Brauer columns

News and Views from the Dismal Science

Dr. Econ's commentary on local, regional, national, and global economic affairs

November 2009	The BRICs, the G20, and the P5 A brief history of economic policy coordination and political aspirations by old and new economic powers.
October 2009	The global crisis: a tale of two graphs The column explains why the global economic and financial crisis of 2008/9 is "mild" as compared to the economic cost of the violence crisis that wrecks many economies around the globe.
September 2009	A tale of two countries: Botswana and Zimbabwe From 1960 to 2007, Botswana's average economic output has grown more than 11 times; in contrast, Zimbabwe is poorer in 2007 than it was in 1960.
August 2009	Risk and uncertainty Much as some would like to, life cannot be computed. A column on risk, uncertainty, and decisionmaking.
July 2009	Ich bin ein Berliner An unusually personal column on statelessness, identity, and freedom.
June 2009	GDP, the standard of living, and hours worked Dividing GDP by population size yields "average income per person," a measure often abused to claim that the U.S. is "the richest" country on earth. Adjusting the numbers for hours worked shows that even the Belgians and the French outperform the United States.
May 2009	What GDP does - and does not - mean The world is in an economic recession and politicians relentlessly talk about getting economies to grow again. Few appear to know what they are talking about.
April 2009	The trillion dollar military It's finally happened! U.S. military-related spending reached, in 2008, the trillion dollar mark. As you write your income-tax check to the IRS by April 15, remember that the military tax burden is over $3,000 per U.S. citizen.
March 2009	Unemployment and underemployment U.S. "official" unemployment has reached 8.1 percent in February 2009. This column shows that a different measure - of unemployment and underemployment - is nearly twice as high: 16 percent! [For a Black & White print version of this column, click here.]
February 2009	Gun sales and elections It has been widely reported that gun sales in the U.S. have surged following the election of President Obama. Even so, gun manufacturing in the U.S. is in trouble. This column shows why this is so.
January 2009	State by State: the record of the Bush years It is common to look at the economic statistics for the nation as a whole. In this column, I examine the State-by-State record for the Bush years: it's been a sorry performance.
December 2008	Short-term vs long-term velocity A follow-up on last month's column, explaining why and how cash hoarding gums up the economic pipeline.
November 2008	Economic policy and the equation of exchange This column explains what the equation of exchange is, why it must be true, and what it implies for economic policy in the present economic downturn.
October 2008	The "Brauer curve" Tongue-in-cheek, I propose an equivalent to the famous "Laffer curve."
September 2008	Financial Storms Everyone is chipping in their views on the financial crisis embroiling the United States. Here is my two-cents' worth.
August 2008	Who'd you rather be? No. 1 or No. 2? A look at Fortune magazine's Global-500 list of the world's largest corporations.
July 2008	A cosmopolitan ball Soccer fans, no doubt, watched all the Euro2008 championship matches they could catch. A German/Portuguese team of economists also watched, and what THEY saw may surprise you.
June 2008	"Core" inflation? For a long time now, policymakers have been trying to convince the public that “core inflation” is, somehow, a better measure of inflation than “inflation” itself. People aren’t buying the argument, and for good reason.
May 2008	Ranks For 2001 to 2006, how does per capita average income growth compare across the major economies of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.? And how do the G7 compare with Brazil, Russia, India, and China? Click and find out.
April 2008	April 15 - Tax Day The column presents a nearly 50-year look at federal, state, and local government receipts. What is the level of receipts, and who bears the tax burden? The answers may surprise you.
March 2008	Labor Income With the slack in econmic growth, labor income won't appreciably increase, if at all, during 2007. We can therefore have our first look at the development of labor income during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration. The picture isn't pretty.
February 2008	In Whole or in Part? The Value of the U.S. Dollar The 2008 Economic Report of the President has just been released. Here is a look at the value of the U.S. dollar, and at the composition of U.S. exports. Strangest finding: despite the lower dollar, capital goods exports continue to plummet while exports of industrial supplies and materials surge. What's going on?
