The value of China’s currency relative to the dollar is controversial. Congress threatens China with punitive tariffs if it does not weaken the dollar relative to the yuan. Just how this issue will unfold is uncertain. It is likely, however,…
Category: Other
Africa ills rooted in history
This week’s Live 8 and G-8 events have generated a great deal of comment, but much of it is shallow rhetoric that hurts rather than helps Africa’s poor. Policy debates about how to help that impoverished continent would be more…
We owe a lot to Alexander Hamilton
As you celebrate Independence Day, be thankful for Alexander Hamilton. The economic strength of our nation is largely due to actions he took two centuries ago. While many know him only as the face on a $10 bill, he was…
Fed “balance” too subjective
Imagine the scene at the Federal Reserve some months hence: A group of nerdish Ph.D.s pores over the latest economic data and output from the Fed’s own sophisticated computer models. One, peering intently at a computer screen, suddenly calls out…
In rare cases, crime pays for society
Occasionally, theft is economically efficient, leaving society better off than if it had not occurred. That was not the case when someone broke into our car last Monday. The cost to us — and to society, through the intermediary of…
High prices good news to some
Economic reality is that high prices benefit some people even when they hurt many others. Moreover, high prices motivate actions that benefit society in the long run. It is human nature to dislike paying more for goods and services. For…
Don’t restrict debt aid to the delinquent
The non-prodigal son had a legitimate gripe. At least that is what I thought as a child. And that is why I think the debt relief offered to poor African countries should be extended to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other…
Gravel dispute raises concrete economic issues
Sometimes an apparently mundane local issue contains more economic issues than meet the eye. Take a story in this newspaper last Sunday on the controversy over a proposed gravel pit in Dakota County. On the surface, it is simple: The…
Concern over Social Security is nothing new
Two misconceptions are confusing current discussions about Social Security. The first is that the program has never been changed since its inception in 1935. The second is that until recently, the problems of funding baby boomer retirements were unanticipated and…
Productivity should be focus
Most public discussion of Social Security focuses on the most obvious problem: financing benefits. It avoids the more fundamental question of how to produce goods and services to meet the needs of people when the number of workers per retiree…