This is the first of what might be an ongoing series of posts based on our experience here in the District of Columbia (that’s Washington) this Fall.  Today’s post was stimulated by both some visits to public buildings and an article today by Lee Habeeb, in the National Review entitled “Risk Mismanagement.”  My own experience […]

From William Galston in the WSJ today.  Mr. Galston is referring to the same book that we commented on after the Financial Times of London made a similar review earlier this month.  Mr. Galston picks up on the theme that government spending on R&D has historically resulted in a lot of winners, including some of […]

Welcome to a new category of post, the Hall of Shame.  This category is for the most outrageous of political economy issues.  For our inaugural post, I offer this quote from former San Fransisco Mayor Willie Brown, a California political institution in his own right.  Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, July 28 (As reported […]

Despite the temptation to address President Obama’s most recent foray into higher education–which, by the way, if implemented by Congress, would only drive up costs more and eviscerate much of what is left that works–I will examine a different issue, one that for Christians poses an even bigger problem in the long run.  It goes […]

This summer I asked my colleagues at Bereans at the Gate a question – How might we define “crony capitalism”? The consensus was that “rent seeking” – the explicit and direct use of time and money for economic gain without productive wealth creation – was at the root of crony capitalism. When we think of […]

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) stated publicly that President Obama is nearing the standard for impeachment, according to NBC News. Coburn made his comments at a town hall meeting, where he argued that Obama’s actions are “getting perilously close” to being impeachable offenses. Article 2, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states: The President, Vice President […]

The Austrian theory of the business cycle is often misunderstood as an overinvestment theory–where too much investment causes a boom, which must be corrected by a bust.  Prominent economists such as Paul Krugman characterize it this way, Call it the overinvestment theory of recessions, or “liquidationism,” or just call it the “hangover theory.” It is […]

  Some of you who read this blog and some who have read the recent works by Robert Sirico and Arthur Brooks know that the need of the hour seems to be to make a moral case for markets.  Nearly everyone admits their efficiency and ability to create massive wealth.  But the criticism on ethical […]

Michael Emerson and Laura Essenberg (both at Rice University) recently publicized a white paper on American attitudes toward marriage. The paper is based on a two-wave panel study that examined respondents in both 2006 and in 2012. These sorts of panel data are a gold-standard approach to examining change over time. Most surveys are simple […]

In my last post on ideologues, I chastised those representing the Obama administration for willful ignorance on the evidence of job loss associated with Obamacare (principally lost hours as workers hours are cut to below the 30 hr/week threshold).  While I linked to several anecdotal reports, I did not provide “systematic evidence” of job loss.  […]