January 2008	Cerberus Capital Management, LP - the World's Number One Small Arms Maker? What do a car manufacturer and rifle maker - Chrysler and Remington - have in common? In 2007, both were acquired by the private-equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management. In fact, Cerberus went on a small-arms acquisition spree. Industry consolidation is under way.
December 2007	Free markets are like good lovers - they satisfy With a title like this, surely you will click on the link? The column explains why the health care sector is in urgent need of reform.
November 2007	Power Shift: East and West At $100 for a barrel of oil, we have barely seen the beginning of the coming fight over energy sources. There is only one way out. Read on.
October 2007	Lord of War, Bath of Blood A column on small arms, the movie Lord of War and two new books, The Bottom Billion and Private Guns, Public Health.
September 2007	Our Daily Bread A lecture tour to India and Australia gives rise to ruminations about food.
August 2007	Government Finances A look at 46 years of data on U.S. federal, state, and local receipts and outlays.
July 2007	Biological and Economic Limits to Growth Biologists frequently remind economists that there are limits to growth. This is both true and false.
June 2007	Economies of Scale, Scope, and Agglomeration Musings on the growth of firms, variety, and cities.
May 2007	Science - and Economics Letter-writers to the prestigious journal Science get their elementary economics all wrong.
April 2007	In Praise of Inefficienct Government? Privatization of government services is still the rage. Why, then, does so much government still exist? Is it merely because politicians and bureaucrats like the power they have, or are there deeper reasons? An unusual column to ponder when you file your income-tax declaration this month.
March 2007	For-Profit Universities. Will Phoenix Rise Again? The University of Phoenix - if not the original, than certainly the biggest online university - is in trouble. Does this doom the for-profit business model of providing higher education while making a buck for shareholders?
Februay 2007	The Internet Saves Trees - Or Does it? Who but your friendly neighborhood economist could take issue with the idea that use of the Internet saves trees? If the Internet saves trees, does vegetarianism save cows? Read on.
January 2007	Dictators and their economies The relationship between political regime and economic success is not straightforward. Not all democracies do well; not all non-democracies do badly economically.
December 2006	Nuclear traffic laws Until about 1880, there were no traffic laws. They became necessary with the invention and increasing use of motor vehicles. The same is true for nuclear weapons. They have proliferated to such an extent that their effective global regulation has become necessary.
November 2006	Business ethics: scandals and standards Responding to corporate scandals, Congress passes more stringent legislation, corporations spew out voluminous ethics codes, and business schools integrate “ethics” into their curriculum. But what does economics say?
October 2006	Technology How do new inventions spread across time and space? One view is that they spread like epidemics ... read on!
September 2006	The incredibly beefy American farm We all know that the American worker is among the world's most productive. But, hey, you have never met the American FARM worker - and agro-business has grown fat on his labors.
August 2006	Mirror, miror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all? News media report inflation-adjusted economic growth. Good for them - but they should be reporting an adjustment for population growth as well.
July 2006	We need an independent Council of Fiscal Authority (CFA) U.S. fiscal policy is a mess, high-jacked by politicians, causing now unacceptable damage to the country. Here is a proposal to get things corrected.
June 2006	The 2006 World Soccer Championship: Matches, Markets, Migrants A befits the world's game, players and coaches earn their professional money all over the globe.
May 2006	Three Economies Textbook economics celebrates the "free market" exchange economy. But there are other ways to make a living.
April 2006	Are we Running Out of Oil? President Bush, in his 2006 State of the Union address, promised to make dependence on Middle Eastern oil "a thing of the past." Here is a look at some energy-related numbers to see how this promise may or may not hold up.
March 2006	Can it Pay to be Irrational? Increasingly, economists go to the laboratory to test their theories. New lab evidence shows that it can be rational to behave irrationally.
February 2006	Economic Impact Studies - No Impact! You may not like to hear this but the "economic impact" of your company on the local community is zero! Here's why.
January 2006	How to Rescue the Cinema Going to the cinema is no fun anymore. What can Hollywood studios do about an unpleasant movie-going experience that threatens its profitability?
