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This book offers innovative policy ideas and insightful commentary on the United States' pressing economic issues, such as global warming, the global economy, government spending, Social Security, tax reform, real estate, and political and social policy, including an extensive look at the economics of capital punishment, welfare reform, and the recent presidential elections. The book takes a hard look at the high cost of the Iraq War, and provides insight and advice on global warming. It demystifies Social Security and presents divergent views on the coming dollar crisis. The book reconsiders the impact of U.S. offshoring. It distinguishes what is “sense” and what is “nonsense” in discussions of federal deficits and debt, and points out the consequences of the deindustrialization of America. It further questions whether welfare reform was successful and explores the economic consequences of global warming and the rebuilding of New Orleans. The book describes how a simple switch in auto insurance policy could benefit the environment, and it unravels the dangers of an unchecked housing bubble and investigates the mishandling of the lending institutions Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Balancing empirical data with economic theory, the book proves that the unique perspective of the economist is a vital one for understanding today's world.

The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take On Today’s Problems featured a core collection of accessible, timely essays on the challenges facing today’s global markets and financial institutions. This book is the next installment in this series, gathering together the strongest essays published in The Economist’s Voice, a nonpartisan online journal, so that students and general readers can gain a deeper understanding of the financial developments shaping their world. The chapters tackle the plain economics and architecture of health care reform, its implications for society and the future of the health insurance industry, and the value of the health insurance subsidies and exchanges built into the law. The book considers the effects of financial regulatory reform, the possibilities for ratings reform, and the issue of limiting bankers’ pay. An objective examination of the financial crisis and bank bailouts results in two chapters on investment banking regulation after Bear Stearns and the positives and negatives of the Paulson/Bernanke bailout. The chapters weigh the merits of future rescues and suggest alternative strategies for addressing the next financial crisis. A final section examines a unique array of topics: the stability of pension security bonds; the value of a carbon tax, especially in fostering economic and environmental sustainability; the counterintuitive perils of net neutrality; the unforeseen consequences of government debt; the meaning of the Google book search settlement; and the unexploited possibilities for profit in NFL overtime games.

This book is about the complexities of economic policy and financial reform. Merging a compelling narrative with scholarly research, it begins with a systematic breakdown of the factors leading to America's recent recession, describing the monetary policy, tax practices, subprime mortgage scandals, and lax regulation that contributed to the crisis. The book also discusses the Treasury-Federal Reserve rescue deals that saved several financial institutions and the involvement of Congress in passing restorative policies. The book follows with an analysis of stress tests and other economic measures, and it assesses whether the U.S. economy is truly on the mend. It considers the prospects for recovery in North America as a whole, as well as in Europe, Asia, and South America, and the extent and value of U.S. and E.U. regulatory proposals. Refocusing on American financial practices, the book evaluates hedge funds and derivatives, credit default swaps, and rating agencies, pondering whether the dollar can remain a reserve currency. It concludes with a historical comparison of the Great Depression and the Great Recession, weighing the effect of the economic collapse on the future of American capitalism.