Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC by her fans, is the dynamic new congresswoman from NYC who openly embraces seemingly every nonsensical thing that formerly was considered a caricature of Democratic thought. And rather than being considered crazy by her party, she is lionized by the younger energetic part of the Democratic base. Sit in at […]
Archives
-
AOC Mania(c)!
24 Jan 2019
-
The Greatest Economic Fallacy?
18 Jan 2019
Recently I had a nice discussion with an uber driver, and upon learning that I was an economic professor he asked me why I enjoyed teaching economics. I suggested that exploding economic fallacies is perhaps the most fun part of my job, since as Ronald Reagan used to quote (I think from Mark Twain originally): […]
-
Dad, what’s an interest rate?
07 Jan 2019
Almost every year faculty get some list of what today’s students never knew about, such as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are ancient history. Some likely don’t know about the presidency of George H.W. Bush, other than perhaps a vague knowledge that he was George W. Bush’s father and an earlier president, and none remember […]
-
What do NBA superstar Stephen Curry and EPI Chief Economist Robert Scott have in common?
13 Dec 2018
Well, this week, they both spouted off nonsense, and while one was ridiculed, the other was taken seriously. Mr. Curry, for some unknown reason, decided to opine that the moon landing was fake–a product of Hollywood fantasy. For those of us that have had the privilege of hearing from Astronauts that landed on the moon, […]
-
General Motors and the Lordstown Plant Closure
03 Dec 2018
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” So begins the classic line from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens continues with contrasts such as “it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,” which only adds to the feeling of simultaneous joy and heartache. Such is […]
-
Market Volatility Returns–the end of the Boom?
21 Nov 2018
The index of stock market volatility (one measure of market fear) has risen in the past week, concurrent with large absolute point swings (although relatively low on a percentage basis). Markets are not as volatile as they were in October, but clearly there are uncertain times ahead, and markets generally like certainty. There are so […]
-
I had the opportunity to meet a young student thinking about the economics major a few days ago, and he mentioned that he hoped to go to the UN to help the poor after graduation with development economics. We talked about the major, but I suggested he think about how the poor are most likely […]
-
As we close in this year’s mid-term elections, we hear a lot of claims that are fairly outrageous on both sides, but at least the Democrats are being honest: they want to increase taxes. If elected, they would like to raise capital gains taxes, corporate taxes, small business taxes, and more. Yet being honest on […]
-
Trump enemy #1: The Fed?
22 Oct 2018
“I think the Fed is making a mistake. They are so tight. I think the Fed has gone crazy,” the president said after walking off Air Force One in Erie, Pennsylvania for a rally. Mr. Trump called the Federal Reserve his biggest threat last week, as the Fed continues its path toward interest rate normalization. […]
-
Hat Tip to David French over at National Review. But its worth listing here too. You probably have heard that Mrs. Clinton says Democrats shouldn’t be civil to Republicans, since they (R’s) are trying to destroy everything that D’s believe in. Eric Holder, in a campaign rally, suggested Mrs. Obama’s famous call, “they go low, […]