December 2005	Curing Hollywood's (Digital) Curse It is no secret that the motion-picture industry is in the throes of the digital revolution, hurting prices and profits. What to do?
November 2005	An Independent Fed Needs to be Complemented by an Independent Council of Economic Advisers President Bush nominated Ben Bernanke, the current chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, to succeed Alan Greenspan as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. There, Mr. Bernanke will be free to speak his mind.
October 2005	Cash or Fringe Benefits - Which Would You Rather Have? The column takes a look at American wages, salaries, and fringe benefits from 1960 to 2004. Conclusion: since the year 2000, we have not done well at all.
September 2005	Movie Piracy So, the Chinese steal a lot of American movies by making illegal copies. What can Hollywood do? The answer: not run to Washington but change its business model to "out-pirate" the pirates.
August 2005	Suspended Gas Tax means More Driving - What is the Governor Thinking? In the wake of hurricane Katrina, Georgia's Governor suspends the state gasoline tax - sounds like economic non-sense to me.
July 2005	Oh, Ye, of Little Faith! Is "Spiritual Faith" an Unlimited Resource?. Are "God's love," "salvation," or "another person's unconditional love" unlimited resources, free for the taking? No. This column explains why not.
June 2005	U.S. Defense Spending Running on $800 billion.. Many Americans believe that 19 cents on defense for every 81 cents on non-defense is a reasonable way to spend a tax dollar. But by another calculation, the tax dollar splits 68 cents for defense and 32 cents on everything else.
May 2005	China and the Bad Boys of Baghdad. Read all about the (nearly) incredible way by which China directly assists the U.S. with its problems with the bad boys in Bagdad. Economics, international high-finance, and power-politics are all wrapped in one column.
April 2005	The Myth of Manufacturing. Once again, newspaper editors are spewing out vile comments about just how rotten is international trade, and about how much ordinary Americans are made to suffer by cheap imports from China, Canada, Central America, and other foreign places starting with "C" or any other letter of the alphabet. This is a mistaken sentiment.
March 2005	Social Security. There is no way around the problem: there will have to be higher payroll or regular taxes, or lower spending or benefits.
February 2005	Hockey Put on Ice, and No Warming is in Sight. What's going on with the National Hockey League? Here is a look at some of the problems - and one possible solution.
January 2005	Raising Up the Poor. To rent an apartment and pay utilities, the average American would need to earn $15/hour, an advocacy group calculated. Is it time to raise the $5.15 minimum wage?
December 2004	The 2008 Economic Olympics. It is generally believed that the U.S., Japan, and Germany are the world's largest economies. But by 2008, the economic gold, silver, and bronze will go to the U.S., China, and India.
November 2004	No ties, please. The U.S. needs either Mr. Kerry or Mr. Bush to win the presidential election decisively.
October 2004	Competition. Competition is both revered and feared. This is wrong. We should only rever it. Find out what grocery check-out lanes and traffic jams can teach us about the social value of competition.
September 2004	Economics, Law, and Environmental Protection. If reduced risk of environmental damage and natural resource harm is the objective, an economist would want to think about the incentive structure offered by alternative liability regimes that can be encoded in law to achieve that objective. Thus we ask what are the factors that demarcate the effectiveness of such regimes?
August 2004	The Dollar. The dollar is "up," and the dollar is "down." What does that really mean, and how does it work? This column explains that the market for foreign currency is nothing but a giant flea market.
July 2004	Constitutional Economics. As we celebrate the U.S. independence day - July 4th - let us ponder the economics of the constitution.
June 2004	Government Failure. It is well known that private markets can fail to deliver commonly desired goods and services. But when government steps in, it can fail to.
May 2004	Switching Costs. Why do so few people ever change their mind? Students, who are in college so that they can change their minds, often come out the way they went in. People, when faced with facts plainly contrary to their point of view, refuse to change their opinion. Why? Here's an answer.
April 2004	Hurray for high oil prices. High oil and gasoline prices are just what the doctor ordered. This will force us to finally push alternative energy sources to commercial value.
