President Barack Obama’s proposals this week to deal with the possible adverse effects of oil trading focus on two somewhat separate issues. The first is deliberate manipulation of prices for the benefit of someone in the petroleum industry or for…
Category: Other
When price competition heats up, we pay for it in hidden fees
Most people hate getting nickeled and dimed to death. I am no exception, so when Bank of America, which now holds the mortgage on our house, sent us a letter listing all sorts of fees we would be liable for…
Should government gather and publish data for businesses? Yes
The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects Minnesota farmers to plant 8.7 million acres of corn this year, 7 percent more than in 2011. For the whole nation, it expects a 4 percent increase. However, it expects an 8 percent drop…
Electronics makers and the return of price fixing
Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG and other electronics manufacturers recently announced a plan to limit retailers’ discount selling of their products by imposing a unilateral pricing policy. This raises two questions: What are the economics of such actions? And don’t they…
What some call “pink slime,” others call being thrifty
My own conflicted reactions to discussions of “pink slime” – the processed beef product that is at the center of considerable controversy – illustrate the complicated economics of modern food and its processing. I can’t help it; the “yuk factor”…
In shipping, cattle and some careers, cycles play out
The bottom has fallen out on shipping rates, putting the world’s ship owners and ocean shipping companies in dire financial straits. For the dry bulk carriers that haul grain, iron ore, coal and similar commodities, charter rates as of February…
Health insurance would not be first mandate from government
Economists aren’t lawyers and should not speculate about any Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of imposing penalties on people who don’t buy health insurance. However, they do have insights for considering the issue more broadly. Start by recognizing that…
Right-to-work debate full of economic tradeoffs
Regardless of what position you take on whether the Minnesota constitution should be amended to make it a “right-to-work” state, you probably can find an economist to support it. Unlike, international trade, which economists across the political spectrum generally find…
Rising farm values changing mix of property taxes
Farmland prices are surging just as residential property values continue to slide. These opposing trends in real estate prices may cause significant shifts in the burden of the property tax that supports local units of government such as cities, counties…
High gas prices have been around before
Oil price spikes are not good for the economy, especially in the short term. But neither are they fatal. The U.S. economy, like other market economies, is more resilient than many people give it credit for. It can adjust to…