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.
Commoditizing Excess Capacity
“If all the cars, and apartments, have people using them, and all the tools have people making things with them, we will need far fewer of those things. We have ‘enough’ stuff, it’s just in the closet.” ~Michael Munger
Unrealized Gains Tax is an Economic Fallacy
“Taxing unrealized capital gains from property, stocks, and other assets is a bad idea. It undermines economic growth, stifles innovation, and infringes on personal liberty.” ~Vance Ginn
How the West Won the Money Race
“Today the world still benefits from monetary and financial innovations begun in China, then picked up and carried like a baton in Renaissance Europe.” ~Paul McDonnold
Two Birds of a Fiscal Feather
“Both property tax increases and rent control continue to be controversial, after decades, in that they both represent forms of grand theft against housing owners and rental housing providers.” ~Gary M. Galles
Heaps of Trouble
“The reason sorites logic is so difficult to diffuse is that there is no obvious line or threshold to be established somewhere between the incremental steps that begin with a budget surplus and end with a budget consumed by interest payments.” ~Jimmy Alfonso Licon
Inflation Remains Elevated. Is Money Actually Tight?
” Fed watchers expect the Federal Open Market Committee will keep rates steady when they meet on March 19-20. In light of the CPI data, that’s a defensible move.” ~Alexander W. Salter
Campus Incitement
“What does it say of such highly respected places that some of their carefully selected students are bigots who want to replicate the ‘final solution’ of Nazi Germany? This is total, complete, moral bankruptcy.” ~Walter Block and Alan Futerman
“Stabilization” Is Just Bad Old Rent Control
“Just about the worst way to ‘help’ renters is by punishing property owners for providing rental housing, which is just what rent caps do.” ~Jason Sorens
NAFTA: 30 Years of Driving Free Trade Critics Crazy
“If the United States has been harmed by NAFTA, it is perhaps found in the misplaced attention it receives. Energy devoted to the trade deal’s alleged harm is attention deflected from actual policy missteps.” ~Colin Grabow
AIER’s Everyday Price Index Spikes 0.73 Percent
“While tailwinds from normalizing supply chains are cooling goods prices, concerns linger about the sustainability of this trend. In particular, the February CPI readings strongly suggest that the January updraft was not anomalous.” ~Peter C. Earle
The Fed (Almost) Ruined Black Friday
“A record $1.3 trillion in credit card debt may be masking a weaker economy than the top-line spending numbers suggest, as consumers accrue debt to maintain a standard of living being crushed by rising prices in housing, groceries, and energy.” ~Spence Purnell
Childless China: Coercive Population Plan Implodes
“That China’s downfall stems from its own collectivist policies is no small irony, but it should come as no surprise. It stems from the same flawed thinking that led to the fall of the last communist empire.” ~Jon Miltimore
Another Year, Another Crisis
“From inflation to a Fed tightening cycle, to banking losses and now real estate tremors, we again find ourselves climbing tenuously out of one hole only to collapse limply into another.” ~Peter C. Earle
Does Argentina Have Enough Dollars to Dollarize?
“It’s not that Argentina lacks dollars. Rather, it is that the Argentine government lacks the will to commit to its dollarization plan.” ~Nicolás Cachanosky
Introducing AIER’s “Qualified Opinions” Podcast
AIER proudly introduces Qualified Opinions, a new podcast hosted by Veronique de Rugy that will illuminate the “challenges facing free markets, liberalism, and the political climate of today.”
