Thursday’s budget will let loose a torrent of numbers. While economists are well known to disagree on many things, we are united in our love for number crunching. Frances Woolley in her recent post provided a few pointers on how to steer around some typical budget number tricks. In my post today, I build on her advice with a few more tips on how economists read a budget. The first question to ask of any budget announcement is whether the dollars are recurring or one-time only. If we change a tax that brings in $1-billion a year, the budget changes not just this year but in future years as well. This recurring change ... (full story)