Daily Economy
-
•
A Politically Fueled Panic Is Not a Good Plan
We seem to assume that the human race is so evolved, that we’re so civilized now compared to our cave-dwelling forebearers. Until there’s something like a natural disaster or pandemic to start frenzied hoarding and panic.
-
•
The Anatomy of the Crash of 2020
Whatever you think about the virus threat, and even if you think all this is justified in the name of stopping the spread, let’s not be confused about what drove this disaster from the beginning: the fear that politics would attack commercial society at its root.
-
•
The Fed and the Mad Urge to Do Something
Panicked markets, eye-popping declines, and inept public policy are, in some unfortunate sense, a human universal. And all public officials, it seems, imitate one another, no matter how mad, impotent, or harmful the policy.
-
•
New York Fed Manufacturing Survey Plunges in March
New York Fed Survey shows a sharp drop in business conditions for local manufacturers, likely a result of COVID-19.
-
•
The 1619 Project: An Epitaph
It took six months of heated debate to reach this point, but the New York Times’ 1619 Project has finally offered a small but crucial concession to its critics. On March 11, the paper published an “update” to indicate that it would be changing a disputed line of text in the lead essay by Nikole…
-
•
The Parasites Exacerbating COVID-19
The so-far easy acceptance of the government’s medieval reaction to the spread of a not very lethal virus to a vanishingly small percentage of the population suggests that universities are not helping Americans to overcome the many behavioral biases they inherited from their cavemen ancestors.
-
•
To Kill Markets Is the Worst Possible Plan
This whole ghastly episode could become another teaching moment in misguided and damaging government policies that markets, once again, successfully endured and survived.
-
•
The Top Economic Takeaway of the Coronavirus Panic
Ultimately, our wealth consists chiefly in the ongoing willingness and ability of millions of strangers to work for us daily. Any obstacle to large numbers of people performing their daily jobs means hardship for us all.
-
•
Those Shelves Wouldn’t Be Empty If We Hadn’t Stopped “Capitalism”
This is a difficult time for a lot of people, and it’s understandable and admirably humane to want to help others in their time of need. We aren’t doing them any favors, however, by saying that they won’t be allowed to pay very much for a bottle of hand sanitizer they can’t get anyway.
-
•
Without Individual Autonomy, There’s No Equality
Economists usually say, “SINCE exchange is voluntary….” but the rest of the world says, “IF exchange is voluntary….” It makes a difference. To explain why, I have developed a concept of “truly voluntary” exchange in a number of writings, including one overview here at AIER. If an exchange is truly voluntary, we know for certain…
-
•
A Politically Fueled Panic Is Not a Good Plan
We seem to assume that the human race is so evolved, that we’re so civilized now compared to our cave-dwelling forebearers. Until there’s something like a natural disaster or pandemic to start frenzied hoarding and panic.
-
•
The Anatomy of the Crash of 2020
Whatever you think about the virus threat, and even if you think all this is justified in the name of stopping the spread, let’s not be confused about what drove this disaster from the beginning: the fear that politics would attack commercial society at its root.
-
•
The Fed and the Mad Urge to Do Something
Panicked markets, eye-popping declines, and inept public policy are, in some unfortunate sense, a human universal. And all public officials, it seems, imitate one another, no matter how mad, impotent, or harmful the policy.
-
•
New York Fed Manufacturing Survey Plunges in March
New York Fed Survey shows a sharp drop in business conditions for local manufacturers, likely a result of COVID-19.
-
•
The 1619 Project: An Epitaph
It took six months of heated debate to reach this point, but the New York Times’ 1619 Project has finally offered a small but crucial concession to its critics. On March 11, the paper published an “update” to indicate that it would be changing a disputed line of text in the lead essay by Nikole…
-
•
The Parasites Exacerbating COVID-19
The so-far easy acceptance of the government’s medieval reaction to the spread of a not very lethal virus to a vanishingly small percentage of the population suggests that universities are not helping Americans to overcome the many behavioral biases they inherited from their cavemen ancestors.
-
•
To Kill Markets Is the Worst Possible Plan
This whole ghastly episode could become another teaching moment in misguided and damaging government policies that markets, once again, successfully endured and survived.
-
•
The Top Economic Takeaway of the Coronavirus Panic
Ultimately, our wealth consists chiefly in the ongoing willingness and ability of millions of strangers to work for us daily. Any obstacle to large numbers of people performing their daily jobs means hardship for us all.
-
•
Those Shelves Wouldn’t Be Empty If We Hadn’t Stopped “Capitalism”
This is a difficult time for a lot of people, and it’s understandable and admirably humane to want to help others in their time of need. We aren’t doing them any favors, however, by saying that they won’t be allowed to pay very much for a bottle of hand sanitizer they can’t get anyway.
-
•
Without Individual Autonomy, There’s No Equality
Economists usually say, “SINCE exchange is voluntary….” but the rest of the world says, “IF exchange is voluntary….” It makes a difference. To explain why, I have developed a concept of “truly voluntary” exchange in a number of writings, including one overview here at AIER. If an exchange is truly voluntary, we know for certain…