HICKS: Tax-cut proposal probably a good compromise
The Bush tax cuts in particular are politically charged. Many people want to see the rich taxed at higher rates, with little regard for the impact on the economy.
Economic Analysis
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HICKS: The high costs of an over-lawyered society
Estimates of the private-sector costs of civil litigation top out at about 2 percent of our gross domestic product, so for every $50 spent in the United States, $1 goes to support legal costs and settlements.
HICKS: Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday
The holiday season in the United States has morphed into a time of concentrated purchases.
HICKS: Discounting the future when making public policy
As you will learn in any good high school economics class, everyone values the future less than the present.
HICKS: Educators must acknowledge need for reform
Fixing schools won’t be easy, but it begins with an honest realization of the problem—not mendacious malarkey.
HAUKE: Stock market, as usual, gets it right again
I’ve noticed a growing number of experts who are confused and confounded by the rising stock market. They refuse to believe what their eyes are telling them…
HICKS: Fed ‘easing’ into another stimulus plan
Federal legislation dating from the Truman administration compels the Fed to try to achieve the lowest possible levels of unemployment and inflation. Unfortunately, minimizing both is not possible.
This election, take note of ‘opportunity cost’
I think it is an idea that separates those who make decisions from those who want to talk about them and, in application, is an idea that distinguishes serious from unserious people.
HICKS: Why the stimulus didn’t stimulate enough
The failure of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to deliver us from high unemployment will provide research grist for economists for decades to come.
HICKS: Getting a driver’s license in five not-so-easy steps
He had been previously licensed to drive an M1 Tank and various smaller-tracked and -wheeled vehicles. Obtaining an Indiana license, he thought, would be easy. It was not.
HICKS: An inconvenient truth about teachers’ unions
From what I have seen and read, this documentary is destined to change radically our perception of schools, and those who stand in the way of fixing them.
HICKS: The end of a recession doesn’t feel like one
It is good to look back on the recession and think about where we’ve been and how this recession stacked up against others.
HICKS: Variables cloud business-location question
The problem is that the reasons for business-location decisions change from time to time.
HICKS: Income tax debate looms over next election
The expiration of the Bush tax cuts this January will further slow the economy, perhaps deeply.
HICKS: Trade unions strong when they work with biz
For labor unions to survive, they must follow the path of their more successful brethren in trade unions.
HICKS: Good reads on America’s automobile industry
If you’d like to satiate your interest in the domestic automobile market, may I recommend three fine books?
HICKS: Expectations can’t erase sluggish recovery
While the economy continues to recover, the pace is agonizingly slow. The reasons for this are becoming clear.
HICKS: What silly bands say about the value of things
There are economic lessons here. The most important is that the value of things is necessarily determined by what is known in econo-jargon as utility.
HICKS: Twenty years later, the impact of Desert Storm
Wartime familiarity should make us more tolerant of our differences and care more for one another’s children.
HICKS: What we can learn from forecasting blunders
It begs the question, just what should economists be expected to know and how should we explain it?