Category: Economics
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‘Economic Freedom and the Wealth and Health of Nations’ lecture to be in Wichita
Do you know where the United States ranks on the global index of economic freedom? (Hint: It wouldn’t get a medal.) The answer is in the latest edition of the Economic Freedom of the World report. Dr. Robert Lawson of Auburn University is co-author of this popular and widely cited report. He will be the…
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Kansas economy debated in Wichita
Last Thursday at a meeting of the City Clerks and Municipal Finance Officers Association of Kansas, the effectiveness of the federal economic stimulus and the Kansas economy were discussed. Americans For Prosperity National Director of State Operations Alan Cobb and Kansas Secretery of Revenue Joan Wagnon were the participants, with Dale Goter, Wichita Governmental Relations…
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Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve
Events over the last year have placed our nation’s monetary system in focus. Or, at least it should be in sharp focus, as U.S. monetary policy and the Federal Reserve System bear much responsibility for the financial crisis and the accompanying recession. Few politicians, Ron Paul being one, are looking in the right places for…
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Hazlitt’s ‘Economics in One Lesson’ explains today’s economics
Economics In One Lesson, first published in 1946 and recently reissued by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, explains common fallacies (false or mistaken ideas) that are particularly common in the field of economics and public policy.
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Cash for clunkers clunked
Did the “Cash for Clunkers” program work as advertised? It all depends on the meaning of the word “work,” I suppose. If the definition of success means moving more cars off of dealer lots than what probably would have happened anyway, that’s good. But when looking at the marginal activity — and I believe this…
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Defending insider trading
Insider trading is almost universally judged to be bad. Company insiders, using information not available to the public, making stock trades and usually very high profits: Is that fair? How could allowing abuse like this be beneficial? But if you value the importance of prices as conduits of information, allowing insider trading makes a lot…
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John A. Allison: The current problem, and what to do
Last Thursday, John A. Allison visited Wichita to address the annual economic outlook conference produced by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) at Wichita State University. Allison is chairman and former CEO of BB&T Corporation, the nation’s 10th largest financial-holding company. Its headquarters are in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His talk first diagnosed…
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‘Battle for the World Economy’ to be presented in Wichita
AFP — Kansas presents a new luncheon video series: “Commanding Heights: the Battle for the World Economy.” The video will be shown, and there there is time for discussion.
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Causes of global finance crisis explained in Wichita
Today, an audience of 600 business and civic leaders attended the 30th annual Economic Outlook Conference at Century II, sponsored by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) at Wichita State University. The featured speaker was John A. Allison, chairman and former CEO of BB&T Corporation, the nation’s 10th largest financial-holding company. Its…
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Someone in California understands TIF
In California, they’re called redevelopment districts. In Kansas, we call them tax increment financing or TIF districts. By either name, they provide a way to channel money to politically favored developers.
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Profit motive in health care is essential
I wonder: who has the greater incentive to avoid wasting money on useless overhead? The government, or a private company who can keep the money saved as profits?
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How will government run our health care?
Other than the source of its premiums, Medicare is no different, economically, than a regular health-insurance company. But unlike, say, UnitedHealthcare, it is a bureaucracy-beclotted nightmare, riven with waste and fraud. Last year the Government Accountability Office estimated that no less than one-third of all Medicare disbursements for durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and…