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.
Economic Analysis
Articles
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?
HICKS: To spend or cut taxes, that is the question
The stimulus and array of bailouts have thus far done little to boost the economy. Neither is there good evidence they kept
things from getting worse.
HICKS: A modest proposal: The SUN tax of 2010
The problem is that the tanning tax fails every single criterion of effective tax policy. It is narrow, easily avoided, suffers
high administrative costs, and distorts consumer and producer behavior.
HICKS: Town squares reflect forefathers’ optimism
In my line of work, I travel to many small towns. One eccentricity I indulge in on these trips is to drive around town
squares.
HICKS: Roots of recession found in homes, stocks
When the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research meets later this year or next, I believe
they’ll say the recession hit bottom in June or July of 2009. Recessions end when the economy bottoms out.
HICKS: Four recommendations for your reading list
Though I am no slave to fashion, summertime is a long occasion for the reading of good books.
HICKS: Derivatives don’t deserve their scary reputation
One major part of the legislation will target derivatives. This is an arena where the financial services industry does itself
no good from a public relations sense.