Economic History

November 19, 2011

Stagnation or Education?

Is the problem stagnation or education? For George Mason economist Tyler Cowen, it was all about his grandmother. Debating MIT economist Erik Brynjolfsson, Cowen reminded us […]

November 17, 2011

Ben Franklin’s Turkey

The bald eagle is our national bird but, according to Ben Franklin, the turkey should have been. In a letter to his daughter, he explains why. […]

November 16, 2011

The Supreme Court and the Health-Care Law

How to understand what the Supreme Court will look at when they decide whether parts of the health-care act are constitutional? In an excellent interactive graphic, […]

November 9, 2011

“Tweakers”

Referring to Steve Jobs, most of us think of innovation and entrepreneurship. Like Thomas Friedman in “(Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,” we imagine business starters and […]

November 8, 2011

The Future of Oil

When will we run out of oil? A room full of pistachios might have the answer. In the first several pages of The Invisible Heart: An […]

November 4, 2011

Frozen Jeans

Being a responsible citizen of the earth might mean freezing your jeans. According to Levi’s, one pair of jeans, from its inception in the cotton field […]

November 2, 2011

Default Deja Vu

Between its independence in 1829 and 2006, Greece has had 5 defaults or debt reschedulings that occupied a total of 50.6 years.  Described by Rogoff and […]

October 28, 2011

Euro Deal Primer

To understand euro zone bailout plans, just think BBB. Bonds, Banks, Bailout The Bonds: If you own Greek debt, then you would be asked to accept […]