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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 | 220

Empirical and Historical Validation of Macroeconomic Models

Apr 17, 2011| 

On may occasions, I have made the point that one of the problems with macroeconomic theory prior to the financial crisis is that the models did not have the necessary... Read »

Confusing the Size of the Deficit with the Size of Government

Apr 13, 2011| 1

I was going to write a post saying that there are two separate debates right now that are getting confused. One is over the deficit and how to rein it in, the... Read »

The Ryan Plan Is “Fundamentally Immoral”

Apr 5, 2011| 6

Even people not particularly enamored with government involvement in health insurance hate the Ryan plan for Medicare: You put the load right on me, Democracy in... Read »

Republicans Attack Financial Reform

Mar 17, 2011| 

Is anyone surprised by this? Republicans Attack Financial Reform, by Jonathan Chait: Republicans look to start rolling back financial reform: Republicans clearly... Read »

Is Nuclear Power Still the Answer?

Mar 12, 2011| 1

The embrace of nuclear power by the environmental community surprised me. About five years ago I wrote: Lots of research says that I will overestimate the risk... Read »

Should the Fed Respond to Commodity Price Increases?

Mar 10, 2011| 

To answer the question in the title of this post, it’s useful to think of an island with only two goods. One of the goods is non-renewable, but highly desirable.... Read »

Pre-Payment for Services and Social Security

Mar 8, 2011| 

I keep seeing the argument that the way Social Security is funded — the young provide the funds needed for the retirement of the elderly — and the fact... Read »

Politics Matters

Mar 7, 2011| 

One thing I’ve learned from the crisis is that the politics of economic intervention to stabilize the economy is far more important than I realized. When you... Read »

How Long Until We Reach Full Employment?

Mar 6, 2011| 

This is very much a back of the envelope calculation. Here’s what I did. I took the month to month difference in the unemployment rate (from 1948:2 to 2011:2),... Read »

Greenspan: The Costs of Government Activism

Mar 5, 2011| 

When Alan Greenspan was nearing the end of his time as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, there was a celebration of his career at the Fed meeting held annually... Read »

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