Author: Ed Lotterman

Comcast’s Time Warner deal a textbook case for economists

Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable surely warms the hearts of many econ profs. The deal represents a sort of one-stop-shopping case study of all the key issues in what economists term “industrial organization” or what the public knows…

Health care act no more a ‘job killer’ than Social Security or Medicare

People change their behavior in response to incentives. That is what economics is all about. So no one should be surprised that when a new law makes health care more accessible, some people will change their behavior, perhaps by working…

Empty gestures by politicians have little economic impact

Americans have conflicting impulses about government action in the economy. The idea that government “interference” in markets usually is harmful is popular these days. Yet when there is a problem, the idea that “the government ought to do something” still…

Change at Fed is about consistency

Continuity rather than change is the theme at the Federal Reserve this week. In the short term, its policy-making Open Market Committee decided to continue gradually reducing its long-established stimulus program of expanding the nation’s money supply through bond purchases.…

Water tax could save California from its drought

It is hot and dry in California. Water is scarce and is likely to get scarcer over the next months unless there is substantial precipitation. With an eighth of our nation’s population and an enormous agricultural sector, severe water shortages…