Division of Labor Makes Us Wealthy…And Fragile
“Our dependence on the ability to serve others in highly specialized ways is contingent on the rest of the system working constantly and efficiently. Our shrinking command of general competence puts us at greater risk.” ~Michael Munger
Proletarian Capitalism
“Simply by repurposing existing personal property, Uber, Airbnb, and other sharing-economy innovations enlarge humanity’s stock of productive capital. And in doing so, these innovations also create more capitalists.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Why Solzhenitsyn’s Line Between Good and Evil Matters
“The extended social order created by the free market expands our opportunities to cooperate with others, and crucially, accepts human nature for what it is.” ~Barry Brownstein
Commoditizing Excess Capacity
“If all the cars, and apartments, have people using them, and all the tools have people making things with them, we will need far fewer of those things. We have ‘enough’ stuff, it’s just in the closet.” ~Michael Munger
Unrealized Gains Tax is an Economic Fallacy
“Taxing unrealized capital gains from property, stocks, and other assets is a bad idea. It undermines economic growth, stifles innovation, and infringes on personal liberty.” ~Vance Ginn
How the West Won the Money Race
“Today the world still benefits from monetary and financial innovations begun in China, then picked up and carried like a baton in Renaissance Europe.” ~Paul McDonnold
Two Birds of a Fiscal Feather
“Both property tax increases and rent control continue to be controversial, after decades, in that they both represent forms of grand theft against housing owners and rental housing providers.” ~Gary M. Galles
Heaps of Trouble
“The reason sorites logic is so difficult to diffuse is that there is no obvious line or threshold to be established somewhere between the incremental steps that begin with a budget surplus and end with a budget consumed by interest payments.” ~Jimmy Alfonso Licon
Inflation Remains Elevated. Is Money Actually Tight?
” Fed watchers expect the Federal Open Market Committee will keep rates steady when they meet on March 19-20. In light of the CPI data, that’s a defensible move.” ~Alexander W. Salter
Campus Incitement
“What does it say of such highly respected places that some of their carefully selected students are bigots who want to replicate the ‘final solution’ of Nazi Germany? This is total, complete, moral bankruptcy.” ~Walter Block and Alan Futerman
“Stabilization” Is Just Bad Old Rent Control
“Just about the worst way to ‘help’ renters is by punishing property owners for providing rental housing, which is just what rent caps do.” ~Jason Sorens
NAFTA: 30 Years of Driving Free Trade Critics Crazy
“If the United States has been harmed by NAFTA, it is perhaps found in the misplaced attention it receives. Energy devoted to the trade deal’s alleged harm is attention deflected from actual policy missteps.” ~Colin Grabow
AIER’s Everyday Price Index Spikes 0.73 Percent
“While tailwinds from normalizing supply chains are cooling goods prices, concerns linger about the sustainability of this trend. In particular, the February CPI readings strongly suggest that the January updraft was not anomalous.” ~Peter C. Earle
The Fed (Almost) Ruined Black Friday
“A record $1.3 trillion in credit card debt may be masking a weaker economy than the top-line spending numbers suggest, as consumers accrue debt to maintain a standard of living being crushed by rising prices in housing, groceries, and energy.” ~Spence Purnell
Childless China: Coercive Population Plan Implodes
“That China’s downfall stems from its own collectivist policies is no small irony, but it should come as no surprise. It stems from the same flawed thinking that led to the fall of the last communist empire.” ~Jon Miltimore
Another Year, Another Crisis
“From inflation to a Fed tightening cycle, to banking losses and now real estate tremors, we again find ourselves climbing tenuously out of one hole only to collapse limply into another.” ~Peter C. Earle
Does Argentina Have Enough Dollars to Dollarize?
“It’s not that Argentina lacks dollars. Rather, it is that the Argentine government lacks the will to commit to its dollarization plan.” ~Nicolás Cachanosky
Introducing AIER’s “Qualified Opinions” Podcast
AIER proudly introduces Qualified Opinions, a new podcast hosted by Veronique de Rugy that will illuminate the “challenges facing free markets, liberalism, and the political climate of today.”
Division of Labor Makes Us Wealthy…And Fragile
“Our dependence on the ability to serve others in highly specialized ways is contingent on the rest of the system working constantly and efficiently. Our shrinking command of general competence puts us at greater risk.” ~Michael Munger
Proletarian Capitalism
“Simply by repurposing existing personal property, Uber, Airbnb, and other sharing-economy innovations enlarge humanity’s stock of productive capital. And in doing so, these innovations also create more capitalists.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Why Solzhenitsyn’s Line Between Good and Evil Matters
“The extended social order created by the free market expands our opportunities to cooperate with others, and crucially, accepts human nature for what it is.” ~Barry Brownstein