Most people in the United States enjoy an abundance of useful goods and services — more than nearly any other human who ever lived on Earth. Unfortunately, human nature is such that we do not appreciate this, nor does abundance…
Incentives aren’t only motivators
People change their behavior in response to incentives. This is a central tenet of economics and one that policy makers ignore at their — or society’s — peril. But not all the incentives that people respond to are monetary, financial…
Cost opportunity applies beyond economics
New students of economics commonly think that for an issue to involve economics it has to involve money. Fundamental concepts in economics, however, often pop up in unrelated contexts, many of which have no monetary or financial aspect. Consider the…
Fed’s interest in rates is all about bonds
After the Federal Open Market Committee met Tuesday, it issued this statement: “The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 1 percent.” That is a matter-of-fact statement that most people understand.…