ArcaMax

It's fashionable to claim that the free-market ideas of Nobel-laureate economist Milton Friedman have failed the country, and that it's time for new policies. Campaigning in 2020, Joe Biden declared that "Milton Friedman isn't running the show anymore." More recently, New York Times columnist David Leonhardt noted that people like Friedman ...Read more

Most Americans meticulously plan their Thanksgiving meals and travel, sometimes budgeting months in advance to celebrate at a reasonable price tag. This prudent embodiment of both gratitude and restraint starkly contrasts with the approach of our politicians. It's an inconsistency that, especially this season, merits reflection.

The national ...Read more

In a world where economic decisions are mostly driven by short-term goals and political pressures, the need for a long-term, evidence-based approach is more pressing than at any time in memory. Enter the Copenhagen Consensus -- a beacon of analytical clarity conceived by Danish intellectual Bjorn Lomborg. It aims to reshape global discourse by...Read more

There's much talk today about the need for a fiscal commission. The House Budget Committee held a hearing about it a few weeks ago. Pundits are Substacking about whether using the approach to put federal finances on a sustainable path is a good or a bad idea. And according to a recent polling, voters support the idea of a commission.

Great. ...Read more

Some policy experts who, over the last few decades, saw little need for serious fiscal austerity because the government could borrow at low interest rates are now changing their tune. Their argument is that with rates now rising and the government's interest payments set to become extremely expensive, it's time to adjust. While I suppose that'...Read more

In the grand ballroom of American politics, Democrats have long waltzed to the melody of progressivism while ridiculing Republicans' preference for outdated tax-cut tunes. Ironically, they don't want to pay for their style of big government with higher taxes on ordinary Americans, which their expansionary ambitions would require. Instead, they...Read more

Congress and the Biden administration seem unaware that rising interest rates are about as "transitory" as they told us inflation would be -- meaning, likely to be around for quite a while. Why does this matter? Ask someone who's been enticed by a mortgage with a variable interest rate that starts low and then rises quickly when conditions ...Read more

Countless financial soothsayers and Wall Street wizards were once members of a curious cult. Their doctrine? The unshakable belief that interest rates had managed to find something resembling the fabled Fountain of Youth, leaving their numbers eternally low and never rising. The "Forever Low" brigade dismissed those of us who argued that high ...Read more

You've undoubtedly noticed how up-in-arms everyone becomes when the government is on the verge of shutting down. I've also noticed that the people who most loudly express their horror at the notion of a partial government closure seem totally comfortable with the fiscal wall we are barreling into. That wall is being built, brick by brick, by ...Read more

America needs more housing. Pressure for reform is only growing as available homes get less and less affordable. Unfortunately, rather than addressing the root cause of high housing prices -- an epidemic of local overregulation that prevents enough homes from being built -- some legislators continue to flirt with social experiments that can ...Read more

As election season approaches, Democrats are touting the economic results of Biden administration policies aimed at improving the lives of working Americans and creating a more equitable economy. But ordinary Americans aren't feeling the so-called success of "Bidenomics."

Superficially, the economy looks solid. As measured by real GDP, it ...Read more

Today's hyperpartisan and frequently negative news cycle ignores one significant and uplifting story: the precipitous decline of global inequality. It's a subject that deserves our attention, for it reveals the power of markets, trade and human ingenuity to lift up societies.

For decades, critics of globalization lamented the chasm that trade...Read more

Much of the banter surrounding the rise of China's electric vehicle (EV) industry and the implication for the global economy is misleadingly alarmist. When our government gets involved in such narratives, it calls into question the sincerity of its insistence that EVs are essential to an existential battle against climate change. If China's ...Read more