Economics Topics: Details
Introduction
List of supporting materials such as details and reading lists
List of supporting materials such as details and reading lists
Jun 6 2020
I often warn against countries running up excessively large public debts. Some people interpret my worry as a prediction of a future financial crisis, perhaps including default and/or very high inflation. They point out that countries such as Japan have run large deficits for many decades, with interest rates on long-t...
Jun 5 2020
Yesterday on Facebook, I commented on someone's post that I expected the unemployment rate for May reported today to be below 15 percent. I was right. It declined from 14.7 percent to 13.3 percent. Why did I think that? Because a day earlier I had read an excellent article by my FB friend (and actual frien...
Jun 4 2020
I must begin by pointing out that this is really not what I wanted to be writing about. This is EconLog, for crying out loud; a virtual property of Econlib. They don’t just let anyone natter on here, and for that reason, I would rather my introduction to the readers here be a message of freedom and hope. It was a m...
Jun 4 2020
Why is the HEROES bailout so much greater than the states’ losses? Simple: State governments would likely use a large part of the bailout money to make up for shortfalls in their funds for state government pensions. In April, Illinois Senate Democrats, for example, asked Congress for a bailout of over $40 billion, $1...
Jun 4 2020
In many ways, the modern world, including economic freedom, was born from the fear of tyranny and the institutions (generally unsuccessful) to prevent it. In Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships (Basic Books, 2000), famous economist Mancur Olson had interesting historical remarks abou...