When people try to think about the long-term future, by which I mean here looking a half-century or a century ahead, they often suffer a lack of imagination. As a common example, they take today’s problems and just multiply them by a factor of ten. Or they assume that improved central planning, in one form…
Nordhaus on the Perils of Long-Term Forecasting
Nordhaus on the Perils of Long-Term Forecasting
01 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history Tags: The Great Enrichment
On the Great F.A. Hayek
30 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, F.A. Hayek, history of economic thought
TweetJonathan Fortier and his colleagues at Libertarianism.org produced this truly splendid 21-minute-long video to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hayek’s receipt of the Nobel Prize in economics. The post On the Great F.A. Hayek appeared first on Cafe Hayek.
On the Great F.A. Hayek
Top MR Posts of 2024!
30 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, gender, health and safety, human capital, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: economics of immigration, gender wage gap, Internet, political correctness, regressive left
The number one post this year was Tyler’s The changes in vibes — why did they happen? A prescient post and worth a re-read. Lots of quotable content that has become conventional wisdom after the election: The ongoing feminization of society has driven more and more men, including black and Latino men, into the Republican […]
Top MR Posts of 2024!
On Trump On Panama Canal Fees
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, international economics, International law, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, tarrifs

TweetThis letter of mine appears in today’s New York Times: To the Editor: Donald Trump complains that the fees Panama charges for ships to use its canal are a “complete ‘rip-off.’” How mysterious. Given Mr. Trump’s belief that “the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff,’” he should be pleased that these fees are…
On Trump On Panama Canal Fees
More Police, Fewer Prisons, and Other Ways to Reduce Crime
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
What does the existing research evidence say about how to reduce crime? Jennifer Doleac offers and over overview in “Why Crime Matters, and What to Do About It.” It appear as an essay in a book published by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, Strengthening America’s Economic Dynamism, edited by Melissa Kearney and Luke Pardue. You…
More Police, Fewer Prisons, and Other Ways to Reduce Crime
Two examples of wages rising for one occupation leading workers to move into it from other occupations
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice, poverty and inequality
See $500,000 Pay, Predictable Hours: How Dermatology Became the ‘It’ Job in Medicine: Americans’ newfound obsession with skin care has medical students flocking to this specialty by Te-Ping Chen of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Four-day workweeks, double the salary of some colleagues and no emails at night. If those perks sound like they belong to a few vaunted…
Two examples of wages rising for one occupation leading workers to move into it from other occupations
The Changing US Labor Market
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, unemployment Tags: creative destruction

There is a widespread belief that the US labor market has been undergoing a period of unprecedented chance in the last decade or two. On one hand, David Deming, Christopher Ong, and Lawrence H. Summers case doubt on this historical claim in their essay, ” Technological Disruption in the US Labor Market”–that is, they argue…
The Changing US Labor Market
The New FDA and the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: drug lags
The FDA under President Trump and new FDA head Martin Makary should rapidly reverse the FDA’s powergrab on laboratory developed tests. To recap, laboratory developed tests (LDTs) are the kind your doctor orders, they are a service not a product and are not sold directly to patients. Congress has never given the FDA the authority […]
The New FDA and the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests
“This Orange County…They Don’t Play”: California’s Tougher Shoplifting Law Receives Curious Endorsement
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, Gary Becker, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order

Proposition 36, which increases punishments for some retail theft and drug possession offenses, overwhelmingly passed in California despite the opposition of Gov. Gavin Newsom and most Democrats. Newsom denounced the measure as something that “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.” Despite discussing her tough-on-crime record in the election, Vice President Kamala Harris refused […]
“This Orange County…They Don’t Play”: California’s Tougher Shoplifting Law Receives Curious Endorsement
Technological Disruption in the US Labor Market
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: creative destruction
Deming, Ong and Summers have a good overview of long-run and very recent changes in the US labor market. Using a measure of occupational titles the authors find: The years spanning 1990-2017 were the most stable period in the history of the US labor market, going back nearly 150 years. It’s a bit too early […]
Technological Disruption in the US Labor Market
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings, wealth tax

Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushed for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a […]
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
Marginal Revolution Podcast–The New Monetary Economics!
25 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics Tags: monetary policy
Today on the MR Podcast Tyler and I discuss the “New Monetary Economics”. Here’s the opening TABARROK: Today we’re going to be talking about the new monetary economics. Now, perhaps the first thing to say is that it’s not new anymore. The new monetary economics refers to a set of claims and ideas about monetary economics […]
Marginal Revolution Podcast–The New Monetary Economics!
Palagashvili and Stossel on How Vile Labor Unions Can Be
20 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, survivor principle, unions
TweetIn this video, GMU Econ alum – and my Mercatus Center colleague – Liya Palagashvili talks with John Stossel about the economic destructiveness of labor unions. The post Palagashvili and Stossel on How Vile Labor Unions Can Be appeared first on Cafe Hayek.
Palagashvili and Stossel on How Vile Labor Unions Can Be
Some Links
20 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
TweetGeorge Will is rightly appalled by the Luddism of Trump and American longshoremen. Two slices: Longshoremen won a tentative 61.5 percent pay increase over six years. The Wall Street Journal editorial page notes “the astounding fact” that there are only about 25,000 port jobs, so about half of ILA members do not have to show…
Some Links

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