Last time we examined a common conservative “solution” to the country’s health care problems, allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines. What we found, though, is that this would lead to a race to the bottom in state regulation of insurance products, and that there is no reason to think that further marketization […]

Theoretically, capital income, especially in the form of retained earnings by corporations and some capital gains would be used for saving and investment in the means of production, while labor income is used for consumption of finished goods and services from production. However, a portion of capital income is used for consumption, when the incentives […]

Most of our unemployment problem stems from overregulation, over-taxation and the Obama economy. — Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Monday Which is why we should deregulate the financial-services industry and reduce income taxes to resemble the good ole days of the George W. Bush administration. Let’s restore the economy to its glory days: say, 2008-09.  And […]

Scott Sumner nods with approbation toward this Ychuan Wang post at Noahpinion. For which hat tip I must thank him because Wang so clearly explicates what he calls the “canonical” understanding, and illustrates so perfectly the wackiness and incoherence of of the Walrasian view: Prices don’t always adjust instantly, so we can have excess supplies […]

Unlearning Econ: The story goes like this: an Israeli day care centre found that parents were picking up their children too late, so they introduced a small charge of $3 to try and disincentivise lateness. However, instead of discouraging this behaviour, the payment served to legitimise it and buy the parents piece of mind. The […]

Has the Shale Bubble Already Burst? (Igor Alexeev, Naked Capitalism cross posted from Oil Price) “The average depletion rate of wells in the Bakken Formation (the largest tight oil play in the US) is reported to be 69 percent in the first year and 94 percent over the first five years (37 percent and 50 […]

Thank you contributors and readers, it’s true. We are listed at 34th this time, even missing Robert Waldmann and Kenneth Thomas mentions in Paul Krugman’s  New York Times columns this month as rankings were determined in July. Onalytical Indexes publishes their  Top 200 Influential Economics Blogs – Aug 2013 by Andreea Moldovan It’s been several months since […]

DIN. We should print up lapel buttons. I suggested this campaign some time ago: This would: • Transfer relative purchasing power (hence power) from holders of financial assets to holders of real assets — from Wall Street to Main Street — and from (relatively few) creditors to (many more) debtors. • Spur both consumption spending […]

There was a flurry of articles trumpeting an effect of Obamacare on the rise in part time employment. Quite a stretch for some with ‘data’. Here the FRBSF weighs in: What’s Behind the Increase in Part-Time Work?    Rob Valletta and Leila Bengali August 26, 2013 Part-time work spiked during the recent recession and has […]