Economics

The conventional wisdom is our federal government deficit is too large. However, the empirical evidence suggests the deficit might be too small. When people worry about the size of the deficit, they are not worried about the deficit in a particular year; what they are worried about is the accumulation of debt that needs to be serviced. Some years, most Read More ›

Fifteen years ago, how many Americans or Bulgarians would have imagined that in 2003 Bulgaria would be one of America’s closest allies in Europe, that Bulgarian and American troops would be serving together in Iraq and that Bulgaria would have a smartly growing market economy? How did this change from Cold War enemies to new NATO allies come about, and Read More ›

What would you do if a neighbor’s tree falls on your house and causes a thousand dollars of damage? You would ask your neighbor to pay for the damage, and the law would require that he or his insurance pay the cost of the damage. Likewise, if your neighbor keeps hazardous materials on the edge of his property, such as Read More ›

THE “LIVING WAGE” movement has become the latest effort to impose socialism on the United States, one city at a time. After a slow beginning in the 1990s, living wage ordinances — which impose minimum wages much higher than the federal one — have now been adopted in over 100 municipalities, from Somerville, Mass., to Portland, Oregon, from Minneapolis to Read More ›

The tax cuts were the appropriate medicine for the economy and are already having the desired effect, yet the president’s approval rating for economic management continues to fall. In part, this is due to a series of politically motivated economic mistakes that have slowed the recovery. Not everyone in the administration has learned that good economics is good politics and Read More ›

Last Saturday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin “proposed a radically new approach” that would take control of Iraq from the U.S. (surprise) and give it to the U.N. He demanded that an Iraqi provisional government be established within a month, a constitution written by the end of the year, and elections held by the spring of 2004. Iraq does Read More ›

Why do we give foreign aid? We give aid for humanitarian reasons: that is, we wish to relieve human suffering because of famines or natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, etc.; and we give aid for economic development. The crisis in Iraq has again raised the issue of how much aid and in what forms is appropriate for the U.S. Read More ›

Should Americans write the new Iraqi constitution? Should Americans determine how Iraq is governed in the future? We Americans have a legitimate interest in making sure the new Iraqi constitution will protect the liberties of the people, and result in their future prosperity and a successful state. To those ends, we should insist on certain constitutional standards and safeguards before Read More ›

The European Commission and the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development based in Paris) are reprimanding and threatening several political and economic entities with blacklisting or other sanctions because of their economic policies. You are probably thinking they are going after Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, or the rulers of several African countries – all of Read More ›

FACED WITH RISING Medicaid costs, the states have begun to trumpet the oldest illusion about government power — that price controls can make things abundant and “affordable,” in this case prescription drugs. On May 19 the U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to a Maine program that includes thousands of uninsured citizens in a discount drug-buying program the state Read More ›