What Happens if Nominal Interest Rates Go To Zero?
Thursday March 30, 2006
In the article "What Happens if Interest Rates Go To Zero? we saw a way that real interest rates could be negative. In "What Happens if Nominal Interest Rates ... Read More
Tax Week - FairTax - Income Taxes vs. Sales Taxes
Thursday March 30, 2006
I received over 100 e-mails last week, all of which told me that I was wrong for not believing that the FairTax would be the single greatest thing that has ... Read More
Tax Week - The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic Growth
Thursday March 30, 2006
One of the most commonly discussed issues in economics is how tax rates relate to economic growth. Advocates of tax cuts claim that a reduction in the tax rate will ... Read More
Tax Week - Should Income Tax Rates Depend on Lifetime Earnings?
Thursday March 30, 2006
This is a proposal that seems to be completely forgotten about. It's a shame, because it's really quite interesting.
A Canadian politician proposed that income rates should depend on total ... Read More
Tax Week - Are Sales Taxes More Regressive Than Income Taxes?
Thursday March 30, 2006
Sales taxes, particularly the FairTax proposal, have been in the news quite a bit lately. In "Are Sales Taxes More Regressive Than Income Taxes?" we examine how progressive sales ... Read More
Presidential Elections and the Economy
Thursday March 30, 2006
It seems that during every presidential election year we hear that jobs and the economy will be pivotal issues. It's commonly assumed that an incumbent president has little to worry ... Read More
Tax Week - The Dividend Tax Cut and Interest Rates
Thursday March 30, 2006
All this week we will be examining different taxes and tax proposals to see the impact they have on the economy.
The article: The Dividend Tax Cut and Interest Rates ... Read More
What Happens if Interest Rates Go To Zero?
Thursday March 23, 2006
A reader asks: "Can interest rates go to zero? Could they even be negative? I've heard that this has happened before. What would cause something like that to happen and ... Read More
Economics Term Paper Topic Suggestion - Stadium Subsidies
Thursday March 23, 2006
There was a rash of new sports stadium development that occurred in the 1990s. Most of these stadiums were built partly or wholly with government money in the form of ... Read More
Economic Term Paper Topic Suggestions - Kyoto Protocol
Thursday March 23, 2006
In August 1997 The Kyoto Protocol was drawn up. The Kyoto Protocol is supposed to reduce the emissions of the six greenhouse gases. Once The Kyoto Protocol is signed by ... Read More
Economics Term Paper Topic Suggestion - Economic Impact of SUVs
Thursday March 23, 2006
The SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) is one of the most popular types of vehicle to both own and drive. Last year, SUVs and minivans outsold conventional cars for the first ... Read More
Economics Term Paper Topic Suggestion - Cigarette Taxes
Thursday March 23, 2006
Cigarette taxes are a hot topic. All 50 state governments have enacted taxes on cigarettes, and many have raised their taxes several times. Cigarette taxes are a way governments can ... Read More
Economics Term Paper Topic Suggestion - Dividend Tax Cut
Thursday March 23, 2006
On January 7th, 2003, the U.S. President George W. Bush announced a package of tax cuts with the hopes that, when implemented, the tax cuts will stimulate the currently slow ... Read More
We Will Never Run Out of Oil - Revisited
Thursday March 16, 2006
I expect my newest article to generate a fair bit of feedback, both positive and negative.
In "We Will Never Run Out of Oil - Revisited" I examine an argument which ... Read More
Legalizing Marijuana
Thursday March 16, 2006
The war on drugs is an expensive battle, as a great deal of resources go into catching those who buy or sell illegal drugs on the black market, prosecuting them ... Read More
We Will Never Run Out of Oil
Thursday March 16, 2006
For as long as I can remember, I've been hearing that the world oil supply will run out in a few decades. I remember quite vividly growing up in the ... Read More
Price Elasticity of Demand
Thursday March 16, 2006
The Price Elasticity of Demand (commonly known as just price elasticity) measures the rate of response of quantity demanded due to a price change. The formula for the Price Elasticity ... Read More
The Canadian Exchange Rate
Thursday March 16, 2006
A reader asks: "I realize that the Canadian Dollar has been gaining against the American Dollar due to it's recent fall. I was wondering what the Canadian dollar has done ... Read More
Nominal vs. Real
Thursday March 16, 2006
A student asks: "I'm learning economics and I keep hearing the terms nominal and real all the time to describe things like interest rates. What's the difference between nominal and ... Read More
How to Understand and Calculate Cost Measures
Thursday March 16, 2006
A reader asks: "I have an assignment and it is asking for a lot of figures relating to cost. Average Fixed Cost, Total Variable Cost, etc. Can you help me ... Read More
Real Interest Rate
Thursday March 16, 2006
A reader asks: "I have the following consumer price index (CPI) and nominal interest rate data. How can I figure out what the real interest rate is for years ... Read More
Cost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull Inflation
Thursday March 16, 2006
A reader asks: "What do the terms "Cost-Push Inflation" and "Demand-Pull Inflation" mean? What's the difference between the two."
