Randy Wray — Six “Facts” About Our Debt: Corrections to Robert Solow’s Op-Ed

In yesterday’s NYTimes, Nobel winner Robert Solow tackled the US debt debate, proclaiming that while it is a serious issue, many Americans are not aware of the facts. See here.

Solow is a “neoclassical synthesis” Keynesian, the type of Keynesian economics that used to be taught in the textbooks. He was also on the wrong side of the “Cambridge controversy”, as the main developer of neoclassical growth theory. Still, he’s often on the “right side” when it comes to macro policy questions. And at least part of what he says about the US national debt is on the right track. But he gets enough confused that it is worthwhile to correct the errors.

I’ll list his six main bullet points, and provide my response. You can see his article for his own explanation of each bullet point.
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Economonitor — Great Leap Forward
Six “Facts” About Our Debt: Corrections to Robert Solow’s Op-Ed
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, UMKC