The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. - F.A. Hayek
Posted in Macroeconomics on Mar 31st, 2008
Gross Domestic Product growth (GDP) slowed to an annual rate of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 according to Thursday’s release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. AIER employs GDP as one of six coincident indicators of business cycle activity to show us where the economy actually is, and usually to provide confirmation of […]
Posted in Behavior on Mar 28th, 2008
Registar at Florida State charges professors $10 per late grade. I am a fan of using the price system to align incentives. However, I wonder what some of the unintended consequences of this policy might be? Especially when you are reading your 100th essay in a row on the same exact topic …
Posted in Voluntary Society, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 28th, 2008
I propose that anyone who is opposed to the offshoring of jobs and who uses that notion as a scare tactic to gain political favor also be opposed to the inshoring of jobs as well.
Matthew Slaughter, in an OpEd in yesterday’s WSJ, reminds us that,
In 2005, insourcing companies employed nearly 5.1 million Americans, 4.4% of […]
Posted in Standards of Living on Mar 27th, 2008
In 1973, George Steinbrenner and a group of investors bought the New York Yankees for $10 million. Mr. Steinbrenner’s contribution to obtain a majority interest was $800,000.
In 2009, when the New York Yankees open their new ballpark in the Bronx, a season ticket package for four seats in the first five to eight rows behind […]
Posted in Extended Order on Mar 26th, 2008
Modern consumers are confronted with a dizzying array of product colors, sizes, styles, textures, tastes and nutritional content to choose from. Increasingly, individuals are being asked to consider decisions that extend beyond the boundaries of a product’s physical characteristics. Were your jeans made in a sweatshop? Was your cell-phone assembled in a country that harbors […]
Posted in Inflation, Macroeconomics, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 25th, 2008
On the balance sheet of the U.S. Federal Reserve you will find the following line item: “Notes and bonds, inflation-indexed.”
Posted in Macroeconomics on Mar 24th, 2008
Read a bit more about this here. Insights and guidance, as always, appreciated. Where are markets seizing up? It does not appear to be in bank credit; it does not appear to be in the commercial paper market? Is it simply that the MBS market has frozen? Perhaps, and that does not seem to have […]
Posted in Education on Mar 24th, 2008
Read about it here.
Posted in Macroeconomics on Mar 23rd, 2008
What the country with the highest GDP growth rate in 2007 was? See here. I know nothing about the place. Is it oil? Wheat? Copper? Poppies? It’s really gotta be lots of commodities … or is it something else?
Who has higher GDP, Europe or America?
Of 216 countries for which data are reported, where does the […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Health Care on Mar 21st, 2008
… to report to you from Utilitarian La-La Land:
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)