As inflation has spiked over the last three years, I’ve often quoted the economist Milton Friedman, who argued that: Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense…
Price floors and ceilings — Minimum wages and rent controls Public policymakers often intervene in economies using “price floors,” such as government-mandated minimum wages, or “price ceilings,” like rent controls.…
Not long ago, policymakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were enamored of something called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). This theory starts with a banal observation — that a government that issues the currency its debts…
Back in May, Reuters ran an article asking: “Why is UK inflation so high and how do other countries compare?” The authors offered various possible explanations for high inflation in…
A recent CNN article said: After two years of surging prices, economists still can’t agree on what has caused the world’s worst inflation crisis in decades. While the usual culprits…
In November, I looked at where inflation might be headed and suggested that “The answer is ‘down,’ and perhaps reasonably sharply.” Looking at it again in January, I saw “a…
Yesterday, the Star Tribune reported that “the 50 largest public companies in the state [ranked] by revenue…saw revenue increase 7% to a total of $750.7 billion” in 2022. But, as…
On Sunday, I wrote about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), “the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest ever.” Depositors with up to…
On Friday regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and seized its deposits in the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-largest ever. We shouldn’t be…
The last three years or so have seen the death of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). This is a theory that starts with a banal observation — that a government that…
Recognizing important economic relationships allowed us to see inflation coming back in 2021. Today, they strongly suggest a sharp slowing of inflation ahead.
Why are prices rising? One theory is ‘cost-push’ inflation. According to my old Dictionary of Economics, this is: Inflation induced by a rise in the costs of production of goods…
“What I shall argue”, writes Lorenzo Forni in The Magic Money Tree, “is that the main principles of economics remain unchanged; it is only the circumstances in which they operate…
If you cleared $1,661 in your semi-monthly paycheck on November 1, 2021 (the take home for the average salary in Minnesota), then, thanks to inflation, you would need to clear…
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data showing that the rate of inflation for October was 0.4%. This was the same as the rate for September; even so…
In an article summarizing the economic policies of Tim Walz and Scott Jensen — candidates in tomorrow’s gubernatorial election — Dave Orrick writes for the Pioneer Press: The Federal Reserve…