BOHANON & CUROTT: How farm-labor cost concerns led to creation of giant strawberry
Because a worker can pick a greater mass of strawberry with each muscle movement, a bigger berry–like machinery–substitutes for more expensive labor.
Economic Analysis
Articles
BOHANON & CUROTT: Nation’s student-loan crisis was created by government
Over the last 15 years, total student loan debt exploded from $600 billion to more than $1.5 trillion and now exceeds credit card debt.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Beware of gloomy predictions, economic or otherwise
Where do dire prognosticators go wrong? We think it comes from seeing the world economy as a zero sum-game.
BOHANON & CUROTT: ‘Rational ignorance’ results from voters’ lack of influence
Becoming a truly informed voter takes a lot of time. But the odds that an individual’s vote decides an outcome is vanishingly small. So most voters conclude it isn’t worth the effort.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Democratic socialism raises a fundamental question
Democratic socialism is much more than bumping up federal social spending. It is designed to generate fundamental changes in our economic order.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Population slowdown problematic for economy
Unfortunately, the size of the working age population has been growing slowly and even shrank slightly last year. This poses a real problem for our nation’s finances.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Lots to consider in debate over rising insulin prices
Last month, Indy-based Eli Lilly and Co., the original innovator in insulin, introduced the first low-priced “generic” version of its current insulin product.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Fed’s growing power poses danger to financial markets
Since 2008, the Fed has explicitly tried to steer the entire economy by targeting long-term rates. This is a major expansion of Fed power.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Use incentives, not mandates to improve the climate
From an economist’s perspective, the simplest and most straightforward way to speed the evolution from fossil fuels to clean energy—if that is what we want—is by directly taxing the attribute of fossil fuel that is offending: its carbon emissions.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Little-known Jones Act is outdated and ripe for repeal
The act, passed in 1920, stipulates that cargo shipped between domestic ports must be transported by ships that are domestically built, flagged and crewed.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Higher minimum wage hurts those it’s meant to help
full-service restaurants in New York City employed 3,000 fewer workers in December 2018 than in December 2017; the city increased the minimum wage from $11 an hour to $13 in 2018.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Here’s an issue almost everyone can agree on
Americans are more divided on political issues today than at any time since the Civil War. This makes the Feb. 20 U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Timbs v. Indiana a breath of fresh air.
Fed’s Powell predicts solid but slower growth in 2019
In delivering the Fed’s semiannual monetary report to Congress, Powell said the Fed will be “patient” in determining when to boost its benchmark policy rate in light of the various “crosscurrents and conflicting signals.”
BOHANON & CUROTT: What Amazon could’ve expected from Indiana
We welcome you but won’t worship you nor give you everything you want.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Market economy makes us richer than Rockefeller
When the first-ever Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans came out in 1918, John D. Rockefeller was on top with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than $20 billion today. Does that staggering sum make you envious? It shouldn’t. Consider the following hypothetical: How much money would someone have to offer […]
BOHANON & CUROTT: All ideologies should heed Venezuela’s lesson
The country has melted down because of a price system made dysfunctional by policies socialist regimes are prone to adopt, but also detrimental if adopted by non-socialist governments.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Lawmakers shouldn’t shut door on marijuana reform
Pro-reformers say new users will be opioid addicts who ditch opioid prescriptions or heroin for marijuana. Anti-reformers say new users will be vulnerable teenagers. Who is right? Probably both.
BOHANON & CUROTT: An economist’s remedy for toxic masculinity
the discussion of self-command by famous economist Adam Smith in “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” offers some useful insights.
BOHANON & CUROTT: Don’t fall for the idea a recession is ‘overdue’
The claim that a recession is more likely in 2019 because there hasn’t been one in a while is an example of the gambler’s fallacy.
BOHANON & CUROTT: State’s fiscal news offers something for everyone
The good news is that state tax revenue is on target to exceed expectations. The bad news is that mandated Medicaid expenditures are also on track to be above expectations.