Birmingham-Southern College, founded in 1856, has requested $37.5 million in assistance from the state, the city of Birmingham, and Jefferson County. President Daniel Coleman warns that without assistance the school could close in May. B-SC’s troubles afford state lawmakers an opportunity for bold higher education reform. I will first mention but not evaluate several relevant […]

The future is bright if we retain control over AI. Yes, AI will change how we do things, but economics shows that humans need not fear becoming useless.

From the Business Roundtable to the World Economic Forum to leading business schools, many voices promote replacing corporations governed by stockholders with “stakeholder” capitalism. Laws empowering stakeholders might disrupt the social cooperation of corporations. The cutthroat world of business seems decidedly uncooperative. But businesses enable voluntary cooperation between people trying to improve their lives. Never […]

The Biden Administration is exploring imposing rent control nationwide via executive order. This is yet another questionable policy measure by our governments. Despite the joke, “if you line up all economists end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion,” economists largely agree on the effects of rent control, minimum wages, and student debt cancellation. […]

Everyone should be empowered to craft a life of their choosing. Do the conditions for this differ for men and women? The provocatively titled “Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism” suggests that government must help women. Recent voting patterns suggest that American women increasingly believe this. Professor Kristen Ghodsee of the University of Pennsylvania […]

In December, a winter storm grounded Southwest Airlines for nearly a week, even though major airlines quickly resumed service. In January, all flights were temporarily grounded due to the crash of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system. The consequences of these debacles illustrate accountability in markets and politics. A winter storm across the northern United […]

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing banning non-compete clauses in labor contracts. What are these clauses’ pros and cons, and will a ban benefit workers? Non-compete clauses prevent employees from working for a competitor or starting their own business. The prohibition is limited over time and geography and usually only for closely related jobs. An […]

Elon Musk’s release of internal Twitter communications, the “Twitter Files,” confirmed the shadow banning of conservative politicians and pundits, previously dismissed as a conspiracy theory. Studying economics generates wariness of conspiracy theories in two ways, by highlighting the organizational difficulties, and demonstrating the potential for unplanned order in society. Let’s first consider what constitutes a […]

A fiasco involving tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has renewed calls to break up Ticketmaster through anti-trust. 

As Santa delivers toys, games, and electronics to children across our nation, the gift-giving offers an interesting perspective on trade.

Wicked and wickedly smart individuals may catch us in elaborate scams, yet scams are more harmful when aided and abetted by government rules.

If public health officials fully accepted the professor’s observations about uncertainty, I could accept letting bygones be bygones.

The good news: Alabama’s economic freedom increased slightly. The bad news: we still trail three neighboring states.

Decisions by top Chinese officials might seem malicious if we do not recognize they may not have had full information.

The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve are both investigating the potential for issuing a digital currency in the future in place of the dollar. A digital currency would create the new policy tools for stabilizing the economy but also poses great threats to privacy and personal freedom. One natural question arising here may be […]

Insurance provides the victims of accidents, tragedies, and disasters help just like charity, only it is a business transaction.

Another recent animal welfare legal action involved the rescue of 4,000 beagles being raised for lab experiments.

The 2022 Economic Freedom of the World report confirms what many economists suspected: We have lost a decade of progress on freedom.

“Quiet quitting” refers to working no more than necessary to keep your job and then bragging about it on Tik Tok.

Wall Street is known for characters like the real Jordan Belmont and fictional Gordon Gekko personifying greed.

The nature of economic power offers perspective on the potential for social media “censorship.”

The labor market remains strong despite high inflation and a seeming impending recession.

The Inflation Reduction Act does little to address inflation, primarily because it is a spending measure and government spending fueled our current inflation.

A recession is a broad economic decline, the contraction phase of the business cycle. This differs from a slump concentrated in one sector or region of the country.