Boink? Clink? Thunk? There is no standard editorial cartoon caption for a can being kicked down the road. But whatever that sound might be, you could hear it Wednesday when the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee decided to stick with…
Fed’s ‘Dead Economists Society’ still quite alive
Economists may die, but their ideas can live on for decades or centuries. Sometimes a theory may seem dead, only to come back, like Lazarus. New Zealand economist A.W. (Bill) Phillips passed away in 1975, but his ideas live on…
Nobels illustrate change in theories
The three U.S. economists awarded the Nobel Memorial Medal in Economic Science last week have all done good work and deserve the honor. They were grouped together because they worked in the same general area of finance: how markets determine…
China has grand plans for its currency
Forty years ago, Treasury Secretary John Connally told U.S. allies: “The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.” That high-handed attitude grated, but it was an accurate reflection of the economic dominance of the United States. Today, as U.S.…