Category Economics

Don’t Expand Deposit Insurance. Abolish It!

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has some policymakers considering expanding government deposit insurance to cover all deposits. Those advocating such a move believe it will help stabilize the banking system and prevent future bank runs. While these are desirable…

Inflation Slowed in February, But Remained High

After two worrisome months, we are finally getting some better news on the inflation front. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI) grew at a continuously compounded annual rate of 3.2 percent in February, down from 6.9 percent in January.…

Let’s Cut the Budget Nonsense

The Biden administration has floated another bloated budget, one that will put the US national debt at $43.6 trillion by 2033, assuming its optimistic growth and interest-rate projections pan out and the Ukraine war ends. If this budget passes, the…

Signs of Hope

The past three years did quite a number on my once-high optimism about the future. The eagerness and ease with which governments locked us down, combined with the accompanying monetary and fiscal incontinence, cannot help but dampen the spirits of…

Politics, Not Markets, Makes Banking Unstable

Is fractional-reserve banking inherently unstable? Over at National Review, Edwin Burton, a visiting economics professor at the University of Virginia, argues that the “mismatch between the maturity of the source of funds and the maturity of the use of funds”…

Lessons from the Phillips Curve

Note: An earlier version of this article appeared at Economic Forces. Anyone who has followed macroeconomic debates of the last half-century is surely familiar with the Phillips Curve, a name given to the supposed negative relationship between the unemployment rate…

How Does a Region Rust Away?

In Cleveland, OH, during his bid for the presidency, Walter Mondale blamed his opponent’s policies for turning the region into a “rust bowl.” Journalists latched on, and America’s Northeast became infamous as a region in terminal decline, earning the moniker…