March 2004	Let's Ban Outsourcing - and Immiserize Ourselves. Outsourcing is not "bad." Here is why.
February 2004	Rich and Poor?. International trade issues are constantly in the news. Here's a take on how trade benefits the poor.
January 2004	A Market for Peace?. Economists love free markets. So, why can't nations buy peace and security?
December 2003	The Balance of Trade and the Balance of Payments. Japan-bashing in the 1980s, Mexico-bashing in the 1990s, and China-bashing in the 2000s. But there is nothing to fear about a trade deficit, as it will right itself via adjustments in the value of the dollar.
November 2003	Medicine and Money. What happens when you fall ill while traveling abroad? You are thankful for your credit card - and wonder about conditions back home.
October 2003	Deficits and Debt. Another era of big federal deficits and debt has arrived. This carries big, bad implications for the Social Security Trust Fund.
September 2003	To Trust or to Contract?. We are surrounded by contracts? Has trust gone out of fashion? No, not at all. This column explains why not.
August 2003	Explaining our Silence. Liberia, a small country on Africa's west coast, is in the news. Why do we so rarely respond to the world's war-ravaged people? This column explains.
July 2003	Healthy People are Bad for the Economy. Why overeating is good and why, next time you call in sick, you can tell your boss that this is good for the economy.
June 2003	Economists Without Borders. Nature knows no borders. Neither does economics.
May 2003	Money Demand. When you go to your boss and ask for a raise, do you demand more money? Most people would say "sure, asking for a raise is really like demanding more money for the work I do." This is an example of a phrase, money demand, being used very differently by ordinary people and economists. It entails surprising consequences.
April 2003	The Economecologist. Like a crocophant - a mixture between crocodile and elephant - an economecologist is a mixture between economist and ecologist. You may think this makes me an ugly creature.
March 2003	Why go to War? I am not sure that I am opposed to the US going to war against Iraq. But neither I am sure why I should be for it. What worries me is that the Bush team wants to go to war for the wrong reason, just as I worry, deeply, that anti-war proponents want "peace" for the wrong reason.
February 2003	Peace with Iraq for the Cost of Half a Tank of Gas. The Bush administration's call for war with Iraq might be more credible if the cost of war and the cost of the alternatives had been calculated. In this column, I present a cheeky, and cheaper, alternative.
January 2003	Monopsony: On the Economics and Ethics of Book-Buying. What happens when college professors sell sample textbooks that textbook publishers provide them with? It turns out that there are some interesting ethics questions involved -- but not the ones you might think of.
December 2002	Consumers and Producers. It is false to suggest that firms "produce" and households "consume." Firms and households do both.
November 2002	Child's Play and Playground Economics. Children and their behavior make for many excellent examples to teach economic concepts.
October 2002	Let's Assume Life's Perfect. Everyone knows that a surfeit of boys allows a girl to be more choosy. Excess demand for her companionship raises the "price" she can charge. Want to know more? Then read on.
September 2002	On Subsidies. Some government subsidies -- those with a positive social rate of return -- make eminent sense. Others -- those with negative rates of return -- don't. Let the federal government get out of the business of supporting inefficient private business.
August 2002	Physicians, Priests, and Economists. Physicians, priests, and economists have much in common -- including prescribing unpopular treatments people are free to ignore at their peril.
July 2002	The Old Economy. Whew, am I glad that the US stock market and the "new" economy are taking a beating! How cyncical of me to rejoice in your portfolio losses? Let me explain.
June 2002	Money and Values. Modern money, I wrote in last month's column, is a social fiction, a "collective thought." Money, although valuable, has itself no value at all.
May 2002	On Money and Rabbits in the Australian Outback. Take out a dollar bill and hold it up. Examine it. Inspect it. Pick it over carefully. Surely, you say, this is money! An economist, however, would not entirely agree with you.
April 2002	John Q. and the Market for Organs. John Q., the movie about a father holding a hospital hostage because his insurance company won't pay for his son's heart transplant, has caused a political storm in Washington – which is also where the dreadful economics of organ markets finds its home.