In "Cost-Push Inflation vs. Demand-Pull Inflation" we answer that question.
Monetary Policy
Thursday March 16, 2006
A reader asks"I'm having a little trouble trying to understand expansionary monetary policies and contractionary monetary policies. Can you help explain what impact expansionary monetary policies and contractionary monetary policies ... Read More
Why Study Economics?
Thursday March 9, 2006
A reader asks: "Perhaps this is an unusual request. My daughter just completed first year of A levels. She will go for an Economics degree next year. She is required ... Read More
The Effect of Income Taxes on Economic Growth
Wednesday March 8, 2006
This is an article that generated a fair amount of controversy the first time it was posted. I haven't linked to it in awhile, but I'm hoping by doing ... Read More
Choosing a Graduate School in Economics
Wednesday March 8, 2006
I guess some of you were lucky enough to get accepted into multiple schools when you applied to do your Ph.D. I've been getting a lot of e-mails of ... Read More
Would Marijuana Legalization Increase the Demand for Marijuana?
Wednesday March 8, 2006
Other than possibly global warming, the issue of legalizing marijuana seems to be the most popular for students to write reports on. I wonder why students choose that rather ... Read More
The Logic of Collective Action
Wednesday March 8, 2006
There are a lot of government policies, like airline bailouts, that from an economic perspective don't make any sense at all. Politicians have an incentive to keep the economy strong ... Read More
Recessions and Depressions
Wednesday March 8, 2006
I've posted this link quite a few times in 2006, but I'm still being asked questions about it, so here it goes again. If you'd like to know what ... Read More
The Baby Boom
Wednesday March 8, 2006
A reader recently asked me a question about the baby boom generation: "What's going to happen to the economy when all the baby boomers retire and get old?"
See the discussion ... Read More
Does the Superbowl Predict Economic Growth?
Wednesday March 8, 2006
A reader asks: "When I was in school during an Economics lesson, I distinctly remember the professor talking about something called the Super Bowl effect. Basically, it goes like this. ... Read More
The Insanity of Parecon and the Importance of Efficiency of Specialization
Thursday March 2, 2006
"This article is not meant as an introduction to the concept of Parecon (a good one is available at Wikipedia), nor is it meant as an indepth criticism of the ... Read More
Has Employment Decreased Over The Last 25 Years?
Thursday March 2, 2006
A reader asks: "I really enjoyed your article "Would 0% Unemployment Be a Good Thing?". I've heard though that the unemployment rate is a bad measure of how many people ... Read More
Opportunity Costs
Thursday March 2, 2006
"Unlike most costs discussed in economics, an opportunity cost is not always a number. The opportunity cost of any action is simply the next best alternative to that action - ... Read More
Would 0% Unemployment Be a Good Thing?
Thursday March 2, 2006
A reader asks: "While a high unemployment rate indicates an economy in distress, is a 0% rate really ideal for a country? I realize that a tiny percentage of unemployed ... Read More
Interest Rates
Thursday March 2, 2006
"Like anything else in economics, there's a few competing definitions of the term interest rate."
To learn more about what economists mean by the term 'interest rate' please see the article ... Read More
The Current Account
Thursday March 2, 2006
The large U.S. Current Account deficit has been in the news a great deal lately. But what exactly does that mean?
Learn more about the matter in "What is the ... Read More
Inflation
Thursday March 2, 2006
"Because inflation is a rise in the general level of prices, it is intrinsically linked to money, as captured by the often heard refrain "Inflation is too many dollars chasing ... Read More
What is Money?
Thursday March 2, 2006
It seems pretty obvious at first glance, but when you think about it, what exactly is money? Is it just the bills and coins in your pocket? Is ... Read More
Business Cycles
Thursday March 2, 2006
There's been a great deal of discussion about recessions and the business cycle lately. I guess people are not feeling confident in the state of the economy.
To learn more ... Read More