Opinion
Pay Teachers A Market Wage
Teacher unions are the biggest impediment preventing educators from being paid based on their skills and talents.
Opinion
Economic Nonsense and the Keystone XL Pipeline
Key arguments from pipeline detractors exhibit an ignorance of basic economics.
Opinion
Pop Goes The Bubbles
Growth-policy expert Randal O’Toole has an explanation for why some states had huge housing bubbles and other states didn’t.
Opinion
What’s a worker worth?
Pro athletes, entertainers, and top business executives earn millions, while teachers, nurses, and police officers take home much smaller paychecks. Why?
Opinion
The Ravages Of Hurricane Mike (& Roy)
Markets may be messy, but they work. What doesn’t work is for politicians to blunder in with clubs and threaten to bludgeon people.
Opinion
Can Consumers Make Gas Prices Fall?
Straight-line forecasting can lead to errors in gauging the future price of fuel.
Opinion
Drill Down To Basic Economics
In the midst of the cacophony of caterwauling that passes for economic journalism these days, there are at least two crystal clear voices of reason.
Opinion
The Message From The Megaphone
The most important number in American politics right now is the price of gasoline at the pump.
Opinion
No. 958 Are the Best Things in Life Free?
The daily economic and business news constantly focuses on spending and the flow of dollars between consumers and firms. Reporters eagerly ask whether consumers are spending enough to keep the economy growing, and whether businesses are earning enough to pay more to workers and stockholders.
Opinion
S’no mystery that prices are higher
How is the Chicago snowstorm of 1967 like the arrival of the Sony PlayStation3? In "Capitalism and Greed," economist James Doti tells a story from his graduate school days. Snowbound in a blizzard, trucks could not get into the inner city to deliver supplies to grocery stores for nearly a week. One grocer's solution not only kept his customers in supplies, he did it without lines, rationing, or fisticuffs. Hint: it's all about price; more specifically, about price elasticity of demand.
Opinion
Two-Way Prices and Two-Way Streets
Money prices drive market decisionmaking, and help ensure that consumers get what they want, when they want it, and in the quantities they want. It is the ability of prices to be flexible in response to changes, to move up and down quickly in response to demand or supply changes, that almost single-handedly prevents shortages and surpluses from occurring. How should we 'manage' prices and wages to produce the best economic results? The Invisible Hand.
Opinion
The Invisible Hand: Righty or Lefty?
What factors determine how well consumers with minority tastes and preferences are served by markets? By minority tastes, I mean a relatively small number of consumers whose preferences can only be met with special or customized products. Some lefties think this is a problem. It's not, at least not in the market, for a variety of reasons.
