A little extra income is usually welcome, so it was nice to open the mail and find that the value of our farm increased 12 percent last year, at least according to the county assessor. For those who want a…
Category: Other
Tax breaks can obscure health costs
Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when first we micromanage human behavior with tax breaks, A recent report by a Minnesota union raises an interesting behavioral question: Will people make sound medical decisions if forgoing treatment puts money in their…
Greenspan tarnishes his own image
Alan Greenspan certainly would not lie to Congress and the American people, though he is known to be intentionally disingenuous on occasion. He might dissemble or equivocate, perhaps even prevaricate. But no, the chairman wouldn’t lie. Keep that in mind…
“Great man theory” can be applied to Fed
Do individuals change history? The “great man theory” — the idea that history unfolds because of the actions of individuals like Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte or Ronald Reagan — is out of favor among academic historians these days. Charismatic individuals…
MTC crossroads
The proposed cuts in metro-area bus service announced Monday are bad news, but they do illustrate several economic principles. One can only hope that sound economic analysis may identify measures to cushion the harm from reduced service. I should acknowledge…
Overzealous rules smack of mercantilism
Though Louis XIV’s most capable minister died 422 years ago, Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s spirit lives on. Under Colbert’s direction, the economic system known as mercantilism reached its high point. Other nations admire Colbert’s policies, but history demonstrated that mercantilism was a…
Economists back toll lanes
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is set to try an idea that economists have advocated for years: congestion pricing. Whether it will make traffic flow more efficiently on Interstate 394 is still to be proved. Not everyone understands the idea…
Simple ideas are sometimes simply wrong
Simple explanations of complicated phenomena are attractive but often dangerous. A guest on a late-night interview show drove that home for me recently. Jim Rogers, a successful investor and foreign exchange speculator, expounded on global economic conditions and plugged his…
Minimum wage has minimal economic effect
The minimum wage is much less important than people think. That assertion might anger some on both ends of the political spectrum, particularly when the Minnesota Legislature is considering a minimum wage increase and Milwaukee is considering a city-mandated minimum…
Leave Marx’s economic labels in past
People should stop using the word “capitalism.” It is a poorly defined, much misunderstood word and it causes more problems than it solves. Karl Marx coined the term 150 years ago. He apparently had a clear idea of what he…