If you shovel out a parking spot, should you be able to “own” it by placing a lawn chair or other item in the space when you’re out shopping or at work? These questions and other illustrate the importance of economic principles and institutions in addressing everyday problems. The New York Times recently ran a story on a perennial topic–the phenomenon of “space savers” in South […]
Economics
Part 3 in a Series on the Minnesota Corporate Income Tax Debate: Higher Rates Mean Fewer Jobs
In our last two posts in this series, we looked at the effects of marginal corporate income tax rates on investment and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as reported in peer-reviewed economic journal articles. Today, we look at the effects of marginal corporate income tax rates on the number of businesses and the creation of new businesses. Entrepreneurs are the people who take an idea and […]
Are you “fun-employed”?
Here are a few things on unemployment that I’ve been saving up. First, Anthony Randazzo reminds us that hard cases make for bad policy. He sympathizes with a relative of his in the Detroit metro who has been unemployed for a long time. At the same time, he opposes extending the period for which people can collect unemployment insurance. (At some point–perhaps we’ve already reached […]
The Large Cost of Marginal Increases in the Home Ownership Rate
A key insight of economics is to focus on the marginal (or “next step”) costs and benefits of a given action. Say that you’re going to buy a new car. You may be willing to pay another $5,000 for a better vehicle, but at another $5,001–that extra dollar–you start to reconsider. The same logic works in public policy and in the economy generally. We stop […]