2011 Articles

Should the Government Invest, or Try to Spur Private Investment?

Cragg, Michael; Stiglitz, Joseph E.

The U.S. economy clearly needs stimulation, but the Obama administration‘s plan for accelerated depreciation is an “˜old economy‘ approach to stimulating aggregate investment and unlikely to ease the Great Recession, according to Michael Cragg of Brattle Group and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University. The authors suggest alternative policies consisting of carefully designed carrots and sticks.