March 2002	Telling the Truth. "Spaghetti dinner and auction," it says on the sign next to the church. How does the auctioneer get you to tell how much you'd really be willing to pay?
February 2002	Currency Speculation. The world financial markets are in turmoil once again, as they are every few years. This time it is Argentia, Turkey, and South Africa. The currencies of all three countries are rapidly declining in value. What is the economics behind declining currency values?
January 2002	Paying for Education. I'd like to pay my students $400 for an "A," $300 for a "B," $200 instead of a "C," and $100 for a "D." Any takers?
December 2001	Numbers. To humor my students, I recently assembled a data set that covers the past forty years of US macroeconomic history (1960 to 1999). Here are some observations.
November 2001	The Economics of Terrorism. The terror attack in the United States on 11 September 2001 has given rise to a vast amount of commentary. But one group of experts has not been asked its views: economists.
October 2001	Shooting ourselves, too?. What will be the economic impact of the terror attack on Manhattan and the Pentagon?
September 2001	Legalizing Drugs. Economists are generally in favor of legalizing the supply of illegal drugs. Here are some reasons why.
August 2001	Values and Prices. When the Irish poet Oscar Wilde once quipped that "economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing" he displayed his great ignorance of economics. We now know that while economists do not know the price of everything we do know the value of many things.
July 2001	Funny. Few professions are made so much fun of as economics. Often this reflects exasperation, desperation, ignorance, or unwillingness to face the issues. But give credit to economists: they usually tell the funniest jokes themselves.
June 2001	Education -- and Biotech -- in Augusta? Over fifty percent of all physics Ph.D. students in the US are foreigners. More than a quarter of all graduate science and engineering students at American universities are from abroad. Of the 11 US residents who received Nobel prizes during the last three years, 8 are foreign-born. Time, again, to think about American education!
May 2001	Does the Fed Set Interest Rates? No. The news media regularly report that the Federal Reserve Bank raised or lowered interest rates as if it could simply issue an official decree everyone would have to follow. Clearly, this is not so. When you apply for a mortgage loan, surely it is not the Fed that determines the rate but you and the bank from which you borrow.
April 2001	Simple Laws – From Thermodynamics to Supply and Demand. You cannot permanently defy the laws of thermodynamics. Likewise, you cannot permanently defy the laws of supply and demand. Let me say it again: you cannot!
March 2001	Economists are Doctors, too. Physicians and economists have much in common. First, we can diagnose and treat a problem. Second, we can diagnose but do not know of a cure. Third, we can diagnose but the patient does not or cannot cooperate. And fourth, we cannot diagnose the illness and therefore know no cure.
February 2001	Euroland is Coming. The EU is preparing to admit 12 new members by 2004. That would bring its population to about 550 million, twice the size of the US. Euroland will be the new economic superpower. Time to study Europe? You bet.
January 2001	Law and Economics. What do law and economics have to do with each other? Quite a bit, it turns out.
December 2000	Good News -- The Presidential Election is Tied. Let us wholeheartedly accept that, in practical terms, both of the major candidates won. Is a tied vote really as bad as people and the media appear to think? I like the tied outcome and believe it will be for the better of the country.
November 2000	Bore, Gush, or Cheneyman?. The presidential and vice-presidential questions, answers, and debates are almost totally misdirected. Find out why right here ...
October 2000	On the Economics of Sports. In 1999, some 41 new stadiums were either under construction or planned for big-time sports teams. The average taxpayer subsidy per stadium was about $275 million. How come that millionaire players and billionaire owners of private, for-profit teams get taxpayer subsidies?
September 2000	Labor Day -- A Secular Christmas. The first Monday of September is labor day. Today, regrettably, it means scarcely more than a day off, the beginning of election season in earnest, and the end of summer. How sad. There ought to be shouts of joy and jubilation celebrating our accomplishments and those of our forebears.
August 2000	Measuring Well-Being. US gross domestic product, GDP, is rising and so are average incomes. But averages can be deceiving. Is all well? This column points to some of the things GDP does not measure.
