Economist Channel

My Hoover colleague David Brady put together this lovely graph, using the Gallup poll results from their standard question, "do you think the economy is getting better?"It has many interesting interpretations -- add your own in comments.A context that spiked my interest is the use...

Research Assistant Needed for Qualitative ResearchApplications are invited for an hourly paid role as a Research Assistant located within the UCD Geary Institute. The successful candidate will be offered a part-time role on an hourly basis for 6 weeks at 20 hours a week to commence with immediate effect.The successful candidate will provide research...

I heard a revealing conversation on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, featuring Scott Simon, the usually soothing and empathetic Cubs-fan voice of my Saturday mornings, and  Nebraska Congressman Adrian Smith.SIMON: This budget would also... mean deep cuts to the food stamp program....After some waffling about farm subsidies,SIMON: Well, let me ask...

Two new papers on housing restrictions are noteworthy, Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation by Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti, and  The Economic Implications of Housing Supply by Ed Glaeser and Joe Gyourko.Readers of this blog will not be surprised at the idea that zoning and other restrictions drive up the cost of housing, and that...

I found a lovely post on health care full of wild ideas at market-ticker.org. You may not agree with all the proposals -- wild even by my standards.  But it is full of interesting detail on what's wrong with the microeconomics of health care delivery, as opposed to the usual focus on health insurance, and who pays, ignoring the vast dysfunction...

The Chicago Booth Review published here a much cleaned up and nicely formatted version of my earlier blog post on r*.  If you missed the original and you're curious about r* issues, or just curious what the heck r* is anyway, this version is better....

Continuing in the Il Sole series on Italy and the Euro, Alberto Bagnai writes that the euro is a "big defeat for the economics profession'' here in English, here in Italian.  He takes particular issue with my earlier case for a common currency, here in English, in Italian,...

"Fintech, Regulatory Arbitrage, and the Rise of Shadow Banks" is an interesting new paper by  Greg Buchak, Gregor Matvos, Tomasz Piskorski, and Amit Seru1. Shadow banks and fintech have grown a lot.the market share of shadow banks in the mortgage market has nearly tripled from...

George Shultz and Martin Feldstein, in the Washington PostIf a country consumes more than it produces, it must import more than it exports. That’s not a rip-off; that’s arithmetic. If we manage to negotiate a reduction in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, we will have an increased trade deficit with some other country. Federal...

Holman Jenkins and Cliff Asness have worthy commentaries on the health insurance reform effort.Jenkins has quite a few fresh thoughts. He also gets the incurable optimist award for viewing the bill as the "inklings of a salvation" for America’s health-care system. It's possible. Whether it is likely depends on your views of the political process.Individual...

A charming animated free-market poem by Russ Roberts, on the invisible hand, at http://wonderfulloaf.orgThe "read the poem" link includes much interesting annotation.Mild critique: I would rather the "planner" be a well-meaning economist faced with impossible information problems...

UCD School of Economics is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2017-18 PhD Scholarship scheme. The aim of the scheme is to attract applicants of the highest academic standards to participate in the UCD School of Economics PhD programme (details here) and provide them with the training, experience and mentorship necessary to their professional...

This month the Irish Revenue Commissioners (responsible for tax administration) published the results of 20 randomised trials they have conducted in the area of behavioural design. This is a significant report in terms of Irish public policy and also contributes to the growing international literature in this area. A summary of the report is below. While...

In case you missed it, this Sunday featured a creditable effort by the NY Times to look out of the groundhog hole. You have likely followed the explosion resulting from Bret Stephens' first column. Likewise, Ross Douthat tried to explain the attraction of Marine LePen.  I'm not a LePen fan, but appreciated his honest effort to explain...

Arnold Kling's Askblog quotes Robert J. MannWal-Mart’s application to form a bank ignited controversy among disparate groups, ranging from union backers to realtor’s groups to charitable organizations. The dominant voice, though, was that of independent bankers complaining that the big-box retailer would drive them out of business. Wal-Mart denied...

In the WSJ, The 93 Words That Could Unlock $200 Billion in Bank Capital. This could be a great MBA final exam. Spot the errors: "Tucked inside a nearly 600-page legislative proposal to overhaul U.S. financial regulations are 93 words that could provide a windfall for bank investors seeking heftier dividends and share buybacks.""Bank analysts...