The Daily Economy
|
AIER’s Teach-the-Teachers Initiative: Intensive
The Cato Institute just published a new Handbook for Policymakers, where some attention is devoted to K-12 education. As I read the part pertaining to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), I continued to reflect on AIER’s Teach-the-Teachers Initiative (TTI) and its role in increasing economic knowledge for teachers and students. As I promised…
|
Blockchain: Cutting the Heads off Companies?
Some of the most radical speculation about blockchain technology has been that it will allow us to have “companies” with no management or even workers. Instead, shareholders would use a combination of voting and algorithms known as “smart contracts” to run the company in an agreed-upon way. For example, last year developers tried to launch…
|
Blockchain: Cutting the Heads off Companies?
Some of the most radical speculation about blockchain technology has been that it will allow us to have “companies” with no management or even workers. Instead, shareholders would use a combination of voting and algorithms known as “smart contracts” to run the company in an agreed-upon way. For example, last year developers tried to launch…
|
Capital Spending Prospects Remain Favorable
New orders for durable goods jumped 1.8 percent in January following revised monthly declines of 0.8 percent and 4.7 percent in the prior two months. The gain is January was largely a result of enormous increases in both defense and nondefense aircraft orders. Nondefense aircraft orders surged 69.9 percent for the month, while defense…
|
Foreigners are Reducing their Holdings of U.S. Treasury Securities
Federal government debt as a share of GDP is near an all-time high. In the third quarter of 2016, federal debt was 104.8 percent of GDP. In the first quarter of 2016, it reached a record 105.4 percent of GDP. Continuing federal deficits have required the U.S. Treasury to issue debt to cover government spending.…
|
Who Benefits from Federally Subsidized College Loans?
One important economic topic in the U.S. is the cost of higher education. College is a pathway to economic opportunity for many Americans, but tuition costs cause many Americans to begin their adult lives in debt. Student debt in the U.S. is over $1.3 trillion. In recent years, it has been common for politicians of…
|
Home Prices Heading Higher
Sales of existing homes rose 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million sales in January. There were gains in three of the four regions in the country: Sales in the Northeast rose 5.3 percent, the South increased 3.6 percent, and the West jumped 6.6 percent. The inventory of existing homes…
|
AIER’s Teach-the-Teachers Initiative: Sustained Learning
I have been reflecting on the legacy of AIER’s founder, Col. E.C. Harwood, who encouraged “the educational aspects of the Institute’s work to be specifically aimed at teachers.” In my previous blog I started to assess how AIER’s Teach-the-Teachers Initiative (TTI) fulfills the criteria of high-quality professional development. As I promised, I would like…
|
The Gold Standard vs. Fiat Money
As part of its “Econ Duel” series, Marginal Revolution University (an economics education platform run by professors from George Mason University) recently posted a short debate on “Fiat Money vs. the Gold Standard.” The 10-minute exchange between professors Scott Sumner and Larry White, both of George Mason, focuses on practical details of how monetary systems…
|
The Federal Debt is Near an All-time High
Throughout its history, AIER has pointed out the dangers of excessive amounts of both private and public debt.
|
Bitcoin Exchange Regulations in China: Growing Pains?
In recent weeks, Chinese regulators have taken a stronger interest in bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that was the first major application of blockchain technology and that we have recently highlighted in this blog.
|
Economy Gaining Speed, Rate Hikes Coming
The U.S. consumer continues to drive the economy. The latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department show retail sales rose 0.4 in January percent following a 1 percent jump in December. Combined with other recent data on the economy such as job creation, initial claims for unemployment insurance, Institute for Supply Management survey results, and…
