“You win some, you lose some, and some you get rained out.” That pretty much sums up how economics teachers like me, who venture guesses to their students about possible Nobel laureates in economics, felt this morning. The Nobel committee…
Promises sacrifice sound policies to score a few points in the polls
In the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, Lumierre, the candlestick-butler advises the beast to “make little promises you don’t intend to keep.” It’s great advice if you are a beast wooing a beauty. I just wish political candidates would…
A call to share the global wealth
Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent Harvard University economist, has never been a member of the foreign-aid establishment and has recently become an outspoken critic of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Instead, Sachs has spent his career jetting from…
Euro and oil actions are unlikely to have a major effect on market
When should governments act to counter market forces of supply or demand? Liberals would answer: “Whenever a democratic society does not like market outcomes.” Conservatives would say: “Almost never.” Pragmatic economists like me boldly assert: “It depends.” The perennial question…