Tag Archives | unemployment

Cream_puff_assembly_line[1]

Waging War on Work

This piece was originally published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute on February 11, 2013. Employment law is a mainstay of state economic policy. Few question its efficacy as a means to correct “market failures”—like unlivable wages for meaningful work—that would leave society in shambles. In fact, no serious debate exists among American policymakers about…
Continue Reading 0
food stamp

Welfare is Mean-Spirited and Bad Economics

In his latest New York Times blog post, MIT professor and former chief IMF economist Simon Johnson fallaciously argues that those who oppose welfare are mean-spirited and bad at economics. After reading this post, you’ll see it is actually Johnson who is the bad economist. The main problem with unemployment benefits, or government handouts, is…
Continue Reading 2
File:Ellis island 1902.jpg

Does Immigration Cause Unemployment?

It’s not uncommon for the zero-sum fallacy to crop up in a discussion on the economics of immigration.  Many individuals assume that immigrants will necessarily “steal” jobs from domestic workers.  That’s exactly what this article about Canadian immigration concludes.  But can immigrants realistically be blamed for increased unemployment rates?  If they do cause joblessness, why…
Continue Reading 7
Romer Takes the Economy's Temperature

Romer Takes the Economy’s Temperature

On the eve of the new year, this NYT article asked 6 well-known economists—Greg Mankiw, Christina Romer, Tyler Cowen, Robert Frank, Robert Shiller, and Richard Thaler—their views on the economy.  The article is too long to examine all their responses, but this post examines some of the problems with Romer’s views.  Like a doctor, Romer…
Continue Reading 0