With Mitt Romney recently opining that any further increases in the money supply would be inflationary, the Federal Reserve and its policies are becoming increasingly visible issues in the 2012 presidential race. Unfortunately, it appears from reader reactions to last…
Category: Other
Scandia gravel pit dispute illustrates importance of rules
Gravel is a humble, low-priced material, but one that modern economies need in large amounts. It can be extracted with far fewer environmental effects than coal or metal ores, but noise and dust problems are common, and a modern gravel…
Gold window’s close is not to blame for current troubles
The “closing of the gold window” in August 1971 may seem like small potatoes compared to larger events in history that continue to affect the world today. But just as decisions made during World War I continue to affect the…
Would increasing money supply be a political move?
Would it really be “treasonous” for the Federal Reserve to increase the money supply over the next 15 months? Rick Perry says it would be. Virtually all economists, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, academic or Wall Street – even…
Treating all recessions alike is a dangerous business
Not all recessions are alike. Unfortunately, many economists, politicians and members of the general public continue to act as if they are. If the only result of this were disappointment, it would not be so bad. But when governments, businesses…
Fear and greed supplant rationality
To borrow a phrase from the Vietnam era, the financial markets are “in a dynamic state.” In other words, no one knows what the hell is going on. The whole world, but especially the United States and European Union, faces…
Theories help us understand engines and economies
I chuckle at frequent angry emails accusing me of being an economic theorist who knows nothing about the real world. As my colleagues and students know, I am about as un-theoretical as an economist can be. But I recognize that…
Sometimes, regulation should check individual rights
What to do when one individual’s pursuit of her own self-interest collides with the well-being of another person? That is a difficult problem in any economic philosophy, but it is especially troublesome for libertarians who fiercely oppose government regulation of…
Minnesota’s state budget: a reality check
Recent budget disputes here in Minnesota furnish illustrations of how even a simple statistic can be misused in ways that mislead rather than enlighten. So does a recent op-ed about youth unemployment. Start with our state’s fiscal problems. Many writers…
Rhetoric obscures facts on taxes, spending
The popular mantra that “we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem” has been repeated so often that most Americans accept it as true without ever looking at the data. It would improve the level of the public debate…