Topic: Economic Trends

Economic Trends, Financial Markets, Fiscal Policy

Are the Conditions Right for Another Commodity Super-Cycle?

– February 26, 2021

“With unemployment rates still elevated and much of the global economy in some form of lockdown, it is hard to imagine the conditions for an economic boom, especially one that will see wage increases, but the size and scale of the global monetary and fiscal response to the pandemic is unprecedented. It creates the conditions for a continued appreciation of a wide range of essential commodity prices as the pandemic ends and demand rebounds.” ~ Colin Lloyd

Central Banking, Economic Education, Economic Trends

Global Productivity Growth Post-Covid – Down But By No Means Out

– January 30, 2021

“The current pandemic has yet to run its course, and the social and economic impact will take much longer to work its way through. Productivity growth, in the medium term, is liable to disappoint, but deferred creative disruption – a deferral which artificially low interest rates have allowed to persist since 2008, if not earlier – could set the stage for an era of dramatic productivity growth in the decades ahead.” ~ Colin Lloyd

Economic Trends

Americans Are Fleeing Lockdowns, When They Can Afford It

– January 21, 2021

“The point is even clearer when you consider the states gaining and losing residents. Illinois, New York, and New Jersey – all with extreme stringencies – are losing residents faster than any other states. Northeastern states make up four out of the seven states, with California now fourth on the list. They are moving to Idaho, Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Economic Education, Economic Trends

Business Confidence, Big and Small, 2004-present

– January 12, 2021

“I have looked at other groupings of business; e.g., surveys of people in finance, and surveys of people in production. The other groupings don’t show meaningful differences. But, between small business versus big business, there are real differences.” ~ Clifford F. Thies

Crisis, Economic Trends, Education

AIER Hosts Top Epidemiologists, Authors of the Great Barrington Declaration

– October 5, 2020

The crisis of the policy response to Covid-19 drew AIER’s close attention from late January 2020 and following. The hosting of this crucial meeting was in the interest of backing the best science, promoting essential human rights, and reviving a focus on the common good.

Crisis, Economic Education, Economic Trends

Older Americans Should Be Anti-Lockdown Activists

– August 22, 2020

“The best policy on dealing with a virus – bolstering immunities among young people while protecting the vulnerable – is the freedom to behave rationally. Any other policy risks the kind of carnage we see all around us today, even as the virus has wickedly and profoundly affected our oldest Americans.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Economic Trends, Public Choice and Public Policy

Longer Lockdowns Associated with Much Worse Economic Outcomes

– August 1, 2020

“It’s obvious that if you restrict and ban certain businesses, they will suffer for it. Some business owners who made it through the first wave of lockdowns are saying their businesses won’t be able to survive another. This isn’t rocket science.” ~Abigail Devereaux

Crisis, Economic Trends

The Virus Doesn’t Care about Your Policies

– July 31, 2020

“If there is a broad-based research study using real data that demonstrates something life-saving about destroying rights and liberties in the name of virus control, I’ve yet to see it. Meanwhile, we are overwhelmed with evidence that it was all pointlessly destructive.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Economic Trends, Free Markets

The Economic Performance of Coronavirus Sweden

– July 29, 2020

“Economically, as far as we can tell, Sweden has been comparatively successful, but the projections between various economic institutions and statistics agencies still vary way too much for us to be entirely certain about this. In a year where models and forecasts have been widely off the mark, we should interpret this conservatively.” ~ Joakim Book

Crisis, Economic Education, Economic Trends, Policy

The Sordid History of Scam Science

– July 17, 2020

“We have to return to teaching people how to research and think for themselves and not just mindlessly jump on #bandwagons while falling for gross rhetorical tricks.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Books, Economic Trends, Philosophy

David Goodhart’s Road to Somewhere

– July 13, 2020

“Goodhart frequently emphasizes that the trends in opinion that he reports are not figments of his imagination, but real opinions held by real people. That much seems accurate, and as a description of British political beliefs, his book makes useful contributions. He has failed to show why the fact that some people are convinced by hollow and harmful ideas make them valid, coherent, defensible, legitimate, or respectable. Some things just don’t hold up, no matter your tribe.” ~ Joakim Book

Crisis, Economic Trends, Free Markets

Don’t Mention the Virus

– June 23, 2020

“If we avoided the hysteria that eagerly thought this pandemic was either the end of globalization or the end of the human race, we all thought this would be a temporary nuisance in our lives. Instead, the virus is deceptively permanent and I don’t mean biologically. We haven’t really moved on from corona – it just lingers in our minds, sowing fear and discomfort all around us.” Joakim Book