By Ryan Bourne, Cato Institute In both his Cato paper and then an article for the Journal of Economic Perspectives, UC San Diego economist Jeff Clemens delineated the full range of ways any business might adjust to a minimum wage hike. Most empirical research has focused on whether firms cut jobs or […]
Tag: economics
Between Keynes and Autonomy
By the IMCO Staff In economic jargon, fiscal and monetary policies are known as demand policies. In other words, they have the ability to alter the goods and services that are demanded in an economy, but they do not necessarily manage to alter —increase would be desirable— the productive capacity. Both affect […]
Pipeline Cyberattack Shows Fossil Fuels Are Still Important
By Isaac Orr The cyberattack that closed the Colonial Pipeline focused new attention on the all-important role pipelines, and the fossil fuels they transport, play in our lives. The Colonial pipeline delivers 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East coast. Anyone who pretends we don’t need the energy provided by oil […]
Rx Importation Poses a Threat to Consumers, Not A Solution
By Foday Turay, American Consumer Institute According to the GoodRx Research Team, 832 brand drugs have increased by an average of 4.5% since December 31, 2020. Americans pay around $1,200 for prescription drugs a year. The continuing rise of prescription drug prices has a significant impact on many Americans, especially during a global […]
Visionary Milton Friedman and the Chinese Economy
By Rainer Zitelmann In October 1976 it was announced that the Nobel Prize in economics for that year would be awarded to the American economist Milton Friedman. Almost exactly a month before that announcement, Mao Zedong had passed away. Just four years after his death, Friedman visited China for the first time. […]
Uber, Lyft Prices and Wait Times Are Surging—Here’s Why
By Brad Polumbo, Foundation for Economic Education Millions of Americans, myself included, have come to rely on ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft for convenient and affordable transportation. But in recent months, we’ve seen skyrocketing prices and long wait times just to get a ride. As it turns out, the government is […]
Wales’ proposed universal basic income threatens to do more harm than good
by Tom Ryan In May the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford announced that he is trialling a ‘Universal Basic Income’ (UBI) in Wales, a policy of direct and unconditional cash transfers. This fashionable policy has been tried around the world by governments and private organisations, but hasn’t much to show for it so […]
Steel Tariffs and Why We Can’t End Failed Government Programs
By David Boaz, Cato Institute Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post wonders why President Biden has not repealed President Trump’s costly tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from “our close economic and military allies, including the European Union, Canada and Japan.” If both the United States and our allies recognize the damage these trade […]
Instead of Fighting, We Trade
By Manuel Molano, IMCO Commerce, from time immemorial, has been the alternative to violence. Maybe before we were human, in the animal world cooperation is called symbiosis and is the alternative to predation. Trading we cooperate. The reason we trade is because we want to buy things that we do not […]
How ‘functional finance’ becomes heavier taxation
by Enrico Colombatto, Austrian Economics Center Even before Western governments decided to fight Covid-19 by freezing their economies and inflating their debts, many countries had problematic public finance situations. Now, public debt is soaring almost everywhere and dealing with it has become a major issue. The solution so far has been to resort […]