The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation marks 20 anniversary of this important piece of economic analysis. The index measures economic freedom based on 10 quantitative and qualitative factors. More economic freedom correlates with better economic performance, less economic freedom correlates with poorer economic performance. The index calculates the relative economic […]
Archives
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Olympic Preparation and Economic Freedom
12 Feb 2014
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Fiscal Follies and International Trade
06 Feb 2014
William Galston published an opinion piece in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal titled: Obama’s Moment of Truth on Trade. In the editorial Galston compares Obama’s trade statement in his recent State of the Union address to Bill Clinton’s battle to pass NAFTA in 1993. Clinton faced significant political opposition within his own party, but stood tall […]
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The Affordable Care Act and Labor Supply
05 Feb 2014
On Tuesday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released it’s report – “Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024” . The report is causing quite a stir because of the CBO’s estimates of the affect of the Affordable Care Act on the United States economy. President Obama has previously used CBO estimates to provide support for the […]
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Minumum Wage / Living Wage
03 Feb 2014
In a post last Friday, January 31 “Bad Economics & Bad Theology: the Christian case for the minimum wage“, Professor Haymond pointed us to an article in The Week entitled: “The Christian case for raising the minimum wage” by Elizabeth Stocker. While Prof. Haymond promises commentary on Stocker’s article, I wanted to make a short […]
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The Minimum Wage and Poverty
31 Jan 2014
In Tuesday’s State of the Union address President Obama made some bold statements about the relationship of the minimum wage and the reduction of poverty (emphasis added). But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. … And as a chief executive, I intend to […]
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Keynesians Love Winter
27 Jan 2014
This winter, with it’s below average temperatures and above normal precipitation, has been great for “economic stimulus” if the Keynesian economic theory that almost everyone in the United States believes is correct. At least that’s been true in my household. Beginning in mid December, we’ve had a series of minor automobile mishaps that have created, […]
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Job and the Progressives
25 Nov 2013
In our house church for the past several months we’ve had the privilege of studying the book of Job. I saw an economic application that I thought I’d share with you. While we’re not certain of the exact time of the writing of Job, we do think that the story of Job is very old. […]
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Open Immigration
19 Nov 2013
When we advocate open immigration we are not advocating free and complete amnesty for all undocumented aliens. Amnesty is related and intertwined with immigration, but is not exactly the same issue. You can support open immigration and not believe all undocumented aliens should remain in the nation. Open immigration does not mean that anyone should […]
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The Book Of Revelation Is Hayekian
14 Oct 2013
The Book Of Revelation Is Hayekian is the title of on op/ed interview published on Forbes last week. I found the transcript of the interview between Gregory Alan Thornbury (interviewee) and Jerry Bowyer (interviewer) fascinating. The section of the interview I included in this post highlights Thornbury and Bowyer playing off of one another to […]
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Yesterday Barack Obama nominated Janet Yellen to become Chairwoman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Borrowing from Stanly Kubrick’s classic film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and with apologies to Slim Pickens, this is how I perceive Yellen’s nomination (and subsequent Senate confirmation) will impact […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach