In a recent paper published by the Heritage Foundation, frequent AIER contributor Alexander William Salter argues that industrial policy, of the sort that is advocated by Oren Cass and other […]
Tag: Economic Theory
Economists’ Meaning of “Consumption”
Natural language is a wonderful tool for communication. By using language, we humans manipulate air, paper, and pixels to transport ideas from one brain to other brains. Language allows each […]
Lessons from the Phillips Curve
Anyone who has followed macroeconomic debates of the last half-century is surely familiar with the Phillips Curve, a name given to the supposed negative relationship between the unemployment rate and […]
Why Studying Economics Requires Curiosity
Recently, I argued that studying economics instills gratitude. A friend responded by asking me what intellectual virtues are necessary for understanding economics. Gratitude may be a result of studying economics, […]
The Division of Labor and the Diminution of Man
The elderly patient presented with difficulty walking. The patient was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, who traced the problem to osteoarthritis in the patient’s hips, knees, and feet. An otolaryngologist […]
Wanted: Economic Literacy
Economist Thomas Sowell once wrote, “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of […]
Stratification Economics?
Science is naturally subdivided into specialties and sub-specialties. In the physical sciences isolation of one specialty from another isn’t too much of a problem, because all share a common framework. […]
Proposing a Hank Williams Jr. Economic Misery Index
With the smoke from the recent Recession Definition War still wafting in the air, I want to suggest that America’s economy is in something much worse than recession or even […]
Micro-Microeconomics
Over one hundred fifty years ago, Carl Menger started his economic theorizing with the recognition that “goods” are useful things that satisfy human needs. From there, he proceeded to develop […]
Inflation and Relative Prices
I want to follow-up on my previous post on inflation by tying together a lot of topics that Brian and I discuss at Economic Forces. Our newsletter is primarily about […]