Conversable Economist

Discussions with the US about the American health care system often counterpose the well-known issues of the US health care system (high costs, lack of health insurance, unequal access to care, lower health outcomes than many other high-income countries)…

I have made no secret of my deep skepticism about President Trump’s tariff policies since he announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025.

For many low-income countries, perhaps the greatest deficit they face is a lack of the human skills that build economic growth.

The amounts of money being spent on the hardware and buildings behind the new AI boom may turn out to be enormously large by historical standards.

Economists and policy-makers know, in a broad sense, how to respond to a negative shock to aggregate demand in an economy, like the financial meltdown leading to the Great Recession of 2007-09.

The Medicaid program spends close to $1 trillion annually, with about 65% of that coming fom the federal government and the rest from state governnments.

Global population is expected to keep rising for the next 50-60 years, because it will take awhile for the demographic force of declining birthrates to overcome the life expectancies.

Sometimes you see a figure that makes you uncertain whether to laugh or cry, so you do a little of both.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2026 has been awarded to Robert E.

The Nobel prize in economics was awarded for the sixth time in 1974 (that is, it was first awarded in 196) to Gunnar Myrdal and Friedrich von Hayek “for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analy…

Om 2026, the federal government is on track to spend $7.4 trillion, and $1.9 trillion–about one-quarter of the total–will be newly borrowed money.

The first challenge of discussing US rural areas is to define them.

A long-time concern in the US K-12 schooling system is that local property taxes within each school district are a primary source of funding.

Financial literacy is meant to be basic stuff.

Tyler Cowen serves up the questions in “Gita Gopinath on Trade, Currencies, and Economic Transformation” (Conversations with Tyler, September 25, 2026).

Jeff Horwich serves as interlocutor in “Interview with Ariel Pakes: To understand the broader economy, unlock the inner workings of product markets” (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 25, 2026).

Many of us are inconsistent in our economic desires.

When economists think about how much utility is gained from additional economic resources the basic assumption is that an additional amount of income or wealth increases utility, but by a diminishing amount–because additional income or wealth has diminish…

For some people, their pulse beats faster when their favorite sports team wins, or their favorite musician drops a new album.

The basic patterns of US manufacturing jobs are fairly well-known.

Amidst all the policy proposals, claims, and counterclaims about energy use and carbon emissions, it’s useful to touch base from time to time with basic current facts.

Adam Smith’s 1776 book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, is often described in casual conversation (at least by noneconomists) as a manifesto for the benefits and power of free markets.

Aquaculture refers to farming the water: that is, growing fish or shrimp or other aquatic animals in a controlled space, rather than capturing them in open water.

The price of candy has risen considerably, and when a price goes up, there are always two school of thought.

Each year, the White House Council of Economic Advisers publishes the Economic Report of the President.

I sometimes struggle, when teaching about unemployment, to explain just why work matters.

Each year, more than half of the total or gross investment by US firms just makes up for depreciation in older equipment and knowledge. in recent year, it’s more like 75% of current year investment just offsets depreciation.

Maybe my perceptions are incorrect on this point, but my sense is that a lot of people believe that the US economy is making strong progress toward clean non-carbon energy, driven by increases in solar and wind power.

Thanks to the power of musical theater and the genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, I can now speak in public spaces about Alexander Hamilton and the First Bank of the United States without watching people’s eyes glaze over in real time.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) offers a blunt title for its most recent review of US fiscal policy: “The Nation’s Fiscal Health — Urgent and Sustained Action Needed to Improve the Fiscal Outlook (June 2026).

About 10 years ago, the big topics that had economists all atwitter included the “secular stagnation” hypothesis put forward by Lawrence Summers and the rising-inequality hypothesis put forward by Thomas Piketty.

Looking at the benchmark interest rate for 30-year US Treasury debt, long-term interest rates have been rising.

The number of grains of sand on a beach is a classic example of an “infinite” number, in the sense that it would be impossible to count.