Bernie Sanders announced in the first Democratic debate, “In my view, what we need to do is… make every public college and university in this country tuition free.” Sanders’s gusto, however, has been met with commensurate acrimony from Republican - and even some Democratic - lawmakers. Opponents argue that eliminating college tuition would allow more underprepared students to be admitted to college and hence reduce graduation rates. Even presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary … [Read more...]

Check out the inflation update originally posted here. Image: Hyperinflation-era German currency Source: Flikr Creative Commons Welcome back to the monthly inflation! debasement! update.  We’re keeping track of that nefarious phenomenon of which Speaker of the House Paul Ryan warned that, no matter what the data tell us, accelerating inflation and a depreciating currency are just around the corner.  Here are the latest data through May 2016: Inflation: same as in April and March. … [Read more...]

The Great Recession revived economists’ interest in fiscal policy, i.e. the use of government spending and tax policy to affect the economy (especially in the short run.) This isn’t surprising given the large increases in spending and transfer payments along with significant tax cuts enacted by the Bush administration in 2008 and the Obama administration in 2009.  These two programs together pumped about $2 trillion into the US economy from 2008 to 2011. This marked a sharp turn from the … [Read more...]

https://youtu.be/niu3wt10ek0 Here is a Wall Street Journal headline from April 28: “The U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls Again, Nearing a 48-Year Low.”  “The homeownership rate fell slightly in the first quarter of 2016, dashing hopes that it had finally hit a bottom,” read the lead paragraph. This sounds pretty ominous. Let’s take a closer look; first, here are the data to which the article refers: Now, let’s pull back a bit, to the beginning of the Great Recession: So, the … [Read more...]