Today's Economy in Perspective

Read Cox and Alm for details. (There's much here that corresponds with topics discussed in class this month.) Excerpt:

As Americans know, today’s rising food and energy prices are crimping household budgets. But there are other ways to understand the relative size of the rise of food and energy costs. For example, in terms of time worked at the average pay rate, the real cost of a 12-item basket of basic foods has hardly budged. And while the work-time price of gasoline doubled in recent years, a gallon of gasoline still goes for less than 11 minutes of work (Fig. 3). At 20 miles per gallon, an hour of work will get you 110 miles down the road; at 30 mpg, you can go 165 miles.

Falling Prices

Have been everywhere, according to University of Michigan economist Mark Perry. This post, and the accompanying table, are good illustrations of what can be lost when focusing on economic aggregates.

What is Inflation?

Is it an increase in the money supply or an increase in the general level of prices? This article from Mises.org today looks into this question.

State economic growth in 2007

Click on the map for a better view.

Here are some articles covering some of this issues we have been discussing in class over the last few days:

First, here is David Laband's article on the economics of Hurricane Hugo from the Wall Street Journal back in 1989. (This article is referenced in our text.) How does his analysis apply to what we saw in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina?

Second, here is my article, "The Right to Set Your Own Price," written in 2005, covering an ugly episode in Alabama during Katrina.

Consider this article in terms of the "Good Economist, Bad Economist" lecture. This one, too.

Here's Walter Block's entry on rent control to the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Summer II 2008 Students

The syllabus for this class will be posted shortly.