July 2000	Games Economists Play. Two businesses can either cooperate or defect from cooperation when they interact. Which strategy pays off the most in the long-run? A simple game simulation tells us.
June 2000	Taxing Anecdotes. Why was Tuscan bread invented? Why are houses in Amsterdam narrow and tall? Why are there homes without closets? Read this column, and you'll find out what taxation has to do with these and other marvels.
May 2000	Building Competitive Advantages. Should you build profitability by competing on the basis of cost reduction or on the basis of price-padding by offering products and services your customers are willing to pay for? Which circumstances favor which strategic approach?
April 2000	April 15 -- Time to Think about Taxes. What percentage of income earners pay half of all federal personal income taxes? What are the principles of fair taxation? Should corporatations pay taxes? To learn the answers, read on ...
March 2000	Collective Action. Two laws govern economics. The first is: "sometimes, when each individual considers only his or her interests, a collectively rational outcome emerges automatically." The second is: "sometimes, the first law does not hold: no matter how intelligently each individual pursues his or her interests, no socially rational outcome can emerge spontaneously."
February 2000	No "New Economy": The "Old" Economics Will Do Just Fine. The "new" economy and "new" economics? Hogwash. The "old" laws of supply and demand require diligent studying, not zealous repealing.
January 2000	An Economic Outlook for the Year 2100. As for the past few years, my economic outlook for the year 2000 is boringly optimistic. But what of the outlook for the year 2100?
December 1999	Playing Games. Microsoft is guilty of violating economic sportsmanship. This column explains the underlying rationale for the judge's recent decision to rule Microsoft a monopolist in violation of the Sherman Act of 1890.
November 1999	The Dollar and the R Word -- Again. From mid-September to mid-October, the US stock and bond markets have been in turmoil. Stock and bond prices are falling. Time to take a look at the value of the dollar that is causing this turmoil.
October 1999	The Tax Endowment. Another wacky idea from your local economist. Instead of paying taxes year after year, why not pay taxes into a tax endowment and use the income from this endowment to fund current government expenditure. Some rough calculations suggest the idea is worth pursuing.
September 1999	A Tale of Bandits, Settlers, Sheriffs, and Taxes. What to do with the projected federal budget surplus? Here's an unusual approach to think about the substance of the matter.
August 1999	Looking for a Good Deal? How About Supporting the UN?. The UN costs about $1.3 billion a year of which the US pays $300 million. A good or a bad deal? This column looks at costs and benefits.
July 1999	The Simple Secrets of Prosperity. Without health, education, and security a people will not prosper.
June 1999	Social Security: Confused?. You have heard of the federal budget surplus and of the social security surplus. Regrettably, neither exists. What are the options for social security?
May 1999	How Not to Fight a War. It is best to prevent war, but once it starts, you've got to fight it. NATO has failed on both accounts.
April 1999	Going Bananas. The US-European banana war of 1999 is not going to help anybody.
March 1999	In Praise of Lord Keynes. If you thought the Great Depression the US experienced in the 1930s was bad, think again. Much of the world today is in even worse shape! What can be done? How about reviving some old-fashion Keynesian policy presciptions?
February 1999	Another Millennium is Coming: A Long-run View of our Economic Achievements. For most economists and people, a "long-run" point of view is hardly more than ten or twenty years. For economic historians, the "long-run" can extend to thousands of years. How have we humans done?
January 1999	An Economic Outlook for 1999: Another Good Year. The US economic expansion in the 1990s will be the longest on record — peacetime or wartime. Whoever inherits the Clinton economy in January 2001 is likely to inherit a marvel.
December 1998	Hog, Haddock, and Haze. Why is it that there is no shortage of hogs, while haddock supplies are dwindling, and the haze of atmospheric pollution only gradually, almost grudgingly, decreases? The answer: private property, or the lack thereof.
November 1998	The R Word — Is a US Recession at Hand?. Is a US recession at hand? Frankly, I don't know, but I don't think we will see a recession shortly. It depends on whether or not global policymakers can "wing" it through the current crisis.
