Topic: Economic Theory

When Government Fails, Communities Take Care of Themselves

– July 18, 2019

In the early- and mid-20th century, systemic racism often meant that African American communities were excluded from government welfare programs. In the face of this injustice, we see numerous examples of communities stepping up to take care of each other when government officials turned the other way.

Economic Theory

Universal Basic Income Is Little More Than Smoke and Mirrors

– June 17, 2019

The prospect of a safety net devoid of loopholes and bureaucracy is tantalizing. Unfortunately, fiscal reality reveals UBI to be little more than clever arithmetic and a distraction from more modest changes to welfare policy and the tax code that would directly help those most in need.

Economic Theory

The U.S. Welfare System’s Paternalistic History

– June 3, 2019

History will always remember President Lyndon Johnson for his escalation of the war in Vietnam, which turned into an unwinnable and tragic entanglement against a foe he did not understand. Sadly, with over fifty years of hindsight, one must judge Johnson’s War on Poverty in much the same way.

Economic Theory

How Top-Down Government Fails America’s Poor

– May 22, 2019

Our debate about safety nets and responses to poverty hinges on a fundamental fallacy — that services are either provided by the government or not at all.

Economic Theory, Energy, Environmentalism

Climate Activism: An Ideology in Search of a Justification

– April 19, 2019

Environmental activists cling to the same stale policy prescriptions, no matter the situation. Only their rationale changes.

Economic Theory

Why You Have to Bus Your Own Table

– February 19, 2019

Soft skills are being priced out of the labor market by minimum wages. At $8 an hour, it might be worthwhile to hire someone to bus tables. At $11 an hour, Massachusetts’ minimum, it probably isn’t.

Economic Theory, Taxation, Unemployment

A Bona Fide Tax Revolt in France

– November 26, 2018

Politicians and activists who blithely maintain that public support for lofty climate change projects is both bottomless and selfless are either obtuse or tacitly agitating for tyranny.

Economic Theory, Unemployment

Your First Job: Real Costs of the Minimum Wage

– September 25, 2018

The minimum wage is only the most visible portion of what quickly amounts to a vast array of considerable, often unseen costs.

Economic Theory

The Empirical Reality of the Minimum Wage

– August 6, 2018

But even after excluding all shoddily done studies of minimum wages, we’re still left with conflict in the conclusions. Fortunately, economic theory itself supplies clues as to why.

Economic Theory, Unemployment

Proposed Federal Jobs Guarantee Is Too Big to Exist

– May 4, 2018

The federal jobs guarantee, as spelled out in Democratic policy circles, would arguably be the largest public intervention in the economy in American history.

Economic Theory

Why Lottery Winners Are Sometimes the Unluckiest People

– February 21, 2018

Lottery winners are thrust into a unique situation few others can understand. The struggles of many of these winners show the complexity of real wealth, which includes human and social capital, even though they can’t be measured on a balance sheet.

Cryptocurrency, Economic Theory

Economic Development on the Blockchain

– July 18, 2017

Blockchain technology introduces a portfolio of options that may enable critical steps toward economic development.