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.
Fixing A Big Mistake in Risk-Based Capital Rules
“Both long Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by government agencies are in current regulation included as ‘High Quality Liquid Assets.’ But of course they both can and have created plenty of interest rate risk.” ~Alex J. Pollock
Why Cops Tell Homeowners: Just Give Criminals Your Car Keys
“Despite the rich tradition and popular appeal of the right of self-defense, Justin Trudeau and many others remain hostile to it.” ~Jon Miltimore
“The Price of Time” and Broken Central Banking
“The unique value of Chancellor’s book, beyond tracing this intellectual history of interest and illustrating it by financial debacles up and down the centuries, is to connect the social and market outcomes with the broken money markets.” ~Joakim Book
To Remain Free, Make the Ordinary Meaningful
“Those who don’t take responsibility for making meaning in their lives can become the worst among us.” ~Barry Brownstein
Fiscal Federalism Turned Upside-Down
“Federal spending spikes immediately after a recession or emergency, then lowers when the crisis subsides, but never down to pre-crisis levels.” ~Peter C. Earle and Thomas Savidge
China’s Economic Facade is Cracking
“The country is reaping the whirlwind of conscious decisions on Beijing’s part over the past 15 years to embrace more state-centric economic policies.” ~Samuel Gregg
Uber and Lyft Drive Out of the Twin Cities
“When costs go up, the money to pay for the increase can only come from one of three places: customers paying higher prices, business owners earning less profit, or workers being laid off, losing work hours, or losing benefits.” ~James Harrigan
Correlation Is Not Enough
“The ‘look here, too’ method provides a valuable check on statistical interpretations adopted because they advance someone’s agenda, rather than accuracy.” ~Gary Galles
Business Conditions Monthly January 2024
“In addition to a softening labor market and US consumer activity finally appearing to hit a wall, the potential for shocks of an endogenous or exogenous nature elevated.” ~Peter C. Earle
Too Much: Three First World Problems
“Where our ancestors lived lives that were solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, the twenty-first century has us overwhelmed with connections, opportunities, and experiences.” ~Art Carden
Congress Could Unload the Fed’s Weapon
“If Congress could balance its budget, which hasn’t happened since 2001, it would remove a bullet the Fed could shoot at the economy.” ~Vance Ginn
We Should Follow Lord Palmerston’s Example
“It is past time to revisit the wisdom of Palmerston, Washington, and Jefferson: the United States should have no permanent allies. Alliances that no longer serve US interests should be done away with or modified.” ~Andrew Byers
Can Prosperity Feed Perceptions of Poverty?
“The only sense in which the American middle-class is disappearing economically is that an ever-increasing percentage of American households earn annual incomes that are in the upper brackets.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Dynamic Pricing Puts the “Fast” Back in Fast Food
“By offering lower prices in off-peak hours, Wendy’s would be able to attract more customers overall, thus charging lower prices on average, even if prices during peak periods were higher than what they charge now.” Thomas Savidge and Louis Rouanet
Young People Aren’t Nearly Angry Enough About Government Debt
“We each owe more than $100,000 as a share of the national debt… Our earning years are subsidizing not our own economic coming-of-age, but retirement and medical benefits for people who navigated a less-challenging wealth-building landscape.” ~Laura Williams
Fact-Checking “Greedflation”
“By fueling an overall increase in demand, central banks can generate a sustained increase in the general level of prices — inflation. Central banks are the primary source of money creation, not firms.” ~Nicolás Cachanosky
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
Fixing A Big Mistake in Risk-Based Capital Rules
“Both long Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by government agencies are in current regulation included as ‘High Quality Liquid Assets.’ But of course they both can and have created plenty of interest rate risk.” ~Alex J. Pollock
Why Cops Tell Homeowners: Just Give Criminals Your Car Keys
“Despite the rich tradition and popular appeal of the right of self-defense, Justin Trudeau and many others remain hostile to it.” ~Jon Miltimore
“The Price of Time” and Broken Central Banking
“The unique value of Chancellor’s book, beyond tracing this intellectual history of interest and illustrating it by financial debacles up and down the centuries, is to connect the social and market outcomes with the broken money markets.” ~Joakim Book
To Remain Free, Make the Ordinary Meaningful
“Those who don’t take responsibility for making meaning in their lives can become the worst among us.” ~Barry Brownstein
Fiscal Federalism Turned Upside-Down
“Federal spending spikes immediately after a recession or emergency, then lowers when the crisis subsides, but never down to pre-crisis levels.” ~Peter C. Earle and Thomas Savidge
China’s Economic Facade is Cracking
“The country is reaping the whirlwind of conscious decisions on Beijing’s part over the past 15 years to embrace more state-centric economic policies.” ~Samuel Gregg
Uber and Lyft Drive Out of the Twin Cities
“When costs go up, the money to pay for the increase can only come from one of three places: customers paying higher prices, business owners earning less profit, or workers being laid off, losing work hours, or losing benefits.” ~James Harrigan
Correlation Is Not Enough
“The ‘look here, too’ method provides a valuable check on statistical interpretations adopted because they advance someone’s agenda, rather than accuracy.” ~Gary Galles
Business Conditions Monthly January 2024
“In addition to a softening labor market and US consumer activity finally appearing to hit a wall, the potential for shocks of an endogenous or exogenous nature elevated.” ~Peter C. Earle
Too Much: Three First World Problems
“Where our ancestors lived lives that were solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, the twenty-first century has us overwhelmed with connections, opportunities, and experiences.” ~Art Carden
Congress Could Unload the Fed’s Weapon
“If Congress could balance its budget, which hasn’t happened since 2001, it would remove a bullet the Fed could shoot at the economy.” ~Vance Ginn
We Should Follow Lord Palmerston’s Example
“It is past time to revisit the wisdom of Palmerston, Washington, and Jefferson: the United States should have no permanent allies. Alliances that no longer serve US interests should be done away with or modified.” ~Andrew Byers
Can Prosperity Feed Perceptions of Poverty?
“The only sense in which the American middle-class is disappearing economically is that an ever-increasing percentage of American households earn annual incomes that are in the upper brackets.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Dynamic Pricing Puts the “Fast” Back in Fast Food
“By offering lower prices in off-peak hours, Wendy’s would be able to attract more customers overall, thus charging lower prices on average, even if prices during peak periods were higher than what they charge now.” Thomas Savidge and Louis Rouanet
Young People Aren’t Nearly Angry Enough About Government Debt
“We each owe more than $100,000 as a share of the national debt… Our earning years are subsidizing not our own economic coming-of-age, but retirement and medical benefits for people who navigated a less-challenging wealth-building landscape.” ~Laura Williams
Fact-Checking “Greedflation”
“By fueling an overall increase in demand, central banks can generate a sustained increase in the general level of prices — inflation. Central banks are the primary source of money creation, not firms.” ~Nicolás Cachanosky
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