Economic Thinkers

March 27, 2015

The Dangerous Side of Economics

Because he revised his country's inaccurate deficit and received Eurostat approval, Greece's chief statistician might be prosecuted for "breach of faith."

March 19, 2015

Six Ways to Make Government Better

One of many examples in Peter Schuck's new book, the Social Security program shows how government can be successful and also why it "fails so often."

February 26, 2015

Tradeoffs and Marriage: Like a Horse and Carriage

As the pill, education and employment opportunities changed the value of women as wives, the tradeoffs that relate to being married have also changed.

February 24, 2015

The Vaccine Benefits That No One Talks About

With better school attendance and learning, and then higher work productivity, the positive externalities of childhood vaccination have an economic impact.

February 17, 2015

How Much Do Average People Agree With Economists?

Average Americans disagree with the economic consensus for many issues according to surveys from the University of Chicago Booth School.

February 13, 2015

Pondering the Bunker Hill Theory of Inflation

As the source of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve has to decide if interest rates should rise when inflation is low but a jobs recovery has begun.

February 12, 2015

Three Big Questions About the GDP

GDP problems include that it's not calculated the same way in different countries, its data can be tough to gather, and its components omit important items.

January 27, 2015

The Reason It Can Be Tough to Cross the Street

Called the American Dream, the income mobility that lifts a child beyond a parent's poverty can depend on a community's characteristics.

January 21, 2015

Can Economists See the Hot Hand?

With implications that extend beyond sports, believers in classical economics and in behavioral economics are debating whether players can have streaks.

January 20, 2015

How Chocolate Chip Cookies Explain Why We Save Less

Explained by behavioral economics, we save relatively little for retirement because of intertemporal selfishness and seeing our future selves as strangers.

January 9, 2015

How Men Act When They Outnumber Women

How gender ratios in the U.S. and China affect men's financial behavior can be explained with supply and demand and behavioral economics from Gary Becker.

January 8, 2015

Understanding a New Tax Issue

With the House requiring dynamic scoring of tax legislation from the CBO, the bigger tax debate resurfaces on how much redistribution and spending.