For those of you who may want to write your long essay on California politics, these references might be useful. 1. Kuttner, Robert. Revolt of the Haves. http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b11798312~S1 (Unfortunately, it may be difficult to obtain from the library.) 2. http://www.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cjpp 3. O'Sullivan, Arthur, Sexton, Terri A., and Steven M. Sheffrin. Property Taxes and Tax Revolts: The Legacy of Proposition 13. http://books.google.com/books?id=T-gfGvH-BksC&dq=proposition+13&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s 4. http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/review/1979/79-1_7-24.pdf Continue reading

1. Government spending must be increased by an amount x, such that x*1.5 = 10 percent. Thus x = 10/1.5 = 6.67 percent. 2. 6.67 percent of 14 trillion is (roughly) 900 billion. (1 trillion was also a perfectly acceptable answer.) 3. Very low. 4. Different answers possible. Continue reading

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My office hours this week will be Thursday (10/15) from 2:30-5 in Evan 608-3. Note the late start and end! I will hold a review session on Monday (10/19) from 5-6:30 in Evans 9. Continue reading

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Optional, but highly recommended. http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3421 Continue reading

From the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/12/091012fa_fact_lizza?printable=true Professor DeLong comments: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/10/the-600b-stimulus-program-how-we-got-here.html http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/10/glass-steagall-and-the-crisis.html http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/10/ryan-lizza-i-think-misinterprets-jim-hines-on-larry-summers.html Paul Krugman weighs in: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/the-story-of-the-stimulus/ Felix Salmon in praise of Larry Summers: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/05/the-good-things-about-larry-summers/ Dean Baker disagrees: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=10&year=2009&base_name=new_yorker_rewrites_economic_h Continue reading

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1929: U.S. Unemployment is 3%. August 1929: 'Official' start of the recession in the U.S.. Industrial production falls. But stock prices continue to rise. October 1929: The stock market crash. Industrial production resumes its decline. 1930: U.S. Unemployment is 9%. June: Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley tarrif into law. October-December: The first banking panic. 1931: U.S. Unemployment is 16%. March-June: The second banking panic. September: Britain leaves the gold standard (devalues). Fearing an attack on the dollar, the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. The U.S. suffers it's worst banking panic yet. 1932: Decline continues. 1933 January-March: The worst and final banking... Continue reading

You should know all about these *before* you start taking this course--but if you don't, take a look... 101 Events in Background World History YearKey Events1896William Jennings Bryan [D] loses U.S. election to William McKinley [R] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeTkT5-w5RA 1896Large-scale gold mining in South Africa's Witwatersrand http://www.mindat.org/photo-158996.html 1899Start of the Boer War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rvz6O1vPWU 1901Assassination of McKinley; Theodore Roosevelt becomes President of the United States http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/cph/3a00000/3a08000/3a08600/3a08686r.jpg 1905U.S. Supreme Court decides Lochner case: Constitution held to enact Herbert Spencers's “social statics” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/landmark_lochner.html 1910Start of Mexican Revolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbUw_GCskog&feature=PlayList&p=BF8C75DD02E5CE25&index=0&playnext=1 1911Overthrow of the Qing Dynasty; declaration of the Chinese Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xh1.jpg 1912Theodore Roosevelt splits Republican Party; Woodrow... Continue reading

By 'growth rates' we mean annual growth rates. The preferred unit is percent, though for calculations you may have to use the actual number (i.e. the percent / 100). Two examples may help: Suppose GDP-per-capita in a country is $5000 and grows at 5% per year. What will GDP-per-capita be in 1 year? In 2 years? In 7 years? In 1 year, GDP per capita is simply $5000 + 0.05*$5000 = $5000*(1+0.05) = $5250 So clearly in two years, GDP per capita is $5250*(1+.05) = $5000*(1+.05)*(1+.05) = $5512.50 By analogy, for any number of years t, GDP per capita is... Continue reading