Many commentators have noted in recent years that Americans have been leaving the labor force. Their departure has made interpretation of unemployment statistics more difficult, and because the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes six variants of the unemployment rate,
by Robert Higgs8 Mar 2012, 9:00 AM PST0
As the most widely reported rate of unemployment (U-3) has fallen in recent months, people with a political agenda served by painting a rosy picture of the recovery have made considerable noise about this decrease. Their political opponents have responded
by Robert Higgs24 Feb 2012, 10:11 AM PST0
After the headline rate of unemployment (U-3) reached 8.5 percent in December 2011 ( the most recent month reported), some commentators began to talk as if the employment situation is now improving rapidly. Some have gone on to suggest that
by Robert Higgs26 Jan 2012, 12:37 PM PST0
Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, recently created a media flap when she said: There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you!
by Robert Higgs30 Dec 2011, 5:31 AM PST0
From time immemorial—from Etienne de la Boitie to David Hume to Ludwig von Mises—political analysts have noted that because the number of those in the ruling elite amounts to only a small fraction of the number in the ruled masses,
by Robert Higgs7 Dec 2011, 5:37 AM PST0
About a month ago, I posted in regard to what I called “the euthanasia of the saver.” This comment had to do with the fact that nominal interest rates in the United States for financial investments such as bank certificates
by Robert Higgs4 Dec 2011, 1:28 PM PST0
When I introduced the concept of regime uncertainty in 1997, attempting to improve our understanding of the Great Depression’s extraordinary duration, I anticipated that many people—especially my fellow economists—would not welcome this contribution. Their primary objection, I ventured, would be
by Robert Higgs12 Oct 2011, 4:21 AM PST0
Commentators and pundits, some of whom ought to know better, continue to harp on the idea that the recession persists because consumers are not spending. Every Keynesian seems to believe that because consumers are in a dreadful funk, only government
by Robert Higgs2 Oct 2011, 4:34 AM PST0
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was a country famous for its apples. In fact, it produced nothing but apples and so was called Appleonia. The people ate many apples in many different ways: raw
by Robert Higgs25 Sep 2011, 5:01 AM PST0
Someone must have imagined that my hopes for improved economic understanding might be excessively optimistic and thus needed to be curbed to restore my normal emotional balance, because that person undertook to smash any such hopes to dust by e-mailing
by Robert Higgs17 Jul 2011, 2:01 PM PST0
For weeks, we have been treated to comic opera in D.C.’s theater of the politically and economically absurd. On the stage, the actors–President Obama, the Secretary of the Treasury, congressional leaders–hop about, shouting moronic lines about the national “default” that
by Robert Higgs17 Jul 2011, 5:01 AM PST0
For thousands of years, philosophers have told us that if we are to live our lives at their best, we should seek truth, beauty, and goodness. Of course, each of these qualities has raised thorny issues and provoked ongoing arguments.
by Robert Higgs14 May 2011, 4:15 PM PST0
Despite the astonishing flood of more than a trillion dollars in new commercial-bank reserves that the Fed created in late 2008 and early 2009, when it undertook to rescue the big banks and other institutions from the consequences of their
by Robert Higgs5 Mar 2011, 5:46 AM PST0
If any one thing estimated in the Commerce Department’s National Income and Product Accounts may be described as the engine of economic growth, private domestic business net investment is that thing. This variable has such tremendous importance because, if accurately
by Robert Higgs25 Feb 2011, 5:41 AM PST0
The Great Depression has been a deeply contested subject from the very beginning. After John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory became sacred writ for most mainstream economists, Keynesian interpretations generally prevailed, notwithstanding pockets of resistance among older economists, in general, and
by Robert Higgs28 Jan 2011, 5:36 PM PST0
Consider the following commentary on the economic situation: Foolhardy procedures which are divorced from economic realities, or whose economic implications are not understood by their promoters, do not perforce become sanctified and wise merely by designating them as “action”; tilting
by Robert Higgs8 Dec 2010, 9:37 AM PST0
A funny thing happened on the way to the voting booth: Americans discovered that most federal “stimulus” funds were being used to stimulate government, not the economy. I was on the road recently, driving from my home in southeast Louisiana
by Robert Higgs15 Nov 2010, 9:21 AM PST0
Writing for CNBC’s “Behind the Money,” John Melloy describes the findings of a recent survey of investors: Institutional investors fear a government policy mistake far more than inflation, terrorism, a housing double dip, a weak dollar, poor earnings or any
by Robert Higgs13 Oct 2010, 4:42 AM PST0
President Obama has asked Congress for an additional $50 billion in “stimulus” money to finance infrastructure projects. The theory is that the additional spending will cause businesses to boost production to meet this demand. Producers will add jobs, triggering increases
by Robert Higgs8 Oct 2010, 4:44 AM PST0
Private saving and investment are the heart and soul of the dynamic market process. Together they provide and allocate the resources used to augment the economy’s productive capacity, generate sustained long-run economic growth, and thereby make possible a rising level
by Robert Higgs21 Sep 2010, 4:47 AM PST0
Each summer, Wall Street strategist Byron Wien convenes a meeting of high rollers to discuss the outlook for investment. This year’s meeting brought together fifty individuals, including more than ten billionaires. Their expectations, as reported by CNBC, are gloomy: “They
by Robert Higgs13 Sep 2010, 12:38 PM PST0
It must be a condition of employment that a journalist who writes about the current recession include in his article the statement, “consumption makes up more than two-thirds of the economy” or “consumption spending accounts for 70 percent of GDP.”
by Robert Higgs8 Sep 2010, 4:43 AM PST0
On August 24, I posted some data and analysis on yield curves for high-grade corporate bonds since the beginning of 2008, seeking to determine whether changes in these curves are consistent with the hypothesis that the current economic crisis has
by Robert Higgs3 Sep 2010, 4:49 AM PST0
Regime uncertainty has gained increasing recognition as the current economic troubles have persisted with little or no improvement since the economy reached a cyclical trough early in 2009. As described in my 1997 paper, regime uncertainty pertains to the likelihood
by Robert Higgs29 Aug 2010, 5:01 AM PST0
I pose this question seriously, not as a physiologist, but as an economic historian. I am provoked to raise the question by an advertisement that Amazon sent me recently, calling my attention a book titled Can Capitalism Survive? Creative Destruction
by Robert Higgs17 Aug 2010, 5:27 AM PST0