Category Archives: Regulatory Policy

While reading articles today (NYT, WSJ,…) about Ronald Coase, who died yesterday at the age of 102, I am reminded about how much I have enjoyed over the years explaining his famous ideas to beginning students in my Economics 1 lectures. … Continue reading →

In an article in the Wall Street Journal John Cochrane raises serious doubts about  recent “macro-prudential” policy proposals.   I hope the Fed listens. The Bank of England has already started in this direction with its new Financial Policy Committee planning to … Continue reading →

The recent Apple e-book prize-fixing case made surprisingly little news, but it’s a very interesting example for teaching (in Economics 1 or other courses) about market power, pricing, and antitrust policy. It is also a fascinating story involving behind the … Continue reading →

Enlivening the principles of economics course (we call it Economics 1 at Stanford) with skits and stunts to make it more understandable, relevant and memorable is a passion for many teachers. Reporter Kathy O’Toole once wrote about one of my … Continue reading →

Several weeks ago on Economics One I wrote that it would be a big mistake for the World Bank to drop or water down its Doing Business reports. It is good news and a nice show of bipartisanship that Members … Continue reading →

Rumors are flying around that the World Bank will water down or even abandon its ten-year old Doing Business series which measures the extent and quality of pro-growth economic policies in individual countries round the world.  A committee has been … Continue reading →

In talks about my book First Principles I argue that shifts toward and away from the principles of economic freedom have had profound effects on economic performance.  From the mid-1960s through the 1970s, deviations away from economic freedom were large, … Continue reading →

It has been three months since the August 2 white paper was released on the growth and employment impacts of Governor Romney’s economic program in comparison with President Obama’s program. Much has happened since then, so an update of the white … Continue reading →

Many have noted the large September increase in “part-time employment for economic reasons” reported in the BLS household survey. The 582,000 increase in these part time jobs caused total employment to rise by 873,000—a major reason for the decrease of the … Continue reading →

Much can be learned by comparing the very weak recovery from the 2007-2009 recession with the very strong recovery from the 1981-82 recession. Both recessions were severe, and U.S. history shows that severe recessions tend to be followed by fast … Continue reading →