Governments sometimes get themselves into trouble with too much debt. Early economist Adam Smith devoted the last chapter of his famous Wealth of Nations (1776) to the topic of sovereign default. “The progress of the enormous debts which at present oppress, and will in the long-run probably ruin, all the great nations of Europe, has been pretty uniform,” Smith wrote. “The practice of funding [financing deficits with debt] has gradually enfeebled every state which has adopted it.” Read More ›
Other than punctuating the end of summer, Labor Day has for many lacked meaning associated with other holidays. Properly understood, it is the holiday that celebrates not only labor, but the job creators and entrepreneurs central to the flourishing of the United States and its people. Read More ›
Kevin Hoover suggests that William Nordhaus relied on the labor theory of value in his paper on light (Letters, April 24). Yet Nordhaus actually used knowledge, not labor. He offered a method to measure innovation: the discovery and sharing of valuable new knowledge. Nordhaus measured the amount of knowledge per unit of time and observed that knowledge about light was growing exponentially, surpassing traditional measures of economic development. It is the time price over time that truly deserves our attention. Read More ›
Anyone determined to provide a “new economics” must haul a heavy burden of proof up a steep slope of professional resistance. At the summits of academic prestige, economics presents a Delphic façade of math and marble. Read More ›
