Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Sensible Tax Reform

James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Testify on Sensible Tax Reform Tax policy was demystified in testimony by Galbraith and Bentsen, Jr. Will Congress listen? Statement by James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government, The University of Texas at Austin, and Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute, […]

Why Tax Law Should be Required of All Law Students

by Linda Bealecrossposted from Ataxingmatter Why Tax Law Should be Required of All Law Students We tax profs have a tendency to tell our colleagues that tax law should be a mandatory topic for all law students because there’s nothing that you do that has economic consequences for which tax law isn’t relevant.  Whether you […]

Medical Malpractice Reform: Truth in Advertising Needed (Part Three of Three)

by Mike HalasyHealthcare concultant and researcher, PA UPDATE: Part 1 here; Part 2 here. (h/t rjs in comments for the suggestion.)Update 2: Post fixed…Dan Medical Malpractice Reform: Truth in Advertising Needed (Part Three of Three) So in the first two articles we have addressed the historic effects of tort reform using Texas as an example, […]

We trust that AT&T will not take it personally

Part of an e-mail from Beverly Mann on additional expansion of corporate personhood concept at the Supreme Court: I agree that, as the article at Raw Story says, the decision is a striking contrast to the court’s ruling in Citizens United, which upended decades of campaign finance regulation, allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts on […]

"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost"

Barry Ritholz shines a light on an alternative to the current meme on public sector unions: In a Labor Day address in 1980, Ronald Reagan said: “These are the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland … They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” Reagan as above, […]

Tyler Cowen and ‘something amiss’

by Mike Kimel Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog I really don’t understand this post by Tyler Cowen. He begins by noting: The median earnings of full-time Canadian workers increased by just $53 annually — that’s right, $53 annually — between 1980 and 2005. He then links to two documents, one of which says this: […]

Evidence says the ECB is overreacting

Earlier this week I argued that the ECB’s inflation target of just below 2% is too simplistic, especially during periods of supply-side price shocks: energy, food, VAT hikes. Here’s a menu of reactions to the ECB’s announced rate hike (Trichet used the phrase ‘strong vigilance’, which historically is a leading indicator of a rate hike […]