The Reconstruction

…it can justify showing up for work later. Of course, at this point, I’m really looking forward to the day when I have a real career-type job to show up for at all, early as it may be.

When I was an undergraduate, most of my research focused on the effects of boutique and reformulated fuels on the structure of the refining industry and pricing in retail markets. As it turns out, that research is pretty relevant to the current debate over Congress’ new energy bill. This is because boutique and reformulated gasolines [...]

Economic forecasting is an inexact science at best. We’re usually unsure as to whether we’re in a recession until after the recession has passed, which certainly does not aid in policy decisions. In the spirit of free-market solutions, I’d like to propose a betting market for recessions. If such a thing already exists, I apologize– [...]

From Tyler Cowen over at Marginal Revolution: Economists like to study one relationship or one mechanism at a time. We place that relationship under a kind of microscope, and examine the possible ins and outs. At the same time we abstract from many — indeed most — other features of the real world. The economic [...]

While there’s a good case to be made that benefits could be derived from reform of the tax code, The Tax Foundation is not the group to do it. While serious, reasonable economists consider reform (or as Frank Luntz would have everyone calling it, “simplification”) of the tax code to be a potential way to [...]

A wonderful bit of commentary on globalization from a liberal economist’s point of view, found thanks to Marginal Revolution. The money quote: I realize that some of you are disappointed that I agree with the orthodoxy by thinking that international economic integration is generally a good thing, despite the fact that I call myself “liberal”. [...]