Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Christina Roemer
Berkeley economics professor Christina Romer, a former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Barak Obama, has come out against stimulus checks.
She has some kind of wacky technocratic micro-management Keynesian objection, but at least she is against them unfortunately, she is not against all additional government spending.
Her Keynesian view is that stimulus checks certainly do something, but the bang-for-the-buck was not particularly high compared to other forms of aid.
Speaking via videoconference this weekend at the annual American Economic Association meeting, Romer said: They just go to everyone below a certain income level. And to the degree that they work, they stimulate spending overall, which is not necessarily desirable during a pandemic.