Daily economy news from the American Institute for Economic Research: data, stories, research, and articles touching on economics, politics, culture, education, policy, opinion, technology, markets, healthcare, regulation, trends, and much more.

AIER’s Editorial Policy.

How To Be Accidentally Right, Central Banking Style

“Money is broken, and while these activists might not be able to explain how, they’re not wrong in pointing their fingers at the monetary authority at the center of it all.” ~Joakim Book

Taxation as Social Justice

“The goal is not to raise raise revenue so we can support the poor; instead, the US is pursuing the simpler goal of eliminating private concentrations of wealth.” ~Michael Munger

Academic Lies about Free-Market Economists

“They treat history as ‘an armoury from which to ransack politically expedient weapons.’ In the process of that ransacking, they cross the line into willful misrepresentations of their source material, all in the service of a modern-day political cause. ” ~Phillip W. Magness

Dark Matter and the Swimming Pool App

“DHHS wants to regulate pool rentals without going through the process of formal rulemaking. So the agency releases a guidance document telling impressionable county officials and homeowners that, as far as they’re concerned, they’re treating Swimply rentals as if they have a rule in place.” ~Jon Sanders

Beware of Mistaking Artifacts for Economic Realities

“Recognition that the size, or possibly even the very existence, of any measured US trade deficit depends heavily on the accounting conventions used to record international commercial transactions should be sufficient to calm the fears that arise whenever this accounting artifact shows a deficit.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

Truck This: Why I’m Leaving the Long-Haul Industry

“However well-intentioned these rules and regulations might be, it’s clear that no one is consulting with the long haul truckers about the totally foreseeable bad outcomes.” ~Christopher Wilcox

Get Ready to Kiss Your Credit Card Rewards Goodbye

“The benign-sounding Credit Card Competition Act is a double whammy. It’s not just a threat to my credit card rewards; It’s a violation of my libertarian principles.” ~Jon Miltimore

Thinking Harder about “Special” Benefits

“To the extent we believe in giving government assistance to those with incomes, we should trust them to love themselves and their families more than the government does and give them that aid in cash.” ~Gary Galles

Orangeopia

“Perhaps an Orangeopian union or minimum wage can at least decrease income inequality, or maybe even increase the per capita standard of living?” ~Bruce Rottman

Nothing Was “Normal” on the Other Side of the Wall

“Nothing was ‘normal’ about the totalitarian life in socialist GDR, if by ‘normal’ we mean pursuit of human happiness and fulfilment.” ~Robertas Bakula and Luis Carlos Araujo Quintero

Is Dollarization a Mirage?

“Dollarization would serve as a firewall, protecting the private sector from the fiscal policy fallout.” ~Nicolas Cachanosky

How To Be Accidentally Right, Central Banking Style

“Money is broken, and while these activists might not be able to explain how, they’re not wrong in pointing their fingers at the monetary authority at the center of it all.” ~Joakim Book

Taxation as Social Justice

“The goal is not to raise raise revenue so we can support the poor; instead, the US is pursuing the simpler goal of eliminating private concentrations of wealth.” ~Michael Munger

Academic Lies about Free-Market Economists

“They treat history as ‘an armoury from which to ransack politically expedient weapons.’ In the process of that ransacking, they cross the line into willful misrepresentations of their source material, all in the service of a modern-day political cause. ” ~Phillip W. Magness

Dark Matter and the Swimming Pool App

“DHHS wants to regulate pool rentals without going through the process of formal rulemaking. So the agency releases a guidance document telling impressionable county officials and homeowners that, as far as they’re concerned, they’re treating Swimply rentals as if they have a rule in place.” ~Jon Sanders

Beware of Mistaking Artifacts for Economic Realities

“Recognition that the size, or possibly even the very existence, of any measured US trade deficit depends heavily on the accounting conventions used to record international commercial transactions should be sufficient to calm the fears that arise whenever this accounting artifact shows a deficit.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

Truck This: Why I’m Leaving the Long-Haul Industry

“However well-intentioned these rules and regulations might be, it’s clear that no one is consulting with the long haul truckers about the totally foreseeable bad outcomes.” ~Christopher Wilcox

Get Ready to Kiss Your Credit Card Rewards Goodbye

“The benign-sounding Credit Card Competition Act is a double whammy. It’s not just a threat to my credit card rewards; It’s a violation of my libertarian principles.” ~Jon Miltimore

Thinking Harder about “Special” Benefits

“To the extent we believe in giving government assistance to those with incomes, we should trust them to love themselves and their families more than the government does and give them that aid in cash.” ~Gary Galles

Orangeopia

“Perhaps an Orangeopian union or minimum wage can at least decrease income inequality, or maybe even increase the per capita standard of living?” ~Bruce Rottman

Nothing Was “Normal” on the Other Side of the Wall

“Nothing was ‘normal’ about the totalitarian life in socialist GDR, if by ‘normal’ we mean pursuit of human happiness and fulfilment.” ~Robertas Bakula and Luis Carlos Araujo Quintero

Is Dollarization a Mirage?

“Dollarization would serve as a firewall, protecting the private sector from the fiscal policy fallout.” ~Nicolas Cachanosky