News
WSJ | U.S. Is Overtaking Russia as Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer
The U.S. is overtaking Russia as the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas, a startling shift that is reshaping markets and eroding the clout of traditional energy-rich nations.
Bloomberg | Consumer Comfort in U.S. Retreats for First Time in a Month
Consumer confidence decreased for the first time in four weeks as Americans’ views of the economy deteriorated to the lowest level since May.
CNN Money | Investors bet on a U.S. default
Want to bet against the "full faith and credit" of the United States government? A few financial institutions are doing just that -- betting the government will default on its debt if Congress can't agree to raise the debt ceiling this month.
Bloomberg | Service Industries in U.S. Grow at Slower Pace Than Forecast
Service industries in the U.S. expanded in September at a slower pace than forecast, indicating a pause in the momentum of the biggest part of the economy before the federal government shut down.
WSJ | Government Shutdown Pinches Low-Income Aid Programs
The federal government's partial shutdown began pinching a number of aid programs, with preschool activities, welfare benefits and vouchers for infant formula all seeing cuts.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | How ObamaCare Wrecks the Work Ethic
A new wave of redistribution will arrive in America on Jan. 1, primarily thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The president's health-insurance plan forces those who hire, work and produce to pay full price for health care, while creating generous discounts for practically everyone else.
Real Clear Markets | Why Housing Markets Are Set To Tank Again
In mid-September, a CNN Money headline reassured investors: Our Long National Foreclosure Nightmare Is Over. Sounds great! Now we can finally relax and be glad that Henry Paulson, the Fed and the Big Bankers saved us from the apocalypse.
CATO | Shutdown Problems: Brought to You by Big Government
The federal government has shut down. And, as of this writing, no one knows exactly when it will reopen.
Blogs
Economist | What we know that is no longer so
Here's a funny post-script to the post I just put up on the most recent Free exchange column. In writing the post it occurred to me that I could add some additional detail on the costs of disability insurance.
Mercatus | Does Anyone Know the Net Benefits of Regulation?
In early August, I was invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights and Agency Action, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Library of Economics | The Error of Utilitarian Behavioral Economics
If you hang around economists long enough, you're bound to hear the word utility. They don't mean it in the original (at least 500 years old), usefulness sense of the word, as in the utility of electric power to wash and dry clothes. They mean in it in the late 19th century sense of "the instrinsic property of anything that leads an individual to choose it rather than something else" (Oxford English Dictionary).
