The savings “delusion” and capital gains
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: August 27, 2008
Over at the Paul Krugman blog Dr Krugman criticises “conservatives” for treating capital gains as savings. This criticism followed an article by Tyler Cowan stating that people have treated capital gains as savings (article is found here).
Now pinch me if I’m wrong, but I can’t see the issue with
- People assuming that other people treat capital gains as savings if they do,
- People treating capital gains as savings if they expect them to be maintained
I do understand that their is a policy issue if peoples expectations that capital gains will be maintained is not realistic.
There is a difference though – both the above articles seem to be criticising people for the very idea of using capital gains as saving, or assuming that people do. However, sustained capital gains are savings, as it is additional wealth that is not used for consumption.
If we believe that there is an issue, it probably has to do with expectations. In the case of housing we have had a “bubble” where expectations were pushed away from fundamentals and towards speculation. In this case the problem does not stem from treating capital gains as savings – it stems from unrealistic expectations about the future price of the asset!
So why did peoples expectations of future house prices get out of whack in the USA, and now in NZ?
4 Responses to "The savings “delusion” and capital gains"
August 27, 2008 at 3:50 pm
“In that post he feeds into the idea that ‘conservatives’ are all about rigid doctrine and unwavering adherence to old ideas, and he does it deliberately.”
I find that irritating as well. I’m sure, if he put his mind to it, he could come up with good arguments supporting his belief. The type of rhetoric he lets out doesn’t help anyone.
[...] The savings “delusion” and capital gains [...]
September 5, 2008 at 11:41 pm
8kI’ll thingk about it.0k I compleatly disagree with last post . zkc
This is my project полы ламинат 6x
Matt Nolan
rauparaha
agnitio
dant03
stevedoogue
Robbie Allan
goonix
metrosideros
cpworthington
August 27, 2008 at 11:24 am
It gets harder and harder to bring myself to read anything written by PK, and that blog entry is just another example why. He doesnt do “economics” anymore, he is a political pundit leveraging off the economic study he stopped doing years ago.
In that post he feeds into the idea that ‘conservatives’ are all about rigid doctrine and unwavering adherence to old ideas, and he does it deliberately.