Many women are willing to put enormous effort into becoming NFL cheerleaders, even though the job pays virtually nothing — at least according to a reality TV series now running on cable. Some viewers find that hard to understand. Similarly,…
Category: Other
Grazing dispute replete with irony
The recent brouhaha over Nevada scofflaw rancher Cliven Bundy is chilling in revealing the degree of support that do-it-yourself constitutional interpretation has gained in our country and in the number of people willing to take up arms to defy the…
Railroad regulation a question of benefit
A friend was livid when he heard that farmers in the Dakotas and Montana are calling for federal action to force railroads to move grain faster, despite burgeoning oil shipments. “Farmers are the biggest hypocrites,” he said. “They decry wasteful…
Public will pay for minimum wage hike
Let’s take a look at the increase in Minnesota’s minimum wage, passed last week at the Capitol. Wading through the political rhetoric, the economic reality remains: The wage hike largely will be paid for by consumers. It’s a phased-in increase…
All the politics of trade are local, too
Will the European Union hold together? Should the United States join the Trans-Pacific Partnership? When considering these questions, remember that nations enter into international trade pacts for foreign policy reasons, not because their leaders took economics courses in college and…
Balancing economic growth vs. public good
No matter how many photos you have seen, when you walk up to the Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain, it is breathtaking. It also inspires questions. How could a civilization with such limited technology and using only human and animal…
Accounting for changes in price – and value
I had cataract surgery last week and it brought to mind a knotty problem the Bureau of Labor Statistics faces in tabulating the Consumer Price Index: How do we account for getting “more bang for the buck” when we measure…
The costs of Sunday liquor sales
There often are situations where government action to solve one type of “market failure” creates another. That is the case with Minnesota laws that ban sales of packaged liquor on Sunday. Enacted to prevent what economists would see as the…
Economics both cause and effect in Ukraine
The diplomatic crisis over Ukraine hangs primarily on geopolitical questions that have festered since the Soviet Union collapsed over two decades ago. But any international political or military crisis inevitably involves some economic issues in terms of causes and effects.…
Let’s not get carried away with Minnesota budget surplus
Along with several other states, Minnesota has returned to a budget surplus after some sharp deficit years. Whether that is because of luck or good policy is a matter of divided opinion. But there reportedly is about $1 billion on…