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Mark Thoma

Affiliation: University of Oregon

Mark Thoma is a member of the Economics Department at the University of Oregon. He joined the UO faculty in 1987 and served as head of the Economics Department for five years. His research examines the effects that changes in monetary policy have on inflation, output, unemployment, interest rates and other macroeconomic variables with a focus on asymmetries in the response of these variables to policy changes, and on changes in the relationship between policy and the economy over time. He has also conducted research in other areas such as the relationship between the political party in power, and macroeconomic outcomes and using macroeconomic tools to predict transportation flows. He received his doctorate from Washington State University.

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Mark Thoma's Latest Articles | 230

Big Banks: Break Them Up

May 17, 2012| 

This was unexpected: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said Thursday that banks deemed “too big to fail” should be split up. “We do... Read »

Why are Pundits on the Left More Willing to Criticize Their Own Team?

May 13, 2012| 

Why is the left so much more willing than the right to criticize members of its own team when they mis-step? There seems to be far more people on the left criticizing... Read »

How Are U.S. Workers Using the Payroll Tax Cut?

May 9, 2012| 

This study from Basit Zafar, Grant Graziani, and Wilbert van der Klaauw of the NY Fed shows that the payroll tax cuts in the stimulus package have been used mostly... Read »

Republicans Want to Repeal Resolution Authority

Apr 20, 2012| 

This is crazy: the House Republicans on the Financial Services Committee just voted to repeal “resolution authority.” Let’s review the history.... Read »

Are the Hawks Correct about the Fall in Productive Capacity?

Apr 12, 2012| 

There is a growing contingent at the Fed advocating interest rate increases sooner rather than later. I continue to think that is a mistake. The reasoning from those... Read »

Moral Hazard and the Health Insurance Mandate

Mar 28, 2012| 

I want to return to the argument about the need for an individual mandate. A post earlier today talks about adverse selection problems in the health insurance market.... Read »

The Gap In Monetary and Fiscal Policy

Mar 18, 2012| 

One of the big questions for policymakers is how much of the current downturn represents of temporary cyclical fluctuation and how much of it is a permanent reduction... Read »

Oh No! “This Will Force Banks to Change”!

Mar 7, 2012| 

Surprise, surprise, Larry Tabb, the founder and chief executive of Tabb Group, is complaining about regulation of the financial sector. He starts off strong: Mea... Read »

Will Obama Let All the Bush Tax Cuts Expire?

Mar 2, 2012| 

The charge that the administration forgot about the unemployed in order to pursue something it thought was far more important — deficit reduction — gets... Read »

Are Budget Problems Due to Rising Health Care Costs as Scary as We’ve Been Led to Believe?

Feb 17, 2012| 

Not too long ago, I sent the following email to several people I thought might have the answer: Something that’s been bugging me — I don’t know... Read »

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