Leaders in the Economic Community Explain America’s Weak Economy in Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery, A New Book Edited by Lee E. Ohanian, John B. Taylor, and Ian J. Wright

STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hoover Institution Press today released Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery, edited by Hoover senior fellows Lee E. Ohanian and John B. Taylor and Ian J. Wright. As the US unemployment rate remains above 8 percent after more than three years since the recession of 2007-9, this book examines reasons for the weak recovery and attributes it to the enactment of poor economic policies and the failure to implement good polices. The book includes contributions from influential figures in the economic community, including former secretary of state, Treasury, and labor and Hoover Institution senior fellow George P. Shultz; Hoover senior fellows John F. Cogan and Robert E. Hall; and Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, John H. Cochrane, Steven J. Davis, Alan Greenspan, Kyle F. Herkenhoff, Ellen R. McGrattan, and Edward C. Prescott.

“This book presents the innovative and provocative explanations of highly distinguished and influential thinkers from the Hoover Institution and elsewhere”

“This book is a fascinating mix of facts, opinions, formal models, and wise informal recommendations about what the government should do and should stop doing to accelerate the rate of recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. The book bristles with ideas, proposals, and rousing discussions. It is hard to put it down once you start reading it,” said Hoover Institution senior fellow and 2011 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences Thomas J. Sargent. Sargent is also the William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University.

In Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery, contributors examine a wide range of policies that have led to America’s delayed economic recovery. George Shultz explains the importance of diagnosing the situation correctly and thus finding solutions to slow economic growth, particularly with regard to America’s prosperity and leadership. The book centers around six empirical research studies that examine issues contributing to slow growth. Together, the contributors offer a broad-based assessment of exactly how government policies are slowing economic growth: by creating uncertainty and unpredictability, engendering short-term planning horizons, and depressing incentives for businesses to hire new workers and invest in capital and new technologies. Although contributors have differing opinions, together they reveal a common theme: the delayed recovery can be attributed to the enactment of poor economic policies and the failure to implement good policies. The authors conclude their analysis by providing a framework for how policies should change to restore strong economic growth, including eliminating the H1-B immigration policy, starting over on the new Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, and improving the K-12 educational program.

“This book presents the innovative and provocative explanations of highly distinguished and influential thinkers from the Hoover Institution and elsewhere,” said Jeremy Bulow, the Richard Stepp Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

In addition to his fellowship with the Hoover Institution, Lee E. Ohanian is a professor of economics and director of the Ettinger Family Program in Macroeconomic Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. He serves as an adviser to the Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis and St. Louis, has previously advised other Federal Reserve banks, foreign central banks, and the National Science Foundation, and has testified to national and state legislative committees on economic policy.

John B. Taylor, who is well known for proposing the Taylor Rule (in 1992), which shows how central banks should set interest rates in response to inflation, output, and other economic conditions, is also the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and professor of economics at Stanford University. He served as undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs from 2001 to 2005, was awarded the Bradley Prize in 2010, and has authored numerous books, including the recently released First Principles (W.W. Norton, 2012).

Ian J. Wright is a PhD student in the Department of Economics at Stanford University and a recipient of the Shultz Graduate Student Fellowship in Economic Policy.

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