Many people look at the headlines and just see stories about missile defense systems and the ballooning Powerball lottery. Economists like me see people weighing known costs against uncertain payoffs. In both the missile story and the Powerball story in…
Forget the Friedman fight, just abolish the position
The fight over whether Stephen Friedman should be President Bush’s new top economic adviser reminded me of going to livestock auctions as a kid and seeing a farmer bring in a gunny sack full of surplus cats to sell. There…
Snow has tough policy to sell, swallow
John Snow, appointed as Treasury secretary by President Bush on Monday, appears extremely qualified for the job. He has a Ph.D. in economics, a degree in law and previous executive branch service. He was relatively successful in business and has…
State’s lopsided benefits plan needs attention
About 100,000 retired Minnesota public employees this year are getting the smallest percentage increase in their pensions since 1980. But it’s hard to feel sorry when they’ve done very well over the past eight years, with a cumulative increase in…