Regulatory Policy

February 12, 2014

The Cost of Conservation

By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School. Saving water is supposed to allow us to cut down costs. For the drought-stricken city […]

February 9, 2014

Problems With the Unemployment Rate

Almost everyone is saying the unemployment rate is a problem. At 6.6% and with job creation at 113,000, the numbers reflect a troubled jobs market. The […]

February 6, 2014

A Surprising Connection Between Tennessee and the Affordable Care Act

There is probably a tradeoff between health insurance and the demand for jobs. During 2005 in Tennessee, the demand for jobs increased when 170,000 people lost their Medicaid […]

February 5, 2014

1930s Noise Pollution

In 1932, the NYC Noise Abatement Commission received a letter from Mr. N. Schmuck of 137 Milton Street in Brooklyn about the noise from a nearby […]

January 21, 2014

The Trade-Offs of Prolonging Life

From guest blogger, Mariana Do Carmo, student at Yale University. What if prolonging life results in prolonging not only your suffering but also that of others? […]

January 16, 2014

Connecting Abigail Adams to Janet Yellen

Reading about “touch generations” in Sam Arbesman’s Wired Magazine blog, I realized that Abigail Adams and Janet Yellen were connected. Different generations touch when one’s birth year coincides with someone else’s […]

January 11, 2014

Happy Birthday to a Great Father (of our economy)

When you sing happy birthday to Alexander Hamilton today, please just think of an upward sloping (logarithmic) economic growth line:   Today, 257–or maybe 259–years ago […]

January 5, 2014

One Reason That Geography Matters

Have you ever looked closely at Japan and the United Kingdom? Described by geographer Jared Diamond in a fascinating podcast, they look remarkably similar. Today Japan […]

January 4, 2014

Do You Live in a Popular State?

Listening to Bloomberg news the other morning, I heard that Atlas Van Lines just came out with their annual migration study. The radio report said New […]

November 28, 2011

The First Credit Default Swap

Some of the euro zone’s problems actually started with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez calamity, when an Alaska jury said that […]

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 […]