Whether or not austerity is an appropriate policy for economies in recession after a large-scale financial crisis is a matter of debate among economists right now. In the real world, it is a political debate that becomes crucial in elections,…
Author: Ed Lotterman
Patient incentives needed to bring down health costs
The Affordable Care Act is going into operation, at least if conservative Republicans in the House fail to repeal it. Yet regardless of that or other changes in health financing, we will continue to struggle with rising costs of care…
Complex trends rule the jobs numbers
The national jobs situation continues to improve slightly. At its August level of 7.3 percent, the unemployment rate is back to where it was at the close of 2008 and down by a fourth from its November 2009 peak. At…
Wait until next time on stimulus pullback
The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting Open Market Committee met this week. It surprised both financial markets and many pundits by sticking with its established pattern of expanding total reserves in the banking system by purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.…
The rich got richer in the U.S. – but why?
The marked increase in the inequality of how income is distributed in our country is perhaps the most important problem our society faces and one of knottiest. It interlaces with other challenges, including federal fiscal issues and the long-run rate…
When is data too costly for it’s benefit?
Should we require meat packers to print the country of origin on every package of meat sold? Should the government publish long-term projections of spending, revenues and the national debt? These contemporary questions are important ones and economists can furnish…
Death panel rhetoric misleads
Only time will reveal all the effects of the Affordable Care Act on medical use and spending, but it already has fostered excessive rhetoric and general looniness. And no aspect of the new law provokes more of this than the…
Ronald Coase’s work aided libertarian thought
It is remarkable that Nobel laureate Ronald Coase, who died Monday in Chicago, lived to be nearly 103 years old, and it is unfortunate for his adopted country that his insightful views no longer will be forthcoming. The nation is…
Why big swings occur in oil prices
With some crude oil prices spiking last week jumping to their highest level in two years or more on news of possible intervention in Syria by the United States and its allies, Americans might well echo British Prime Minister Neville…
Asian crisis illustrates global give and take
If you ever needed evidence of how the contemporary global economy interconnects, just consider the belated international reaction to the realization that the Federal Reserve eventually must end its big expansion of bank reserves known as “quantitative easing.” Just read…