Thanks to an insidious nativism, threatening to take control of the Democratic party in 2018 and beyond

By Albert Gustafson According to the July 6 jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 213,000 new jobs in June. The report also showed that many discouraged workers, who had given up looking for work, are re-entering the labor force. A growing labor force is a fundamental driver of long-term economic growth, … Read the rest […]

Do you feel poorer since 2016 or richer? If you’re like the median American household, your budget goes a little further, and your dollars buy a little more. There are a lot of reasons for that, but mainly, it’s because of two things. First, the economy is experiencing a rapid expansion (mostly for non-political reasons–as […]

Incentives matter, even in criminal behavior. How are violent crime and police violence related to one another?

By Albert Gustafson As the Trump administration finalizes its plans to implement tariffs against foreign steel and aluminum, it’s clear that the president doesn’t mind ignoring economists — even within his own administration. The Trump budget, first rolled out in January, shows a similar rejection of economic orthodoxy. Despite hawkish rhetoric about reducing the national debt during his campaign, […]

Stretching the tools of economic analysis to understand the rationale for legal and social norms

Many erroneously propose war as an economic good, but this calculus of euqality and human life is a dangerous innovation.