A Tale of Two Economies
A Tale of Two Economies
Is this the best economy or the worst economy? It depends on who you ask. Many people say that the US economy is doing great. We have had record stock prices, modest GDP growth, low unemployment, and falling inflation. Current economic forecasts have grown more positive and consumer sentiment has improved. Even real wages, which...
By Paul Mueller
Development of Robot Lawnmowers Will Be Delayed Thanks to New Antitrust Ruling
Development of Robot Lawnmowers Will Be Delayed Thanks to New Antitrust Ruling
A merger between Amazon and robotic vacuum producer, iRobot, was terminated recently after the European Commission failed to approve the deal. Immediately following the deal’s termination, iRobot announced it would be laying off roughly 31 percent of its workforce and ending research into new household products. The European Commission’s reasoning for rejecting the merger is...
By Isaac Schick
How will a Michigan homeschool registry make students safer?
How will a Michigan homeschool registry make students safer?
Democratic political leaders are using a tragic event — which may have little or nothing to do with homeschooling — to call for more regulations of families teaching their own children. They claim that forcing homeschool parents to register with the state will protect kids, but no one has explained how that would work. Two...
By Jarrett Skorup
New Study Calls into Question the Theory of Rising Inequality
New Study Calls into Question the Theory of Rising Inequality
If a thesis is repeated hundreds of times, many people believe it; if it is repeated millions of times, hardly anyone doubts it. The United States in particular is repeatedly cited as an example of how the “gap between rich and poor” is constantly widening. But two experts from the Office of Tax Analysis at...
By Rainer Zitelmann
Interest on the National Debt—Who Does It Go To?
Interest on the National Debt—Who Does It Go To?
To start off “Ask an Economist” for the year, I have a question from Stan K. about the national debt. I’m happy to report that after asking for questions in early January, I have received the most ever. I look forward to working through all I can. Here is Stan’s question: Peter, I often bemoan...
By Peter Jacobsen
The Housing Crisis Explained—with Mini Fridges
The Housing Crisis Explained—with Mini Fridges
In a household of four guys, fridge space is what you might call prime real estate. I know this because I happen to live in one such household. For months, we tried sharing the one fridge in the house. It was not pleasant. We had to have regular negotiations about how to allocate the limited...
By Patrick Carroll
Michigan students need options
Michigan students need options
More than 60 students, educators and policymakers from across Michigan braved winter weather last week to celebrate National School Choice Week at the state Capitol. This annual event to raise awareness about the many education options in the Great Lakes State was sponsored by the Mackinac Center, Parent Advocates for Choice in Education, the Great...
By Dr. Molly Macek
Time for the Fed to Ease Up
Time for the Fed to Ease Up
After a scare with January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) release, economists and market watchers are breathing a sigh of relief following the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI) data. Both headline and core inflation (excluding food and energy prices) inflation were 0.2 percent in December. Year-over-year, the figures were 2.6 percent and 2.9 percent,...
By Alexander William Salter
It’s Time to Stop the Prejudice against Mergers and Acquisitions
It’s Time to Stop the Prejudice against Mergers and Acquisitions
Change can be a challenge for industry giants, and new ideas are sometimes hard to come by for established and incumbent firms. Competitive inertia and NIH syndrome (a marketing acronym for Not Invented Here) can creep in since focus is placed on maintaining sales and status rather than taking chances. Classic examples include Kodak’s initial...
By Kimberlee Josephson
What Seinfeld Can Teach You about the Government’s Senseless War on Appliances
What Seinfeld Can Teach You about the Government’s Senseless War on Appliances
The Biden administration took a major action in 2022 to show it meant business in a war that had quietly raged for years. The action was not related to the war in Afghanistan, which had just ended, or the conflict in Ukraine, which was about to begin. The administration’s action related to a battle of...
By Jonathan Miltimore
War Is Not Just a Western Notion
War Is Not Just a Western Notion
It is well that war is so terrible; otherwise, we should grow too fond of it.” – Robert E. Lee “Wars and rumors of wars,” to borrow a well-known Biblical phrase from Matthew 24, seem all too commonplace these days. Is that because more wars are going on now than in the past, or because...
By Lawrence W. Reed
Is NPR ‘State-Affiliated Media’? Their Coverage of the Federal Debt Certainly Suggests as Much
Is NPR ‘State-Affiliated Media’? Their Coverage of the Federal Debt Certainly Suggests as Much
In late December, after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen borrowed $90 billion in just one day, the federal government’s public debt eclipsed $34 trillion for the first time in history. The steady accumulation of public debt has become a mainstay in modern America, seemingly as inevitable as death and taxes. But something strange happened when...
By Jonathan Miltimore
Are HOV Lanes Really a Good Idea?
Are HOV Lanes Really a Good Idea?
I recently took a car trip of about 150 miles. I’m still recovering from it, as I drove by myself and practically every mile was bumper to bumper (I exaggerate, but only slightly). So, I sat, stewed, and twiddled my thumbs. (I did so to baroque music, so it wasn’t a total waste, but still…)...
By Walter Edward Block
Big Firms Are Hardly Invincible. Just Ask Blackberry
Big Firms Are Hardly Invincible. Just Ask Blackberry
Sometimes a company can seem so large that its position in the market appears unassailable. However, history teaches us that even a seeming behemoth can quickly be brought down by new competition. The sudden decline of the smartphone giant Blackberry illustrates how big does not mean invincible and reveals how allowing companies to compete and...
By Trey Price