by  Mike Kimel Here’s a CNN story on “Cash for Criminals”: And so Operation Peacemaker was born. Loosely based on an academic fellowship, the ONS program invites some of the most hardened youth into the fold: often teenage boys suspected of violent crimes but whom authorities don’t have enough evidence to charge criminally. These fellows […]

by Peter Dorman (from Econospeak) Child Labor Defended by the Left Well, some of the left, but they probably represent the main currents of progressive thought among intellectuals.  Those who not part of the charmed circle of researchers, activists and policy-makers in the realm of child labor may not know that a storm has been […]

by Sandwichman The New York Times recycles boilerplate nonsense: YOUR MONEY: Disproving Beliefs About the Economy and Aging. The notion that the job market is a zero sum game — more jobs for one group translates into fewer jobs for another group — is deeply ingrained. Economists call the belief that there are only so […]

by New Deal democrat Why hasn’t increased household formation led to increased housing construction? Tim Taylor has an interesting article about “What was different about housing this time?”  Specifically, why has housing in both building terms and as a share of GDP risen so slowly since 2009. To cut to the chase, he writes that […]

by New Deal democrat Aside from a shortage in starter housing for Millennials,there is NO inflation Yesterday’s CPI report seems to be read as potentially justifying an interest rate increase in June.  For example, here’s Professor Tim Duy, on Fed hawks: Inflation rose on the back of higher gas prices. Headline CPI gained 0.4 percent, […]

by Joseph Joyce The Role of the U.S. in the Global Financial System The mandate of the Federal Reserve is clear: “…promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates.” How to achieve those goals, of course, has been the subject of great debate: should the central bank use interest […]