2022 was a tough year for parents trying to find baby formula. But after months of parents facing empty shelves, Congress waived tariffs, which can be as high as 17.5%,…
Americans are concerned about housing affordability, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering rising home prices. According to the Cato Institute 2022 Housing Affordability National Survey, a whopping 87% of Americans “are…
Why are prices rising? One theory is ‘cost-push’ inflation. According to my old Dictionary of Economics, this is: Inflation induced by a rise in the costs of production of goods and…
Three things are essential for economic growth: an increase in labor (number of hours worked), an increase in capital, and an increase in total factor productivity, which can be understood…
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data showing that the United States economy added 263,000 jobs in November. Some, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, saw this as unequivocally good news:…
Leaders of the G20 met in Bali, Indonesia for their annual summit last month (Nov. 15-16). Like the past couple of years, growing income inequality was one of the top…
Despite being one of the most expensive places for housing in the country, New York City has done very little, if anything, to reform its strictly regulated housing market. Instead, leaders have…
“What I shall argue”, writes Lorenzo Forni in The Magic Money Tree, “is that the main principles of economics remain unchanged; it is only the circumstances in which they operate that…
Over 100,000 employed workers stayed out of work in October due to issues with childcare, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is over double the amount during…
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data showing that the rate of inflation for October was 0.4%. This was the same as the rate for September; even so the media claimed…
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data showing that the United States economy added 261,000 jobs in October. Some, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, saw this as unequivocally…
Yesterday, President Biden said: Each of these is misleading. I should preface this by saying that, to some extent, that depends on what period you are referring to. As Figure…
In 2019, California passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) — a law that limited businesses’ ability to classify workers as independent contractors. This was in an effort to ensure that workers…
Last week, U.S. News reported: ‘Stocks Slump on Fears About Rates, Recession After Jobs Data‘. Was it bad data? No, quite the contrary: Good news on the economy remains bad news for…
In March 2020, COVID-19 hit North Dakota. State and local governments enacted several measures intended to slow the spread of the virus, chief among these being “lockdowns” of individuals and…
Last week’s jobs report estimated that Nonfarm payrolls increased 263,000 for the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate of 275,000. This prompted the usual round of celebrations from people who ought to know…