I listened yesterday to an EconTalk episode on my computer in which the host Russ Roberts interviewed Martha Nussbaum on the program. But if you haven’t listened to EconTalk interviews, you are missing a treat. And if you haven’t heard of Martha Nussbaum, you are forgiven. Her name is not a household word, thought her […]
Archives
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Our Fragile Economy
01 Oct 2014
There is a very interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal in the Real Time Economics section. “It’s Not Ebola Sapping Nigerian Economy, but Boko Haram” reminds us of the difficulties developing nations face and the fragility of our own economic condition. While economic barometers do not indicate imminent economic failure and the United States […]
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Let’s Get Ethical
28 Jul 2014
This blog is a supplement to my colleague Jeff Haymond’s very informative blog of July 26 entitled “Turning to the Left….” I wanted to add a further ethical dimension to the discussion of income inequality which Jeff was addressing with regard to recent comments by Thomas Ricks at Politico. Jeff’s comments are worth reproducing in […]
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Elizabeth Warren came out with her 11 Commandments today. For some reason I think 10 Commandments would be better. But in any case, here they are, with this Berean’s counter following in italics: “We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we’re willing to fight for it.” Bereans believe that […]
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Piketty’s Predicament
24 Jun 2014
For those who don’t want to read the book, there is nice article by Jonah Goldberg in the June 24, 2014 issue of National Review Online. If you just woke up from a long, long nap or just returned form an isolated vactaion spot, you will remember that in April of this year, the book […]
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A Very Long Review of a Very Intellectually Deficient, but Very Big, Book by Thomas Piketty
09 Jun 2014
Before I begin this blog, I beg the reader’s indulgence for such a long book review. However I considered this book worthy of such a detailed examination, due to its popularity and influence, barely three months after its appearance. I do hope the length will be justified by the service it may provide. I promise […]
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Warning: Arcane Book Review of Work on the Nineteenth Century Economic Thought of Evangelicals
03 Jun 2014
I just finished a very interesting, but somewhat difficult, book on the economic thought of Evangelicals in Great Britain between around 1790 and 1880. Sounds really boring? Well, it was a little bit of slogging at times, but it was worth it. The author is Boyd Hilton, the title is The Age of Atonement: The […]
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Inequality, CEO Compensation and Thomas Piketty
27 May 2014
What do the three phrases in the title of this blog have in common? This is not a trick question, although some may be tricked by the rhetoric that has come from these. OK, you have had enough time to think about it. The answer is: Inequality is the “new” social justice term, median CEO […]
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Don’t Forget History
08 May 2014
Amity Shlaes has written a fine piece in National Review Online on one particular aspect of the Great Depression having to do with minimum wages (NRO, May 7, 2014). As she points out, recent research has changed the way we evaluate that event in economic history. In case you don’t remember, the dominant narrative had been that […]
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Minimum Wage Ad Hominem courtesy of the NYT
11 Feb 2014
The minimum wage continues to be pushed by those on the left as a way to confront income inequality. On the right, there are vigorous rebuttals, focusing mainly on both the theoretical and empirical case against price controls. The New York Times has come up with their spin on this, questioning the motives of those […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach