[A Sip of Books] Why Bad Beliefs and Policies Survive... Nobel Economics Laureate Explains

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart and create a point of contact with the book. Here, we excerpt and introduce such meaningful sentences from the book. - Editor's note

This book critically analyzes and dissects almost every policy experiment and the surrounding socio-economic discourse debates experienced worldwide, including in the United States, over the past 20 years, through the sharp perspective of Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman. Governments of various countries have tackled issues such as growth and distribution, tax cuts and tax increases, the rise and fall of national debt, expansion and reduction of social welfare, environmental problems including the climate crisis, nuclear power versus denuclearization, job creation and unemployment, immigration policy, free trade and protectionism, and active government intervention versus laissez-faire in the economy. The author, a Nobel laureate known as the "economist's economist," puts these to the test.

The United States was able to seriously debate COVID-19 pandemic policies based on principles and correct beliefs. But it did not do so. Instead, the main suspects decided early on to ignore and downplay the various threats posed by COVID-19. This was due to a mix of financial interests, ideology, and shrewd political calculations. They consistently ignored evidence proving their claims wrong multiple times. In short, COVID-19 denialism was a zombie idea, like climate change denial or tax cut advocacy. Perhaps this led to a zombie apocalypse. (p. 21)

- Preface: Zombies in the Age of COVID-19

The conservative economic creed is nothing more than the claim that the vested interests need incentives to do good for the rest of us. According to the right wing, we must cut taxes on the wealthy to incentivize them to work hard, and cut taxes on corporations to incentivize them to invest in the United States. However, this conservative economic creed has repeatedly failed in practice. President George W. Bush’s tax cuts did not lead to a boom. In contrast, President Barack Obama’s tax increases did not lead to a recession. Kansas’s tax cut policy did not revitalize the state economy. Conversely, California’s tax increase policy did not slow growth. (p. 72)

- Chapter 1: Why Are the Tax Cut Zombies for the Rich So Strong?

One point I want to emphasize here is that the small groups benefiting from protectionism often have much greater political influence than the much larger groups that suffer losses. (p. 97)

- Chapter 2: Ah, What a Trump-like Trade War!

My contribution to this discussion was, in a sense, to point out that the income increase of the top tier is indeed a major economic issue as a fact, and to convey its essence very concisely. According to the now infamous “Krugman calculation,” 70 percent of the increase in average household income went to the top 1 percent of households. (p. 124)

- Chapter 3: Zombies Trying to Hide Inequality

Paul Krugman, Fighting Zombies | Written by Paul Krugman | Translated by Kim Jinwon | Bookie | 664 pages | 25,000 KRW

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