shapes the lives of young people. Seamster also considers solutions to the student debt crisis, one of which includes debt cancellation.
audioecon 