The Making of an Economist
Courtesy of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (Hat tip to Peter Conerly.)
World Growth and the United States Economy
The ever-insightful Mark Perry has a fascinating chart on his Carpe Diem blog: "EU-15" refers to Europe. Accounts of America falling behind are not accurate, though the last few years have been difficult. We have …
Economics of the Estate Tax: A New Approach
I try not to be too political in this blog, but this analysis of the estate tax is too good to ignore. It offers good advice even to people who want to soak the rich. …
Steve Jobs
I sometimes hear that nobody ever dies wishing he had spent more time at the office. I bet that plenty of people die regretting the things they could have accomplished but didn't. Like, a guy …
Are Kids Worse Off Today? Interesting Economics of What the Minimum Wage Will Buy
Folks are often surprised when I tell them that today's young people have a really bright future. It turns out that they also have a really bright present. Mark Perry at the fabulous Carpe Diem …
Probability of Recession: Is It Really One in Three?
Larry Summers recently wrote in the Washington Post: On the current policy path, it would be surprising if growth were rapid enough to reduce unemployment even to 8.5 percent by the end of 2012…. With …
China’s Long-term Economic Future
If you do business in China, or contemplate doing business there, you should understand the controversy over the country's long-term future. In a nutshell, there's reason to doubt that China will continue to grow until …
Guest blogging
Some of my posts will be showing up on the Oregon Business blog, which is a great way to find the latest business news about Oregon. My posts also show up frequently on Seeking Alpha …
Advice for Freshmen: Not Just Economics
Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw offers advice to entering college freshmen, which includes a great nugget: LEARN SOME STATISTICS High school mathematics curriculums spend too much time on traditional topics like Euclidean geometry and trigonometry. …
Federal Deficit is Making Us Poorer
The Washington Times published my commentary entitled, "Europeanization is no vacation: The federal budget deficit is making us poorer." Key point: expect higher tax rates, and thus lower economic growth, due to the budget deficit.
Mortgage Defaults and Consumer Spending
I've gotten several questions recently asking if consumer spending is being propped up by mortgage defaults, especially the "strategic mortgage defaults." My take is: yes, but just by a little bit. Here's the story. People …
Making Money Betting Against the American Dream
NPR, of all people, have a very funny show tune explaining how to make money betting against the American Dream. (Hat tip to The Big Picture.)