How 'Price Gouging' Helps Consumers During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Q&A with Duke's Michael C. Munger, who also believes that big cities will see rationing and that higher education will never be the same.
Economics
When 'Price Gouging' Is Good: Michael Munger
The Duke economist and political scientist discusses the response to COVID-19, the coming recession, and the end of higher ed as we know it.
Are There Fiscal Conservatives in a Pandemic? The Club for Growth Says It Doesn't Matter.
The Club for Growth prides itself on holding lawmakers accountable "by publicizing their voting record." Except, well…not right now.
Unemployment Claims Hit 6.6 Million. It's Officially Worse Than the Great Recession.
Plus: The feds are still targeting Juul, Call of Duty wins First Amendment lawsuit, and more...
The Trump Administration Presents a False Choice Between Current COVID-19 Control Measures and 'No Intervention'
The real action in the coming months lies between those two extremes.
The Private Sector Heroes Leading the Fight Against COVID-19
The free market adjusts. We don't need "production acts" to tell us what to do.
'Let's Do a Manhattan Project Against This Virus': Thomas Massie
The Kentucky Republican took on Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi to fight against the $2 trillion coronavirus spending package. He's just getting started.
Spanish Flu Experience Might Indicate That Public Policy Interventions Don't Have Long-Term Economic Effects
Though focused on manufacturing and banking, this study sees economic optimism in quick and thorough interventions to keep people isolated.
How Much Is $2.3 Trillion? More Than Even Obama Could Imagine
The CARES Act plunges the nation into a crash course on experimental economics.—and we're the lab rats.
No, British Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson Has Not 'Drastically Downgraded' His Worst-Case Projection of COVID-19 Deaths
But he has raised his estimate of the virus's reproduction number, which implies a lower fatality rate than his research group initially assumed.
Los Angeles Might Force Broke Businesses To Keep Paying Workers During Coronavirus Outbreak
The mandates would be retroactive, potentially punishing businesses for violating rules they did not even know existed.
Pandemic-Related Unemployment and Shutdowns Are a Recipe for Social Unrest
That's a huge concern as forecasters expect the U.S. unemployment rate in the months to come to surpass that seen during the depths of the Great Depression.
As Tourism Craters, Airbnb and Hotels Offer Shelter to Coronavirus Responders
The short-term rental service seeks 100,000 hosts to set space aside for those working to fight the pandemic.
Nearly 3.3 Million Unemployment Claims Due to Coronavirus Economic Meltdown
Much about the COVID-19 outbreak has been unprecedented and historic, but until now it's been difficult to quantify exactly how serious a blow the virus would deal to the U.S. economy.
The Senate's COVID-19 Relief Bill Is a Crony Capitalist Dream
Plus: COVID-19 in prisons and jails, Trump campaign threatens TV stations, state disparities in new coronavirus cases, and more...
The Private Sector's Heartening Response to COVID-19
Creativity and selflessness are on display everywhere.
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.
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.
