There are few things our federal government does that are more important than tabulating how the economy is performing. And there are few things it does better. Yet, reflecting what historian Richard Hofstadter called “the paranoid style in American politics,”…
Nobels go to two who helped solve everyday issues
Wherever the soul of British economist John Maynard Keynes is, it must be warmed by this year’s award of the Bank of Sweden’s prize in memory of Alfred Nobel. This went to two Americans, Lloyd Shapley of UCLA and Alvin…
Financial success is like cabbage
October is harvest time, and the results from our cabbage patch illustrate something that is as true in economic life as in horticulture. Environment has a great deal to do with outcomes. Identical plants performed very differently because of one…
Individual autonomy has a high price tag
The quasi-libertarian idea that we would be much richer if we had very minimal government is becoming more popular, especially among some young people. When I hear this asserted, I always ask myself, “Where are all the rich libertarian countries?”…