President Obama’s budget proposes raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This would hurt the very workers the President wants to help. When the price of something rises, people—both consumers and employers—purchase less of it. Americans responded to the higher cost of gas by driving less. Businesses similarly respond …
Today’s passing of Nobel Prize-winning economist James M. Buchanan is a sad milestone, but a good time to remember his impact on economics. Buchanan’s basic contribution to economic theory (and policy) was both simple and profound: Political decision makers, just like consumers and producers, are self-interested and subject to constraints. …
According to Friday’s Washington Post, the Administration is considering a new, short-term tax cut. Should conservatives cheer? As a matter of principle, there are at least two reasons to dislike taxes and to applaud tax cuts. First, taxes take money away from those who made the money in the first …
Edward Conard spent 14 years as a partner at Bain Capital, the most scrutinized company in America. But these days, he’s in the news for another reason. As the author of “Unintended Consequences,” Conard has challenged the conventional wisdom about the U.S. economy and outlined ideas that have resulted in …
John Stossel’s skepticism of government and his storytelling approach about free-market economics have made him a rock star in conservative and libertarian circles. He spoke at The Heritage Foundation on Wednesday about his new book, “No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails—But Individuals Succeed.” It is Stossel’s latest attempt to debunk the myths …
Protests that began on Wall Street and spread to cities across America have now reached the pristine halls of Harvard. That’s right, the country’s oldest university is experiencing walkouts by students sympathizing with the “Occupy” movement. The source of their frustration: Students don’t like the content presented in an introductory …
After the panel, Professor Zywicki, a Senior Scholar of the Mercatus Center and contributor to the popular legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, sat down with us for an “In the Green Room” segment. We talked about the problems we face if Congress enacts the CFPA, the real causes behind our current financial crisis, and what principles should undergird real financial regulatory reform.
For most of a century, macroeconomists have debated the pros and cons of government “stimulus” policies. Because there is no way to determine how the economy would have performed without a stimulus, the debate comes down to dueling economic models, assumptions, and theories. With Nobel Prize-winning economists lining up on …
