Re: Leftists knocking Friedman ?

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:50:02 -0600, "John Galt"
<whoisjohngalt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>> (This stability is one of the reason markets and the economy perform
>> better under Democratic administrations that push regulatory policies
>> that increase stability. )
>
>Perhaps a bit of a reach here. You'd have to wait until the end of the
next 
>business cycle to determine if such intervention was in fact working, and

>there's a pretty good chance that event will occur in somebody else's
term.


We've had this discussion, but the numbers bear it out.
http://www.coba.unr.edu/econ/wp/papers/UNRECONWP06008.pdf

(He also does it with various lag times.)

Table 4
Postwar Economic Performance, 1949-2005
Annual Averages
Democrats
Republicans
t-Statistic
Real GDP Growth Rate
4.2%
2.9%
-2.90*
Real GDP Growth Per Capita
2.9%
1.7%
-2.72*
Unemployment Rate
5.2%
6.0%
+7.79*
Change in Unemployment Rate
-0.4%
+0.3%
+4.19*
Growth of Multifactor Productivity
1.7%
0.9%
-1.59
Cor****ate Profits (share of GDP)
10.2%
8.8%
-6.96*
Real Value of Dow Jones Index
5.4%
4.3%
-0.81
(in logarithmic growth rates)
4.4%
2.8%
-1.28
Real Weekly Earnings
1.0%
0.3%
-1.01
CPI Inflation Rate
3.8%
3.8%
1.37

Table 8
Average Growth in Federal Receipts, 1949-2005
Democrats
Republicans
t-Statistic
Current Federal Receipts:
Average share of GDP
18.3%
18.0%
-2.40*
Average four-year change in GDP share
+1.4%
-0.9%
-2.20*
Federal Budget Deficit:
Average share of GDP
0.4%
1.8%
5.76*
Average four-year change in GDP share
-0.9%
+1.2%
1.56

>Even leaving out Clinton (best economic performance) and Bush II mediocre
doesn't improve things much:

Table 3
Postwar Economic Performance before the Clinton and Bush
Administrations
Annual Averages
Democrats
Republicans
Real GDP Growth Rate
4.5%
2.9%
Real GDP Growth Per Capita
3.1%
1.7%
Unemployment Rate
5.2%
6.1%
Change in Unemployment Rate
-0.3%
+0.3%

>And going back to 1929 doesn't help:
Table 1
Economic Performance since 1929
Annual Averages
Democrats
Republicans
Real GDP Growth Rate
5.1%
1.9%
Real GDP Growth Per Capita
3.8%
0.7%