An economist must be “mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher, in some degree . . . as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician.” So remarked John Maynard Keynes, the great British economist who, as much as anyone, could be called the father of macroeconomics. No single statement summarizes better what it means to be an economist. As Key…
America’s economic development is a top public policy priority. A lack of federal consensus on an overall economic development strategy in Washington, DC has been filled in by regions and states across the nation. Successful local and state economic development strategies center around basic or building block strategies and more advanced five drivers strategies centering on specific industry …
Government intervention is perhaps the most universal institutional change in the development of modern economies. Yet there is considerable debate on the relationship between economic development and the expansion of government. The relationship has been viewed as causal, but both directions have been emphasized. To many, government fosters economic growth. To others, economic growth, because …
The aim of this book is to provide an introductory treatment of time series econometrics that builds upon the basic statistical and regression techniques contained in my Analysing Economic Data: A Concise Introduction.1 It is written from the perspective that the econometric analysis of economic and financial time series is of key importance to both students and practitioners of economics and s…
Even in the early 19th century, John C. Calhoun described the United States as divided between the "tax payers and tax eaters." And today, we can use that same analysis. Ludwig von Mises called the battle between these two artificially created groups a "caste conflict," in contradistinction to Karl Marx's class conflict. There can be no natural class conflict in society, since the free market …
Ña Fabiana stacked the plastic bags full of clothes on a chair as we dis- cussed the final items that remained from her investment the previous year. She spread out the last of her inventory: soft microfleece gloves for children and adults, brightly colored striped socks with individual toes, winter coats, and children’s turtleneck shirts. Some of the clothing had become stained in storage …
Ten years ago Joe Salerno inherited the Mises Institute’s summer fellowship program from his predecessor, Jörg Guido Hülsmann.Generously funded by Peg Rowley, summer fellows are given time to study Austrian economics fi rsthand with some of the current masters. Not only is a sense of camaraderie inculcated amongst the participants, but they are also given access to the world’s best Austr…
Since 2007 the question of growth has plagued the British economy. Though, at the time of writing in the early summer of 2014, growth has returned, a pervasive anxiety about the solidity, stability and sustain- ability of that growth persists, even in the most hallowed of elite polit- ical circles. Thus, even the recently appointed Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is concerned that…
France has been widely acknowledged as the principal driving force behind European economic and monetary union (EMU). Every French president from Georges Pompidou onwards has placed the creation of EMU at the centre of France’s European policy. President François Mitterrand finally clinched the deal when, in December 1991, he secured German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s agreement at the Maas…
I ended up working on European and international energy law issues more or less by coincidence. Having embarked on a career in general EU law, I worked on the first merchant infrastructure case under the (then) new EU regulatory frameworks for electricity and gas. Thinking that this was an interesting project, I decided to write an article explaining the regulatory considerations to be taken in…