BOHANON & CUROTT: Listen to statistics, but dig deeper for the truth
A statistic presented to buttress a particular political argument can, through a simple mathematical transformation, support an entirely different point of view.
Cecil Bohanon / Special to IBJ
Articles
BOHANON & CUROTT: It’s buyer beware for Indy, other Amazon bidders
Just how much should public officials offer in their bid to lure Amazon?
BOHANON & CUROTT: States need freedom to try to fix Medicaid
The best way to reform Medicaid is to decentralize the decision-making process to allow states to experiment with many options.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Think twice about biting on digital Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a speculative asset. People demand bitcoins today because they expect someone will pay a higher price tomorrow. We have seen this movie before.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Cut in marginal tax rate should spur growth
What we like best about the new federal tax law is that it reduces marginal tax rates for almost all taxpayers, both individual and corporate.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Market forces favored Yellowwood protectors
the controversy over the Yellowwood Back Country Area in Brown County raises an interesting question: Should conflicts over public land be resolved through a political or market process?
BOHANON & CUROTT: Make licensing requirements more flexible
The movement to modify licensing requirements for public schoolteachers is coming to Indiana. It’s about time.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Examining economics of Macy’s annual parade
National defense is a public good that must be provided by the government. Yet the holiday season offers ample examples of public goods that need not be.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Be thankful for our private property rights
The pilgrims discovered the hard way the weaknesses in the communal-property-rights model.
BOHANON & CUROTT: No enthusiasm for cuts among those not taxed
it looks like the GOP will do what it has always done: Offer zero taxes to an increasing proportion of the population to buy growth-enhancing tax cuts elsewhere.
BOHANON & STYRING: No movement toward a rules-based Fed
A constant debate in every Macroeconomics class since at least 1975 is, to what extent can or should the Federal Reserve provide policy certainty?
BOHANON & STYRING: Rankings only as good as criteria they’re based on
But northern Indianapolis suburbs have been scoring rather well in several recent rankings.
BOHANON & STYRING: Tariffs often tilt playing field rather than level it
tariffs aren’t really about fair trade; they’re all about fixing the market for domestic firms at the expense of the rest of us.
BOHANON & STYRING: Nanny state taxes often fail their objectives
They neither reshape consumer behavior to the desired ends nor provide a stable revenue source for local governments.
BOHANON & STYRING: Tax fairness begins with government honesty
Congress has “pivoted” from health care to taxes. This means we’re doomed to much high-sounding rhetoric about “fairness.”
BOHANON & STYRING: Index funds aren’t going to destroy capitalism
One commentator goes so far as to claim index funds are “worse than Marxism.”
BOHANON & STYRING: A hurricane-force lesson in supply and demand
Prices are how resources are directed to their highest valued uses. A higher price says both “use less” and “we want more.”
BOHANON & STYRING: Yes, there is such a thing as a free market
In a free market, government plays a vital role in enforcing laws against violence, fraud and theft, and in resolving contract disputes.
BOHANON & STYRING: NCAA deck is stacked in favor of schools
One service the NCAA provides for its members is to rig the market for student athletes
BOHANON & STYRING: Alt-right, liberals find economic common ground
The alt-right views white Europeans as socio-political—and economic—victims, and calls for a strong dose of white nationalism and anti-Semitism.