Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The world has been changing too fast for public finance textbooks to keep pace




In my public finance class, we use Gruber, Public Finance & Public Policy, 3rd edition, which was published in 2009, but the graphs were last updated based on data published in 2008, before the TARP bailout and subsequent events.

The principles of public finance remain the same, but the economic picture is very different now, as these CBO graphs show.

The graphs in Gruber's textbook essentially stop right before the steep climb in the first graph and the steep drop in the second graph.

The CBO website is a good source of updated information.

The Economist also has good updated coverage of debt developments in the US and worldwide here.

No comments:

Post a Comment