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.
America’s Long Depression
“The US economy may continue to grow or shrink a few percent from year to year, but it will remain mired in a deep depression compared to what it could have achieved.” ~ Robert E. Wright
Without Economic Freedom, None of the Others Matter
“Forbidding entrepreneurial ventures that have not been granted prior approval and design review by unelected officials is, practically speaking, state ownership of the means of production.” ~ Paul Schwennesen
How Congress Should Reform the Fed
“Congress should narrow the Fed’s regulatory concerns to maintaining adequate bank capital. It should also consider abolishing the discount window entirely.” ~ Alexander William Salter
Can the Fed Continue to Fight Inflation without Risking a Financial Crisis?
“In principle, the Fed has the ability to provide liquidity to the banking system while simultaneously reducing the incentives banks have to make loans.” ~ Bryan Cutsinger
Taylor Swift, Turn Your Wrath to Government!
“The entity that Taylor Swift and her legion of fans are turning to save themselves from a predatory monopoly that engages in shifty pricing is itself a predatory monopoly that engages in shifty pricing.” ~ Anthony Gill
More Self-Interested Union Altruism
“Whenever someone claims an altruistic reason to support a policy, but it clearly advances their narrow self-interest, the latter effect can explain such support, regardless of whether it helps or even hurts the supposed beneficiaries.” ~ Gary M. Galles
Modern Mercantilism: A Case for Free Trade
“Global free trade helps both consumers, via lower quality-adjusted prices, and taxpayers. Walking into a Walmart to buy goods I want for dollars I earn at work does not leave me, or the nation, worse off, even if those goods originated in another country. ” ~ Stefan Bartl
Emotions and Climate Change
“Conversations on campus are increasingly radical and will inevitably bleed into the mainstream dialogue. Be ready.” ~ Paul Schwennesen
You Use the Roads, Don’t You?
“Having resources taken from you against your will, and then accepting the return of some of those resources, in the form of a monopoly road system, does not make you a free rider.” ~ Michael C. Munger
A Book to Help Young Americans Understand Economics: Economics in Action by Brian Balfour
“Countering the plague of economic falsehoods and disinformation that statists constantly spread is crucial to our liberty, and this book does so brilliantly.” ~ George Leef
Reduce, Reuse, and…Refuse?
“The last thing we want is to make our virtue signaling but inefficient recycling the modern equivalent of buying indulgences to atone for alleged environmental sins.” ~ Bruce Rottman
Stadium Subsidies Reveal Tensions in Democratic Priorities
“Despite being a well-known mirage, the promises of economic and job growth prove too attractive for local policymakers to resist. This tells us something about their priorities.” ~ Daniel J. Smith
CEA Deserves an F on Bitcoin Mining Tax Analysis
“The CEA’s argument would result in a failure on an introductory microeconomics exam. One expects better from a team of professional economists.” ~ Joshua R. Hendrickson
AIER’s Everyday Price Index Up 0.60 Percent in April 2023
“AIER’s Everyday Price Index (EPI) rose 0.60 percent in April 2023 following being essentially unchanged in March and rising 1.6 percent in January and February.” ~ Peter C. Earle
Legal Mafias and Moral Asymmetries
“Legal doesn’t mean right. It doesn’t mean just. It doesn’t mean moral. The powerful get away with misdeeds because, for too long, we have conflated the domains. And this conflation goes all the way down.” ~ Max Borders
Hail to the Chief, President 6PRKr4!
“Assign to each candidate for high office a new, sterile name – something that reads like an abbreviated VIN for an automobile. For example: 6PRKr4. In fact, call it a PIN – ‘Politician Identification Number.'” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
An Approach to Teaching Rawls And Income Inequality
“Far from representing an outcome chosen behind the veil of ignorance, political pressures will always be driven by full knowledge of the benefits realized by self-interested actors, even if they mouth formulaic invocations of ‘social justice’ while they do it.” ~ Michael C. Munger
So Why Aren’t We Paying Down the National Debt?
