Economy

Back in 1939, Winston Churchill famously said in a radio broadcast: “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma …” One might say something similar today about the state of Russia’s economy. Since Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine in 2022, international economic sanctions have … Continue reading Russia’s Economy and Deathonomics The post Russia’s Economy and Deathonomics first appeared on Conversable Economist.

The eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 is less than five years ago: still, it has become hard (for me, at least) to recapture in my own head the fears and uncertainties of those first few months. The unemployment rate spiked from 3.5% in February 2020 to 14.8% just two months later in … Continue reading An Economic Policy Tradeoff between Speed and Fraud During the Pandemic The post An Economic Policy Tradeoff between Speed and Fraud During the Pandemic first appeared on Conversable Economist.

David A. Price of the Richmond Fed serves as interlocutor in an interview with “Laura Alfaro: On global supply chains, sentiment about trade, and what to learn from Latin America” (Econ Focus, Fourth Quarter 2024, pp. 22-25). Here are a couple of comments from Alfaro that stuck with me: On lessons for the United States … Continue reading Interview with Laura Alfaro: Globalization and the Great Reallocation The post Interview with Laura Alfaro: Globalization and the Great Reallocation first appeared on Conversable Economist.

William Nordhaus (Nobel ’18) reflects on his pathway into and through economics in “Looking Backward, Looking Forward” (Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2024, 16: 1–20). He writes: “I first saw light in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the dawn of World War II, in the lush Rio Grande River floodplain, with an irrigated alfalfa field outside … Continue reading Nordhaus Reflects on Technology and Climate Change The post Nordhaus Reflects on Technology and Climate Change first appeared on Conversable Economist.

It is canonical among economists that as the price of a good rises, the quantity demanded of that good falls (other factors held equal). The underlying logic is that a higher price for a certain good has two effects. The “substitution effect” is that a higher price for a certain good causes potential buyers to … Continue reading Are Theme Park Rides a Giffen Good? The post Are Theme Park Rides a Giffen Good? first appeared on Conversable Economist.

I have been the Managing Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives since the first issue in Summer 1987. The JEP is published by the American Economic Association, which decided back in 2011–to my delight–that the journal would be freely available online, from the current issue all the way back to the first issue. You can download individual … Continue reading Fall 2024 Journal of Economic Perspectives Free Online The post Fall 2024 Journal of Economic Perspectives Free Online first appeared on Conversable Economist.

To explain the high and rising price of housing, the standard economic intuition is that growth in supply isn’t keeping up with growth in demand. One piece of evidence supporting this intuition is the “vacancy rate”–that is, what share of owner-occupied housing or rental housing is empty? Here are a couple of figures from the … Continue reading Housing: Supply Chasing Demand The post Housing: Supply Chasing Demand first appeared on Conversable Economist.

Every now and then, I hear proposals to fund some program by taxing the wealthy–or even just confiscating wealth above a certain level. For the purposes of this post, I’m not interested in the question of whether this tax would be a good idea. (Shocking disclosure: I don’t think it’s a good idea.) I just … Continue reading How Much Money from a Confiscatory Tax on the Uber-Wealthy? The post How Much Money from a Confiscatory Tax on the Uber-Wealthy? first appeared on Conversable Economist.

Government attempts to assist household with low incomes face an inevitable practical problem. As income for a household rises, it will be necessary to phase out the government assistance. But what happens if–at least over a certain range of incomes–a previously low-income household that increases its earnings discovers that its government benefits are being decreased … Continue reading A Benefits Cliff in Washington, DC The post A Benefits Cliff in Washington, DC first appeared on Conversable Economist.

I occasionally pause for a moment to remember that just a few years ago, before we were concerned that AI would take all the jobs, we were worried that new robotics technologies would take all the jobs. And before that, we were worried that automation would take all the jobs. Can we learn something from … Continue reading The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Future of Work The post The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Future of Work first appeared on Conversable Economist.