Becker's death

20 14 on may 3rd,192 Gary s Gary S. Becker, winner of the nobel prize in economics, died in Chicago at the age of 83. Becker never stopped writing before his death. The following are some excerpts from his article for the Wall Street Journal.

Prosperity will rise from the ashes, published in 200 1 year1October 29th, by Kevin m Murphy) * * * *;

In the19th century, john stewart Mueller analyzed the country's rapid economic recovery after disasters and wars. He realized that as long as these countries retain knowledge and skills, their economies can recover rapidly, and knowledge and skills are the main engines to promote economic growth. The United States has done well in these two aspects, which means that its long-term economic prospects are unlikely to deteriorate as some people fear after the 9/1terrorist attacks.

The influence of Kobe 1995 earthquake in Japan proved Mill's conclusion. The earthquake destroyed more than 65,438+000,000 buildings, and many other buildings were seriously damaged, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless and more than 6,000 people killed in the earthquake. At that time, it was estimated that the total loss was about $65,438+0./kloc-0.10.4 billion, accounting for more than 2% of Japan's GDP at that time. However, it took Kobe's GDP just over a year to recover to the level close to that before the earthquake.

The dual benefits of tax reduction were published on June 7, 2003 by Edward P. Lazear and Murphy * * *

Our second point is that human capital is as important as material capital. This view comes from the following two evidences. Human capital, that is, everyone's skills, accounts for about 70% of the total capital of the United States. The economic growth of a country is closely related to the human capital of its population. Countries that have invested heavily in civic education usually achieve higher economic growth after these investments. It is for these reasons that it is very important to implement tax policies to encourage human capital investment. Human capital investment is affected by after-tax wages, so it is also affected by tax rate, the most direct influence of which comes from income tax.

High progressive income tax structure often hinders human capital investment, because this tax system will reduce the after-tax salary of highly skilled and well-paid professionals.

Give us your skilled people published on June 30th, 2005+065438+1October 30th;

Other countries should also relax their immigration policies for skilled workers. I think Japan and Germany in particular should. The population of both countries is aging rapidly and will soon decline, but the people of both countries (especially Japan) are not in favor of absorbing a large number of immigrants. It is a decision that Japan and Germany have to make to liberalize the immigration policy of skilled workers. However, the United States still has great advantages in attracting skilled workers, because the United States is still the first choice destination for the vast majority of immigrants. Therefore, we should take advantage of their preference to immigrate to the United States instead of forcing them to seek immigration to other countries and regions.

The Great Recession and Government Failure, published on September 2nd, 2065438+0/KLOC-0;

People generally attribute the origin of the financial crisis and the Great Depression to "market failure". "Market failure" mainly refers to non-performing loans and excessive risks taken by the banking industry to seek to increase profits. The analysis of the effectiveness of market competition by Chicago Institute of Economics has been criticized by the media and academic circles. Capitalism, as a form of economic organization, has been widely criticized, calling for radical changes.

Although the performance of many banks is really poor, the government's behavior is also the reason why the crisis broke out and lasted for a long time. In the years before the crisis, the Fed kept interest rates artificially low. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two quasi-government agencies, used the strong support of members of Congress to encourage irresponsible mortgage behavior, when people had to pay a very low down payment; Families with poor credit records, low incomes and unstable sources also enjoy the policy of low loan interest rates. Regulators who were supposed to control banks' behavior encouraged them to do so instead.

Even if the government has implemented appropriate policies, the impact of this economic recession may be far-reaching, but "government failure" has prolonged the duration of the crisis and deepened the seriousness of the crisis, including the consequences of the crisis. In the United States, these government actions include nearly 1 trillion dollars of federal spending to stimulate economic growth. Top government economists claim that these expenditures can stimulate economic growth and keep the unemployment rate below 8%, but there is no evidence to support their views.

Such a prediction is outrageous and has reached an embarrassing level.

On March 27th, 2065438+00, The Wall Street Journal Weekend published an exclusive interview entitled "Fundamentally an Optimist";

(Becker) continued: "However, before milton friedman's debut, people really thought that planned economy was the most effective way to promote growth. No one thinks so now, except maybe North Korea. If you go to China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and even Western Europe, most economists under 50 support the free market. Now these economists have different theoretical centers and viewpoints, but they all support the market as the center. This is a very, very important intellectual victory. Will this victory affect the policy? Yes, the policy has been affected. I think this influence will become even greater in the next few years. "

The window began to darken. Becker stood up, put some papers in his briefcase, and then put on his tweed coat and hat. He said: "whenever I think of my children and grandchildren, yes, they have to work hard." Freedom is hard-won, but this struggle is not hopeless, and it will not be hopeless anyway. Fundamentally speaking, I am still an optimist. "