End This Depression Now!

The Great Recession that began in 2007 is now more than four years old—and counting. Some 24 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and at recent rates of job creation we won’t be back to normal levels of employment until late this decade. This is a tragedy. Do we have to accept it?

“No!” is the resounding answer given by Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman ...

The Great Recession that began in 2007 is now more than four years old—and counting. Some 24 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and at recent rates of job creation we won’t be back to normal levels of employment until late this decade. This is a tragedy. Do we have to accept it?

“No!” is the resounding answer given by Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman in this call to arms. We have seen this situation before and we know how to fix it; all we lack is the political will to take action.

Krugman walks us through the financial crisis that triggered the greatest downturn since the Great Depression and outlines the efforts that have been made thus far. The way forward is clear. Our priority must be to get ourselves back on the path to growth; every day that we lag behind normal production levels only adds to the astronomical economic loss of this depression. What we need for a rapid, powerful recovery is precisely what we’ve needed in crises past—a burst of government spending to jump-start the economy. We owe it not only to the unemployed, but to everyone affected by this tragedy to end this depression now.

保罗•克鲁格曼，诺贝尔经济学奖得主、普林斯顿大学经济学教授、畅销书作者、专栏作家。他是新凯恩斯主义经济学派代表，主要研究领域包括国际贸易、国际金融、货币危机与汇率理论。1991年，他成为麻省理工学院经济系获得克拉克经济学奖的第五人。1994年成功预言亚洲金融危机，2008年独享诺贝尔经济学奖。

克鲁格曼的文笔清晰流畅，深入浅出，不仅是专业研究人员的必读之物，更是普通大众的良师益友。在公众的眼中，他是一位不可多得的大众经济学家，被誉为“自凯恩斯以降，文章写得最好的经济学家”。主要作品有《现在终结萧条！》、《一个自由主义者的良知》、《萧条经济学的回归》、《兜售繁荣》。