Sergio Martínez works as a Content Editor at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has taught courses on economics and the History of Economic Thought.
What is institutional quality, and why is it important for economic progress? Institutions are the rules of the game that shape human behavior. They include laws, codes of conduct, and both formal and informal customs that structure interactions between people. Our expectations of how others will act in different situations depend on institutions. Stable institutions...
August 5th was supposedly a “Black Monday.” Stock markets around the world suffered declines that were far greater than normal. The VIX Index, which measures the volatility of financial markets, reached a level not seen since March 2020. Financial turbulence always sparks criticism of speculation. John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) thought that investors often fall prey...
Protectionist fears have not stopped the United States from capitalizing on the gains of free trade. Trade as a share of GDP grew from 10.8 percent in 1970 to 27.4 percent in 2022: an increase of 16.6 percentage points in a span during which the US economy quadrupled in size in real terms. America’s value...