On Thanksgiving, some people probably gave thanks for this year’s bountiful harvest. But I doubt many prayers included “and we give special thanks, dear Lord, for the increase in ‘total factor productivity’ over the past year.” Yet increases in economic…
Category: Other
Both of roadwork is a tax in kind
There’s more economics in a detour than meets the eye. Everyone pays taxes — sales, property, income or FICA — in money. But nearly everyone also pays taxes in kind. That’s an economist’s reaction to the news that a narrow,…
UCare not only victim of bidding process
Columbia University’s William Vickery died only three days after the announcement that he had received the 1996 Nobel for economics. But his insights, particularly on the design of auctions, live on and have practical applications in business and government. They…
Trade is an elusive target for politicians
That we need leaders who can unite the American people has become a cliche. So perhaps one should be glad that Bernie Sanders, a sharp-left Democratic candidate for president, and Donald Trump on the Republican side, agree on at least…
Ex-Im Bank battle is symbolic
Some of the arguments over the Export-Import Bank remind me of a silly commercial for mints in the 1960s in which two people argued about whether the product was candy or a bad-breath remedy. I want to interject: “it’s two,…
Just what would negative interest rates entail?
Part of the unintended genius in the design of the Federal Reserve System is demonstrated by how speeches given by a once-obscure academic in small regional cities like Helena, Mont., or Mankato, Minn., can affect national monetary policy. So is…
How food guidelines affect U.S. markets
It is a political minefield when government takes stands on nutrition issues that will help or harm specific sets of producers. That became very clear 70 years ago when the Iowa legislature forced Iowa State University to fire one of…
We may have overbuilt the railroads, but they spurred U.S. development
Right after the Civil War, our nation embarked on a frenzy of railroad building, spurred by very high levels of government subsidy, albeit often in the form of land grants. Total track miles and tonnage carried burgeoned. But did we…
VW fraud illustrates a loss of principles
Recent disclosures of Volkswagen’s deliberate frauds to foil U.S. emissions standards on its diesel cars may be mind-boggling in their audacity, but they are a gift to econ teachers like me. What better example could one find of the particular…
Economist’s talk underscores lack of voices on the right
The irony couldn’t have been greater. On Thursday, Sept. 10, John Taylor, one of the most experienced and widely respected economists who identifies as Republican, gave an articulate talk at the Economic Club of Minnesota. He holds an endowed chair…