by Peter Dorman (originally published at Econospeak) Price Gouging Whenever there’s a natural disaster, a famine or some other such crisis, people zero in on price gouging. Are grain merchants…

…Ask a real-estate tycoon or mutual-fund investor, “How much money do you have?” 3. Financial instruments whose market prices are institutionally pegged to a unit of account. Fixed-price instruments: physical…

…multitude of economic sins were hidden by somnolent gas prices in 2019. The implication for 2020 is that, with an already tight labor market, if gas prices continue to rise…

The Oil Price War One consequence of the emerging global Covid-19 recession has been that it has helped push world oil prices down from the $60.77 per barrel range near…

While house price gains continue to go nuts, housing remains much more affordable than at the peak of the bubble The boom – and maybe insanity – in house price…

…after Monday’s price surge and settled 60 cents lower, as trading in the July oil contract expired with oil priced at $73.06 a barrel, while the more-actively traded August oil…

…docket — price per mile for delivering a letter. The Postal Service explains that “[u]nder the non-distance-sensitive price structure for First-Class Mail, a letter to New York City costs the…

…indices the BEA uses separately, we’ve opted to use the producer price index for final demand construction as an inexact shortcut in an attempt to make a reasonable price adjustment on the…

…different as to prices. At $407,600, the median price of an existing home increased 4.8% for the month and 14.8% YoY (Note: prices aren’t seasonally adjusted, so the YoY view…

…as to prices. At $416,000, the median price of an existing home increased 2.1% for the month, and 13.4% YoY (Note: prices aren’t seasonally adjusted, so the YoY view is…