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.
Existing Home Sales Continue to Collapse
“Existing-home sales fell again in July as reduced affordability pushes buyers out of the market. The outlook for housing is highly uncertain.” ~ Robert Hughes
Weekly Initial Claims Move to a Flat Trend
“Weekly initial claims fell, and revised data suggest the recent upward trend may be flattening. Rapid price increases, low consumer confidence, and aggressive Fed tightening remain major risks for the economic outlook.” ~ Robert Hughes
Price Stability and Nominal GDP Targeting
“While we should not stubbornly insist on first-best policy if the second-best is all we can get, neither should we ignore the question of which policy is first-best. As long as we are reconsidering the Fed’s mandate, nominal GDP targeting should be on the table.” ~ Alexander William Salter
The Stealth Threat of a New Constitutional Convention
“A new constitution enacted through these dishonest and deeply undemocratic means will have many problematic provisions. Even more crucially, it will lack the legitimacy our existing Constitution still has.” ~ David A. Super
An Infrared Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
“When dealing with those who want to ignore the proven bias in the data and only focus on the conclusions the corrupted data supposedly supports, an infrared picture is worth a thousand words.” ~ Gary M. Galles
Nominal and Real Core Retail Sales Increase in July
“Real core retail sales rose in July, and the recent trend is modestly higher. However, threats to the economy remain significant. Caution is warranted.” ~ Robert Hughes
Self-Driving Cars and the Nirvana Fallacy
“While these cars may not be perfect, that would only mean they are well-suited for planet earth, where perfection only exists among the Platonic forms—and in the minds of D.C. regulators.” ~ Caleb S. Fuller
Government Is the Scourge of Diabetics, Not Their Savior
“The fact that congressional Democrats and the rest of the federal government will not give up even a little bit of their power in order to help diabetics tells you where their hearts really lie.” ~ Michael F. Cannon
About That “0 Percent” Inflation in July
“Americans consume goods and services, not the CPI. A look within the June to July 2022 price index exposes 0% inflation as a meaningless statistical aberration. Celebrating it as an achievement is pitiful.” ~ Peter C. Earle
Industrial Output Posts Solid Gains in July
“Industrial output rose to a record high in July. However, elevated price pressures, weak consumer sentiment, and an intensifying Fed tightening cycle remain risks. Caution is warranted.” ~ Robert Hughes
Single-Family Starts and Permits Fell Again in July
“Single-family housing starts and permits fell in July as demand continued to weaken. Plunging homebuilder sentiment suggests an unfavorable outlook for housing.” ~ Robert Hughes
Is the Inflation Reduction Act Really a Climate Policy Game-Changer?
“On the actual policy level, the gains appear to be much more marginal than revolutionary. That’s not because of the oil lease mandates, but because of the marginal nature of the policies themselves.” ~ James E. Hanley
Who Really Cheats the Government?
“The greater enforcement could be regressive. Policymakers and pundits should ponder this possibility before they wrap themselves in the cloth of virtue.” ~ Vincent Geloso
The Night of the Murdered Poets
“If you are tempted to dismiss the Night of the Murdered Poets or the Doctors’ Plot or any other massacre of history’s innocents as interesting facts made largely irrelevant by the passage of time, please think again.” ~ Lawrence W. Reed
Subsidizing Teslas and Tuition Doesn’t Necessarily Benefit Consumers
“The best ‘free thing’ government could give us is not a bevy of subsidies and handouts, but the freedom to allow entrepreneurs, big and small, to figure out what is best for all of us.” ~ Anthony Gill
What is Market Urbanism?
“Scott Beyer’s Market Urbanism offers welcome analysis and policy solutions, clearly explaining how free market alternatives can make our cities better for all their citizens.” ~ Robert F. Mulligan
Review: It’s Not Free Speech
“Unlike Lisbon in 1755, our universities are not yet ruined, but they certainly might be if we allow them to be subordinated to politics in the way that these authors recommend.” ~ Steven McGuire
You Can’t Even Get Past Its Title Before Discovering Good Reasons To Fear AB 257
“It would harm many lower income and minority consumers and workers, as well as franchisees, in the name of helping those groups. It would also reduce workers’ freedom.” ~ Gary M. Galles
