The MN Fed has issued a working paper recently concerning monopolies, which is an important topic in my opinion. The themes involved in the paper are relevant to the following topics: Monopolies and their effect on the economyHow monopolies develop and are protectedHow monopolies worsen economic inequality The board game Monopoly was actually called "The... Continue Reading →
The Minnesota Reformer
As many of you know, I have been writing for The Minnesota Reformer these last few months. I appreciate deeply those who follow my blog and I must admit that I have spent a far greater deal of energy on my Reformer writing than this blog. That said, for those of you who are interested... Continue Reading →
Why Is Foreign Policy For Trade So Important
First, Foreign policy encompasses a much larger policy area than trade. The reason I've chose trade as a proxy for foreign relations is that it is a telling signal for the relationship between two countries. What is revealed in these trade agreements in the future which these two countries intend to share. This has been... Continue Reading →
Are You An Expert In The Areas Where you Have Strong Opinions? – An Analysis
What precipitated this post more recently is a reaction to the "non-maskers". These are people who believe that wearing a mask in public is not only useless, but an infringement on their constitutional rights. However, this ideology, if I can call it that, is only the most recent symptom of a larger trend. What I... Continue Reading →
A Coronavirus Thought Experiment
There has been a baffling pushback to the measures that we have taken to combat the Coronavirus. The U.S. has a long track record of extreme individualism which in this case equates to "you can't tell me what to do". A mistrust of the government is one of the founding tenets of our constitution, so... Continue Reading →
The State of the Quarantine
I am not a health expert. I am an economic policy person. In cases where health care is concerned, I defer to experts. I am fortunate to live in a state with a world class health care system, which includes clinics, hospitals, and medical research facilities. The University of Minnesota Medical Research division wields a... Continue Reading →
Unemployment – Continued
As much as 17% of the workforce is unemployed, or around 22 million workers. For perspective, the unemployment high during the great recession was 10%. Here is a nifty chart from Forbes: So, are we faced with another long, slow recovery? Well, the fact that the figures are so huge and impact so rapid, it's... Continue Reading →
Construction in Minnesota – How Is The Shutdown Affecting Our Builders?
Construction, specifically new builds (housing and commercial) are leading indicators of the economy. As of February 2020, there were about 125,000 Minnesotan workers employed in construction, representing a little over 4% of the total state workforce. Construction as a whole contributed a whopping 11.3 billion dollars to the MN GDP in 2018 (the most recent... Continue Reading →
Quarantine Day – I've Stopped Counting Already, But The Important Thing is We Tested Negative
Fortunately our results came back finally this weekend and we were both negative, which is a relief. We have been able to have dinner with the family and at least that has returned to normal. Kevin is also happy that he can see other dogs, and not just me shouting incoherent phrases at him and... Continue Reading →
Quarantine Day 5 – The Family Is Back
After some excellent advice from Dr. Dora, the family veterinarian, we decided to invite Kevin back into our home since there have been no known cases of transmitting Covid-19 from human to dog. I will have to say that Kevin has boosted moral for my wife and I, even if all he does is follow... Continue Reading →