“The world will remain a dangerous place, but the further the nation is from its credit limit, the more effectively the government will be able to respond when, not if, something goes seriously awry.” ~ Robert E. Wright
America’s Long Depression
“The US economy may continue to grow or shrink a few percent from year to year, but it will remain mired in a deep depression compared to what it could have achieved.” ~ Robert E. Wright
Without Economic Freedom, None of the Others Matter
“Forbidding entrepreneurial ventures that have not been granted prior approval and design review by unelected officials is, practically speaking, state ownership of the means of production.” ~ Paul Schwennesen
How Congress Should Reform the Fed
“Congress should narrow the Fed’s regulatory concerns to maintaining adequate bank capital. It should also consider abolishing the discount window entirely.” ~ Alexander William Salter
Can the Fed Continue to Fight Inflation without Risking a Financial Crisis?
“In principle, the Fed has the ability to provide liquidity to the banking system while simultaneously reducing the incentives banks have to make loans.” ~ Bryan Cutsinger
Taylor Swift, Turn Your Wrath to Government!
“The entity that Taylor Swift and her legion of fans are turning to save themselves from a predatory monopoly that engages in shifty pricing is itself a predatory monopoly that engages in shifty pricing.” ~ Anthony Gill
More Self-Interested Union Altruism
“Whenever someone claims an altruistic reason to support a policy, but it clearly advances their narrow self-interest, the latter effect can explain such support, regardless of whether it helps or even hurts the supposed beneficiaries.” ~ Gary M. Galles
Modern Mercantilism: A Case for Free Trade
“Global free trade helps both consumers, via lower quality-adjusted prices, and taxpayers. Walking into a Walmart to buy goods I want for dollars I earn at work does not leave me, or the nation, worse off, even if those goods originated in another country. ” ~ Stefan Bartl
Emotions and Climate Change
“Conversations on campus are increasingly radical and will inevitably bleed into the mainstream dialogue. Be ready.” ~ Paul Schwennesen
You Use the Roads, Don’t You?
“Having resources taken from you against your will, and then accepting the return of some of those resources, in the form of a monopoly road system, does not make you a free rider.” ~ Michael C. Munger
A Book to Help Young Americans Understand Economics: Economics in Action by Brian Balfour
“Countering the plague of economic falsehoods and disinformation that statists constantly spread is crucial to our liberty, and this book does so brilliantly.” ~ George Leef
Reduce, Reuse, and…Refuse?
“The last thing we want is to make our virtue signaling but inefficient recycling the modern equivalent of buying indulgences to atone for alleged environmental sins.” ~ Bruce Rottman
Stadium Subsidies Reveal Tensions in Democratic Priorities
“Despite being a well-known mirage, the promises of economic and job growth prove too attractive for local policymakers to resist. This tells us something about their priorities.” ~ Daniel J. Smith
CEA Deserves an F on Bitcoin Mining Tax Analysis
“The CEA’s argument would result in a failure on an introductory microeconomics exam. One expects better from a team of professional economists.” ~ Joshua R. Hendrickson
AIER’s Everyday Price Index Up 0.60 Percent in April 2023
“AIER’s Everyday Price Index (EPI) rose 0.60 percent in April 2023 following being essentially unchanged in March and rising 1.6 percent in January and February.” ~ Peter C. Earle
Legal Mafias and Moral Asymmetries
“Legal doesn’t mean right. It doesn’t mean just. It doesn’t mean moral. The powerful get away with misdeeds because, for too long, we have conflated the domains. And this conflation goes all the way down.” ~ Max Borders
Hail to the Chief, President 6PRKr4!
“Assign to each candidate for high office a new, sterile name – something that reads like an abbreviated VIN for an automobile. For example: 6PRKr4. In fact, call it a PIN – ‘Politician Identification Number.'” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
An Approach to Teaching Rawls And Income Inequality
“Far from representing an outcome chosen behind the veil of ignorance, political pressures will always be driven by full knowledge of the benefits realized by self-interested actors, even if they mouth formulaic invocations of ‘social justice’ while they do it.” ~ Michael C. Munger
So Why Aren’t We Paying Down the National Debt?
“The world will remain a dangerous place, but the further the nation is from its credit limit, the more effectively the government will be able to respond when, not if, something goes seriously awry.” ~ Robert E. Wright
