Donald Trump will be inaugurated in a matter of days after having campaigned for big changes in key economic policies. A new Congress is already in session and legislatures are gearing up in all states. Economic arguments will be in…
Author: Ed Lotterman
The roads to prosperity are paved with choices
A newly elected Congress and state legislatures will begin work soon. Party leaders are announcing priorities. At both the state and federal levels, transportation infrastructure is billed as a high priority. This is welcome because for years we have been…
Would a trade war hurt U.S. farmers?
No sector of the U.S. economy gained more from trade agreements over the past 40 years than agriculture. None has more to lose from a trade war. So while farm areas swung strongly for Donald Trump in November, there is…
The knotty questions of private property rights
Some economic problems are the same, regardless of scale. That is true right now in my neighborhood of St. Anthony Park, where someone is developing a long-unused lot and cutting down a couple dozen mature trees that had been there…
Imperfect indicators can still be useful
No economic indicator — whether of price levels, employment, output or whatever — is flawless. No indicator, by itself, gives a full picture of what it is measuring. All indicators involve some assumptions that to the uninitiated seem stupid. The…
Minnesota’s labor shortage cuts both ways
Minnesota’s “official” unemployment rate remains at 4 percent, a full point below the national rate. That is on a “seasonally adjusted” basis that smooths out such one-off factors as students working in summer or seasonal retail temps in the weeks…
Trump should tread lightly on the Fed
While most news about the incoming administration focuses on cabinet picks, Donald Trump also faces important decisions about the Federal Reserve, a government institution that by design is immune from politics. Here, I’d give Trump the advice Gen. Dwight Eisenhower…
Some get profiled, others get privilege
Some people pooh-pooh the existence of bigotry, but I myself, an elderly white guy, have been profiled against repeatedly recently — and it ain’t pretty folks! Yet often snap judgments based on cursory information, including appearance, are economically efficient. Social…
An economist explains why he’s repelled by Donald Trump
I believe the election of Donald Trump as president could undermine the traditions and values that have ensured our peace and prosperity through the years. I know others feel differently based on their beliefs, backgrounds and values. I come to…
Why we economists were wrong on MNsure
It’s re-enrollment time for people who get individual medical insurance through the state exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act. In our state, this is MNsure. As this was the most contentious legislation of the Obama administration and as we…