Alexander Hamilton and the Perils of State Capitalism
Historians have long praised Alexander Hamilton’s activist government promotion of capitalism. Hamilton’s “financial revolution” brought secure government debt, fluid securities markets, and a modern...
View ArticleThe Canard of “Underutilized Resources”
This article has been named the 2012 winner of the Beth A. Hoffman Memorial Prize for Economic Writing. On November 3 the Federal Open Market Committee announced plans to purchase, by printing money,...
View ArticleThe Canard of “Underutilized Resources”
Last November the Federal Open Market Committee announced plans to purchase, by printing money, $600 billion of long-term government bonds over the next 6 months. This “quantitative easing,” Fed...
View ArticleMore Government Action Needed for Job Recovery?
Would it come as a shock to hear one of the best-known apologists for government intervention in the economy admitting that it hasn’t worked (so far)? This is exactly what Nobel Prize-winning economist...
View ArticleDisaster Response Restores Confidence in Government?
In a memorable episode of the cult-classic cartoon series “The Tick,” the title character is seen in the local café regaling fellow superheroes with his latest adventure, in which he single-handedly...
View ArticleMergers Harm Competition?
The New York Yankees have appeared in over one-third of all World Series since 1903. Does the presence of such a dominant player mean that professional baseball is not competitive? Many pundits would...
View ArticleSpeculators Are to Blame for High Gas Prices?
It happens about this time every year: Kids across the land dust off their baseballs and Frisbees and flock to the park for some good old-fashioned fun. Strangely enough, the weather starts getting...
View ArticleNot Enough Inflation?
Two wrongs may not make a right, but a second dose of poison might just cure the first dose. That’s at least what Paul Krugman, America’s most prominent left-wing economic pundit, is saying about an...
View ArticleGovernment Spending Cuts Are Bad for the Economy?
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines,” laments the gruff air traffic controller played by Lloyd Bridges in the ribald disaster-spoof Airplane! Facing the tense situation of helping...
View ArticleOutsourcing Is Bad?
Presidential campaign demagoguery hit full stride when President Obama released ads accusing Mitt Romney of “shipping jobs overseas” as CEO of private-equity firm Bain Capital. Romney responded not by...
View ArticleOutsourcing Is Bad for the Economy?
Presidential campaign demagoguery hit full stride when President Obama released ads accusing Mitt Romney of “shipping jobs overseas” as CEO of private-equity firm Bain Capital. Romney responded not by...
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