Politicians in particular and the public in general should be careful about supporting policies based on one or two economic studies. Given the nature of social “sciences” such as economics, this is likely to be true for a long time.…
Author: Ed Lotterman
Reaction to proposed IRA cap is overblown
We live in an era given to rhetorical excess, but some of the reaction to a minor recommendation in the Obama administration’s 2014 budget proposal set records. The proposal was to cap tax-subsidized retirement accounts at $3 million per person.…
Yes, there are signs of hope
One swallow does not make a summer, but there is good news, locally and nationally, on residential construction, home sales and housing prices. Don’t take such news as evidence that the good times of 2001-2005 are going to roll again…
What tree planting tells us about ‘induced innovation’
There is a lot of economics to planting trees, particularly on the prairie where they don’t really want to grow. Doing so involves a lot of repetitive tasks that give one time to think, including musing over the economics of…
Internet sales tax makes sense
It is encouraging that the “Marketplace Fairness Act” is progressing well through the U.S. Senate. The House may prove to be a different story, although the odds are that some version of it will pass eventually. Because it facilitates states…
After tragedy, a rational response is needed
The tragic explosion last week at the retail fertilizer plant in West, Texas, illustrates some of the pitfalls of hazard reduction policies. Public and media discussion of the case also shows how the standard economic model of human decision-making —…
Politics can obscure history’s reasons
If you like irony, the kerfluffle about the Obama administration’s proposal to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority provides plenty. Obama, viewed as a socialist by many on the right, is trying, a la conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, to get the…
Taxing bad habits may not meet their costs
The DFL caucus in the Minnesota House has issued tax proposals intended to close a pending budget deficit and repay $854 million “borrowed” from the state’s school districts, among other things. The proposal includes substantial increases in taxes on alcoholic…
Sell the farm or keep the ‘psychic income’?
According to the Murray County assessor, our 211 acres of farmland is worth $225,100 more than it was a year ago. Not only is that a lot of money, at least for a couple of ink-stained scribblers like my wife…
For Social Security, CPI move is sensible
President Barack Obama created a hullabaloo by including a proposal to index future cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits to a chained consumer price index rather than the one used over the past 38 years. Many Democrats are beating him…