A Slippery New Rule for Gauging Fiscal Policy

The New York Times: How should Congress’s economists open a can of worms? Keith Hall, the new director of the Congressional Budget Office, is likely to be grappling with that odd question very soon.

Let’s start with some background. For the last six years, Douglas Elmendorf has been the director of the C.B.O. By my judgment, he has done a remarkable job of shepherding the institution through times that have been both economically and politically difficult. (Full disclosure: Mr. Elmendorf is a friend and former student of mine, so I am not entirely objective. But many prominent policy wonks endorsed his reappointment.)

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