Economics

Archive for Economics

Potpourri

==> Josie the Outlaw saunters into town, and lays her gold piece on the bar countertop. When the sheriff shows up, I hope he’s articulate and has really thought through his life choices. ==> More Bitcoin battling. Gary North is skeptical, Jeff Tucker is enthusiastic, and Roger Ver is loaded. ==> I’m a big Glenn […]

Why They Can’t Run Government Like a Business

I discuss this topic at EconLib this month, giving both the theory and many illustrations. As if to motivate my article, Paul Krugman today explains why we shouldn’t be too hard on the ObamaCare website: Healthcare.gov is much better. It’s not running like, say, Amazon — but remember, mainly the government is trying to give […]

Potpourri

==> The erudite von Pepe notified me that John Taylor has been blogging about Summers/Krugman as well; here’s a good example. ==> Here’s me with Tom Woods talking on this topic. ==> Speaking of Summers/Krugman, apparently the Onion anticipated their stance. ==> Mark Spitznagel is not on the Bitcoin bandwagon. ==> Danny Sanchez has a […]

Chinese Officials Are Backing Off Dollar Purchases

From Bloomberg: The People’s Bank of China said the country does not benefit any more from increases in its foreign-currency holdings, adding to signs policy makers will rein in dollar purchases that limit the yuan’s appreciation. “It’s no longer in China’s favor to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves,” Yi Gang, a deputy governor at the central bank, […]

Working on the Holidays

Apparently there is a growing backlash against big-box stores opening on Thanksgiving, with threats of boycott in the air: The list of big-box retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day is growing, and so is the list of consumers threatening to shop elsewhere. Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) is joining the ranks of retailers offering turkey-day deals […]

Yes, Larry Summers Is Saying Central Bank Policy Encourages Bubbles (Which He Thinks Is a Second-Best Solution Because of Secular Stagnation)

OK it took me a bit to understand the point that Keshav (and then Ken B.) were making in response to my Summers/Krugman commentary on bubbles. They (and maybe others, sorry if I’m leaving people out) were saying that yes Summers/Krugman were warning that we would have a string of bubbles, but that no they […]

A Note on GDP Calculations

David R. Henderson has an interesting post on the problems with using GDP as a criterion of economic goodness. Now let me be clear (as Obama would say): I fully agree with the general theme of his post, especially the examples of cheap or even free things offered on the Internet and hence not showing […]

The Misesian Approach to Economic Laws

For my current course on Basics of Economics: Action and Exchange (where I go through my textbook Lessons for the Young Economist), I “pre-recorded”* one of the lectures because I was going to be in Chile that week and wasn’t sure my internet connection would allow for a live broadcast, which is the norm. Since […]