Potpourri

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. That's largely due to some projects with (self-imposed) deadlines I've been working on day and night over the last 7 days or so. I was able to get a draft of the regulatory impact paper off to my co-authors this evening, so when I get their feedback, I'll be posting a couple of things on it.

Caroline Baum of the Manhattan Institute has an informative article on recent changes in Fed policy and interest rate projections over the next few years.

I recently ran across this old post by David Henderson at EconLog. David calls these the "Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom" and I have to agree that these would be a great way to start the semester in really any economics class.

Even though he has recently backed off his comments, I think this short post by Jim Clifton, chairman of Gallup, makes some good points. Labor force participation in the crucial 25-54 age range fell during the early 00's recession, never recovered, fell again in the 2008 recession, and has been falling since. Meanwhile, the teen labor force participation rate crashed in the 2008 recession and has been flat since. I fail to see how any of that is evidence of a recovery.

An interview with Thomas Sowell. Not much else needs to be said.

Don Boudreaux on the distributional effects of government debt. Short version: "We owe it to ourselves" is an absurd justification for gov't debt.