Is Preventing COVID-19 Deaths Worth a Severe Recession? The Answer Depends on Controversial Assumptions About the Epidemic's Lethality.
A cost-benefit analysis of COVID-19 lockdowns highlights crucial gaps in the data.
Economics
Despite Coronavirus, Sweden Refuses To Shutter Businesses and Limit Gatherings
The Scandinavian country is betting against draconian restrictions and in favor of the free movement of people and goods.
The Feds Are Suspending Some Tariff Payments. They Should Suspend All of Them.
It's almost like Americans are paying for them, and like Trump doesn't actually believe in free trade.
Most Politicians Are Disingenuous Opportunists. The Coronavirus Outbreak Only Makes That More Obvious.
Politicians are merely using COVID-19 to push for policies they already wanted.
Trump Is Right To Worry About the Cost of Aggressive COVID-19 Control Measures
So far politicians have been acting as if only one side of the ledger matters.
The Most Libertarian Congressman Wants To Send People Checks. Here's Why.
"Americans need fast, direct relief," says Justin Amash.
Only Social Darwinians Worry About the Harm Caused by COVID-19 Lockdowns, Andrew Cuomo Says
The point of shutting down the "nonessential" economy, New York's governor explains, is to "save lives, period, whatever it costs."
FDA Relaxes Rules To Allow for More Ventilators, Finally
Restrictions have been loosened to help ramp up production.
Trump's Top Trade Official Says China Tariffs Didn't Harm Coronavirus Preparedness. Don't Buy His Spin.
Robert Lighthizer, head of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, says tariffs aren't hurting America's response to the virus. He's also lifting those tariffs to help with the response.
Last Week, the Public Transit Industry Asked for $12.8 Billion in Emergency Funding. The Senate GOP Relief Bill Gives Transit $20 Billion. House Dems Want $25 Billion.
The public transit bailout is spiraling out of control.
We Will Regret Not Taking the Economic Effects of Mass Quarantine More Seriously
The government botched the early response to coronavirus, so why expect it to grow in competence now?
'It's a Very Large Package': Coronavirus Stimulus Plan Now Costs More Than $1 Trillion
Lawmakers are still seeking a compromise.
States Can't Shut Down Non-Essential Businesses Without Harming Essential Ones
The coronavirus outbreak offers another view of the limits of central planning.
Should the Government Break Up Companies Like Amazon and Facebook? A Soho Forum Debate
Law professors Tim Wu and Richard Epstein went head to head at a live event.
What Economic Analyses of Past Pandemics Can Tell Us About the COVID-19 Aftermath
A big contraction was followed by a bustling aftermath—but with notable negative long-term effects as well.
Should the Government Break Up Big Tech? A Soho Forum Debate
Tim Wu vs. Richard Epstein on whether antitrust laws should be applied to firms like Amazon and Facebook.
Sens. Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler Accused of Coronavirus-Motivated Insider Trading
Tucker Carlson: "There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened."
Republicans' New $1 Trillion Stimulus: Keep the Corporate Bailouts, Limit Checks for All
The new plan seeks to help an economy decimated by the coronavirus.
A Trillion-Dollar Deficit This Year Is Now Officially the Best Case Scenario
The coronavirus is going to crater tax revenues and hike spending. And the Congressional Budget Office says the deficit was going to exceed $1 trillion even before all that.
Public Transit Advocates Ask for $12.8 Billion Bailout To Cope With 75 Percent Revenue Drop Related to Coronavirus
Public transit was already in decline before the COVID-19 outbreak. Now transit agencies are teetering on the brink of collapse.
Impossible Foods: Capitalism Is the Most Powerful Lever To Fight Climate Change
Impossible Foods says that animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change. Instead of trying to pass laws to ban meat, it's providing tasty, plant-based alternatives.
Can Our Shuttered Auto Plants Make Ventilators for Coronavirus Patients? And Will the Government Let Them?
GM’s CEO is offering to help. She shouldn't wait for the feds to figure out what to do.
Coronavirus Pandemic Inspires Private Generosity
Examples abound of the generosity and sense of community of the American people.
Don't Expect Millions To Die From Coronavirus, Says Richard Epstein
The NYU Law professor thinks we're in for a mess of bad epidemiology, ineffective stimulus, and misguided quarantines.
Will Aggressive COVID-19 Control Measures Cost More Than They Are Worth?
Politicians seem to be proceeding on the dangerous assumption that cost-effectiveness does not matter.
Why I'm Not (Yet?) Much Worried About the Civil Liberties Restrictions Flowing from the Coronavirus Response
The restrictions are less dangerous precisely because they are so broad and onerous.
Richard Epstein: 'More Probable Than Not…Total Number of Deaths at Under 50,000'
The worst-case scenarios projecting millions of deaths don't take into account adaptive behaviors.
$1 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Unveiled: Corporate Bailouts and Loans, Checks for All
The package seeks to curb the economic chaos caused by COVID-19.
Tyler Cowen Thinks Coronavirus Could Be This Generation's World War II
The Mercatus economist on why the private sector could provide the best response to the coronavirus, why the government should go big anyway, and how the current crisis could help America reinvent itself.
Why Price Gouging Laws Are a Bad Idea
What politicians call "gouging" is just supply and demand. Prices rise and fall all the time.
Congress and the White House Are Inching Closer to a 'Helicopter Money' Response to Coronavirus Crisis
In the past, the federal government has sent everyone checks to stimulate the economy. But paying for all the losses that come with a coronavirus-induced shutdown would require more novel policies.
Trump's Tariffs Weakened America's Hospitals. Then Coronavirus Hit.
Some of Trump's tariffs hit medical equipment and supplies from China. We need more trade, not less, to be prepared for pandemics.
Mitt Romney, Tulsi Gabbard Agree: The Federal Government Should Give Everyone $1,000—or More
Politicians across the political spectrum embrace UBI-style relief to ease the pain of the coming coronavirus-induced recession.
Biden Says High-Speed Rail Will Get Millions of Cars Off the Road. That's Malarkey.
This is what happens when you think all of America looks like the Acela corridor.
Price-Gouging Laws Will Do More Harm Than Good During the Coronavirus Pandemic
High prices for sought-after goods cause temporary pain, but not as much as government efforts to "help" frustrated consumers.
Biden Promises 'Major, Major, Major Bailouts' in Response to Coronavirus
Not to be outdone, Bernie Sanders promises that every single American will "be made whole" despite economic losses due to the outbreak. That's totally impossible.
Trump Gets What He Wants as Federal Reserve Interest Rate Target Drops to Zero
Paired with a new round of quantitative easing, the Fed takes us back to the 2008 playbook.
The Not-So-Great Society
Historian Amity Shlaes on the good intentions and bad results of LBJ's war on poverty
Coronavirus Is Going To Be Expensive. Too Bad the Government Is Already in Massive Debt.
Having failed to be fiscally responsible when it would have been relatively easier, our elected officials will now likely hike spending even further.
Federal Reserve Promises a Trillion-Plus in Short Term Loans to Banks.
Series of huge short-term loans to financial services presages a new era of "quantitative easing" and Fed balance sheet growth
Trump Administration Swears Proposed Hotel, Airline, Cruise Bailout Is Totally Not a Bailout
Actually, it's a bailout.
Why You Can't Solve a Public Health Problem With Economic Stimulus
Is a new stimulus package the right response to a pandemic?
Joe Biden Throws Support Behind Disastrous California Gig Economy Law
A.B. 5 has caused chaos in the Golden State.
Trump's Tariffs Are Hiking the Price of Your Favorite Whisky
American whisky and wine drinkers are being punished for trying to amicably trade what they have for what they want.
