What we’re reading (3/30)
“President Says He’s ‘Not Joking’ About A Possible Third Term” (New York Times). “President Trump said in an interview on Sunday that he was “not joking” about possibly seeking a third term, which would run afoul of the 22nd Amendment. The remarks, to the NBC News host Kristen Welker, were the most serious treatment he has given an idea he has mused about previously. The amendment says, ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice’ but Mr. Trump said there were ‘methods’ to doing so.”
“Trump Team Weighs Broader, Higher Tariffs” (Wall Street Journal). “The Trump administration is scrambling to determine the specifics of its new tariff agenda ahead of its self-imposed deadline of Wednesday, weighing options as the president has promised to remake the American economy with a swath of new levies. One key point of debate is whether to impose individualized tariff rates for U.S. trading partners, as President Trump has previewed in recent weeks, or revert to his campaign pledge for an across-the-board tariff that would affect virtually every country doing business with the U.S., say people familiar with the conversations.”
“White House Officials Are Quietly Freaking Out About Trump Upcoming ‘Liberation Day’ Tariff Announcement” (Daily Mail). “The mood inside the White House is verging on panic with just days to go before Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2. Trump is expected to unveil sweeping new tariffs on America's global trading partners, but those tasked with implementing his agenda admit they're uncertain. Behind closed doors, top administration officials are deeply concerned, with many quietly admitting they're unsure what the president is actually going to do.”
“Consistency On Taxes And Tariffs” (Marginal Revolution). “Peter Navarro is arguing that the pending tariffs will raise $600 billion a year, which might make them the biggest tax increase in U.S: history…If you too are against the tariffs, and arguing they will raise prices by a noticeable amount, that also means you think most of the tariff will not primarily fall on foreign producers. In light of that, you might wish to reevaluate your stance on the domestic corporate income tax. Perhaps quite a bit of that tax also does not fall on producers, due to competitive forces.”
“Explaining Stagnation In The College Wage Premium” (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco). “After growing substantially during the 1980s through the early 2000s, the college wage premium more recently has been largely unchanged, or stagnant. We extend the canonical production-function model of skill premiums to assess supply and demand contributions to the slowdown in college wage premium, using annual CPS ASEC data from the early 1960s through 2023. To account for the rising importance of women in the college educated workforce, we estimate a hybrid model that incorporates components that are disaggregated by age and gender. We also allow for non-linearities and changes over time in the parameters of the aggregate production function. Our results suggest that the recent stagnation of the college wage premium primarily reflects demand factors, specifically a slowdown in the pace of skill biased technological change.”