October 1998	The Bear Has Come, the Bear will Go Away. As in 1987, the long-run investor should, once again, hang tough and stay invested in the stock markets. The "economic fundamentals" remain sound.
September 1998	Affairs of the Nation. Congressional and media obsession with Clinton's private life is wrong. The affairs of the nation concern the economic health and well-being of the other 270 million Americans.
August 1998	The US Needs To Reduce Its Military Spending. At the height of the Cold War, US military spending amounted to 27 percent of the rest of world military spending combined. By 1995, the US share is up to 46 percent. Time to reassess US military spending. Businesses and people prosper from peace, not war.
July 1998	The EURO. On May 2nd, eleven of the 15 members of the European Union agreed to merge their national currencies into one, the Euro. This will take effect as from January 1st, 1999. Japan and the US had better look out: the Europeans will be coming back big-time in the game of global economics.
June 1998	The Fed Should Raise Rates (or otherwise talk the markets down). An asset-bubble economy is developing in the US. The Fed needs to talk the markets down a bit to ensure that the present economic expansion continues unimpeded.
May 1998	The US Economy and World Affairs: Nothing to Write Home About?. The US economy is doing extraordinarily well. Time to focus on US involvement in international organizations to help shore up the gains and prevent relapses to worse times.
April 1998	Doing Business with the New South Africa. An invitation to join faculty and students at Augusta State University on an exploration of South African business and economics.
March 1998	"Just Why Is A Balanced Federal Budget Important?". A bit of national-income accounting shows the relation between income, taxes, consumption, savings, and investment. It turns out that government budget deficits sap available savings to finance investment. Thus, President Clinton's proposed balanced budget is good news -- as a result, we should see more private-sector investment.
February 1998	"Taxpayers Pay Whom HOW MUCH?". The local daily paper, The Augusta Chronicle recently examined salaries of public employees. But the paper made a major mistake in calculating the cost to taxpayers. This column explains why.
January 1998	"The Economy in 1998". The outlook for the US economy in 1998 is good, except for my old gripe about the quality of education and training of the US labor force.
December 1997	"Speculators and Global Financial Markets". Who is to blame for the currency turmoil in Southeast Asia that triggered the Wall Street stock market drop in late October?
November 1997	"To make or to buy? A primer on outsourcing". Why did Sara Lee sell its textile and yarn-manufacturing plants that make crucial inputs for its Champion sportswear and Hanes underwear product lines?
October 1997	"Low Unemployment and Low Inflation: The Puzzle Explained". Multiple-choice question: can we have low unemployment and low inflation? Answers: (a) only one or the other, but not both; (b) no, neither; (c) yes, both. Which answer is correct?
September 1997	"Tipping Your Waiter: A Useful Formula for Employee Compensation". Discusses how businesses might decide on splitting employee compensation between base-pay and incentive-pay.
August 1997	"The Multiplier Equals Two — and Zero Thereafter". A critical discussion of impact-multiplier studies.
November 1996	"Don't Listen -- Just Keep Working". A comment on economic issues in the 1996 Clinton/Dole presidential race.
October 1992	Clinton or Bush for US President in 1992?.
September 1992	What may seem like 'price gouging' after hurricane Andrew is free market at work.
August 1992	Georgia lottery plan is unfair, uneconomical -- and the poor pay the price.
July 1992	South Carolina gets nod for new BMW plant -- but Nebraska may have won.
June 1992	United Nations Conference on Environment, Rio de Janeiro.
May 1992	'Peace dividend' spent abroad could benefit US.
April 1992	Education neglect damages US competitiveness.
March 1992	The Georgia primaries.
February 1992	Nothing's wrong with America that competitive spirit can't fix.
January 1992	Augusta must prepare for changes in its economy.
December 1991	Computing crime costs puts premium on prevention.
November 1991	Health-care debate centers on cost vs. quality; Augusta could provide forum.
October 1991	Thicker pavement, more truck axles add up to savings on highways.
August 1991	Farmers gain at consumers' expense when government subsidizes products.