Name
11/13/11
Assignment 7: Paper 2
The article is from Bloomberg Business
week for the week of November 14 to November 20, 2011 the title is called Nudge
Not. This article explains the economic theory that the Obama Administration
relied on in their Making Work Pay tax credit which was a part of the stimulus
bill. The tax credit gave $400 or $800 if you a couple filing jointly to most
Americans. This credit wasn’t given as a lump sum it was given quietly as a
slight increase in their paychecks. Many people did not realize they were given
a tax cut.
The thought behind this is if
people received a lump sum check they would be inclined to save it while if it
was given to them without their knowledge they would spend that extra income. The
idea of the tax cuts being given to people without them noticing is from a
school of thought known as behavioral economics. Behavior economics takes the
stance that people may not always act in a rational manner. People rely on
instincts, biases, and cognitive shortcuts to make decisions, which leads to
poor choices.
Making Work Pay is based on the
belief that people are more likely to spend money they have mentally accounted
for as current income and not their mental assets account. What this means is people
will measure how much they spend based on their paycheck and not the size of
their bank account. This theory also believes a lump sum payment will be seen
as an increase in wealth and there for is more likely to be saved. In a paper
from University of Michigan by three economists they found the Making Work Pay
did not get people to increase their spending, it actually caused them to spend
less. The paper being released by the economists has come under fire due to it
being reliant on a survey of people. To the behavioral economists people are
not a reliable source of information; they are also blind to what shapes the
financial choices they make. Another point behavioral economists make is that
with traditional economics a tax cut is a tax cut and their shouldn’t be any
different reaction to a lump sum and a slight increase in paychecks, both
strategies should increase spending this was not the case.
The Making Work Pay tax cut was an
attempt to give more working people larger paychecks in order to encourage them
to spend more. During tough economic times the government takes actions that
are thought to increase spending and there for spur the economy to grow and
increase output. This strategy is to increase demand which causes people to buy
more products which means businesses will increase output hire more workers and
increase inventory. The most prominent of demand side theories is the Keynesian
view. Keynes felt it was the government’s role to increase demand when the
market was no longer operating as it should. He believed that the economy was
fragile and not able to self-correct and therefore needed someone to increase
demand.
The goal of the Making Work Pay tax
credit was to give people more money to increase output. When people spend more
they actually help create new jobs with more people willing to spend. There is
a multiplier effect when it comes to the economy when a person spends money
that causes more spending somewhere in the economy. One of the macroeconomic
goals is to promote economic growth/ increases in output there are many way to
grow an economy and some of these strategies conflict with each other. The
strategies may differ greatly but they all have the same basic goal of
increasing wealth and promoting prosperity within the economy. Behavioral
economics is an important theory to understand because people don’t always do
the rational thing and make mistakes, but it shouldn’t be assumed that they
will always make irrational choices.