The space industry has changed dramatically since the Apollo program put men on the moon in the late 1960s. Today, over 50 years later, private companies are sending tourists to the edge of space and building lunar landers. NASA is bringing together 27 countries to peacefully explore the Moon and beyond, and it is using […]
4 questions about its impact answered by a housing law expert
The Supreme Court on Aug. 26, 2021, ended the Biden administration’s ban on evictions, putting millions at risk of losing their homes. The ruling, by a divided court, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority in continuing a moratorium on evictions after Congress failed to pass new legislation. We asked legal […]
Canada’s housing crisis needs answers — but first we need to ask the right questions
The struggle to match housing costs to incomes affects everyone in Canada. It impacts not only people who struggle to afford a place to live, but health care, education, the economy and quality of life in general. Housing is a critical piece of our social infrastructure. It is literally the platform on which most other […]
Economists have misunderstood a key indicator – and it’s a big problem
In studies, forecasts and recommendations to governments, markets are seen as capable of processing so-called rational information. Economists claim that firms’ market prices result from rational expectation about their future monetary flows and intangible assets not accounted by bookkeeping, which, however, would enable those future monetary flows to occur. It is quite difficult to find […]
War in Ukraine might give the Chinese yuan the boost it needs to become a major global currency — and be a serious contender against the US dollar
The Chinese economy’s sheer size and rapid growth are impressive. China maintained one of the highest economic growth rates in the world for more than a quarter of a century, helping lift over 800 million people out of poverty in just a few decades. The country is the largest exporter in the world and the […]
Jobs are up! Wages are up! So why am I as an economist so gloomy?
In any other time, the jobs news that came down on Dec. 2, 2022, would be reason for cheer. The U.S. added 263,000 nonfarm jobs in November, leaving the unemployment rate at a low 3.7%. Moreover, wages are up – with average hourly pay jumping 5.1% compared with a year earlier. So why am I […]
In fractious debate, GOP candidates find common ground on cause of inflation woes and need for school choice
It was a night in which even “the great communicator” himself may have struggled to be heard. At the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sept. 27, 2023, seven Republican candidates looking to become the leading challenger to the absent GOP front-runner Donald Trump interrupted, cross-talked and bickered – often to the exasperation of […]
As home prices soar, we have an inquiry almost designed not to tell us why
Never has an inquiry into the skyrocketing price of homes been more urgent. Rarely has one been as insultingly ill-suited as the one under way right now. Midway through last year in the midst of COVID, the average forecast of the 22 leading economists who took part in The Conversation mid-year survey was for no […]
The Federal Reserve and the art of navigating a soft landing … when economic data sends mixed signals
With inflation easing and the U.S. economy cooling, is the Federal Reserve done raising interest rates? After all, gently bringing down the trajectory of prices without crashing the economy was the central bank’s objective when it began jacking up rates over a year ago. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of an economy’s output, expanded […]
Why China’s shrinking population is a big deal – counting the social, economic and political costs of an aging, smaller society
Throughout much of recorded human history, China has boasted the largest population in the world – and until recently, by some margin. So news that the Chinese population is now in decline, and will sometime later this year be surpassed by that of India, is big news even if long predicted. As a scholar of […]