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Sweden seems headed toward a cash-free economy. Here are some comments from Stefan Ingves, Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, in a short essay called “Going Cashless:The governor of the world�s oldest central bank discusses his country�s shift toward digital money” (Finance & Development, March 2018, 55:2, pp. 11-12): “Sweden is rapidlyContinue reading “Sweden Heads Toward a Cash-Free Economy”

Here’s a nice question to kick around the classroom or the lunch-table: “If we pay football players, why not kidney donors?” Philip J. Cook and Kimberly D. Krawiec argue that both should be paid in Regulation magazine (Spring 2018, pp. 12-17). In the context of football, players receive compensation for actions that benefit others–specifically, thoseContinue reading “If We Pay Football Players, Why Not Kidney Donors?”

The Council on Foreign Relations has published The Work Ahead Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century, which is an Independent Task Force Report chaired by John Engler and Penny Pritzker,  Some of the discussion goes over familiar ground: innovation is needed, technology is changing work, economic growth is important, we should redesign unemploymentContinue reading “The Shifting Connections from Education to Job Skills”

The US unemployment rate has been less than 4% for the last couple of months, which might seem sufficient reason for breaking out the champagne. But the sense of celebration has been generally restrained. Some of the reasons for hesitancy are probably just politics. My strong suspicion is that if a Democrat was sitting inContinue reading “Snapshots of the Salubrious US Labor Market”

Japan is aging fast. Here are some trends on total population and age distribution, according to projections from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan, The report notes that the 2015 Census gives a total Japanese population of 127 million in 2015, which in a middle-variant prediction will fall to 88Continue reading “Two Issues for an Aging Japan: Financial Gerontology and the Rise of Robots”

Germany is the fourth-largest economy in the world (after the US, China, and Japan). And it’s economy is doing extremely well. For example, consider the conclusion of the IMF staff in “Germany: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2018 Article IV Mission” (May 14, 2018): “Germany�s economic performance is impressive, supported by prudent economic management andContinue reading “Germany’s Prosperity: How Stable are the Foundations?”

The marshmallow test is one of those legends of social science that a lot of non-social-scientists have heard about. Relatively young children are offered a choice: they can either eat a marshmallow (or some other attractive treat) right now, or they can wait for some period of time (maybe 15-20 minutes) and then have twoContinue reading “The Not-So-Triumphant Return of the Marshmallow Test”

Is the US economy as a whole experiencing notably less competition? Of course, pointing to a few industries where the level of competition seems to have declined (like airlines or banking) does not prove that competition as a whole has declined. In his essay, “Antitrust in a Time of Populism,” Carl Shapiro offers a skepticalContinue reading “The Skeptical View in Favor of an Antitrust Push”

I’m an occasional part of the audience for college sports, both the big-time televised events like basketball’s March Madness and college football bowl games, as well as sometimes going to baseball and women’s volleyball and softball games here at the local University of Minnesota. I enjoy the athletes and the competition, but I try notContinue reading “An NCAA Financial Digression During March Madness”

“Interview: Jean Tirole” appears in the most recent issue of Econ Focus from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (Fourth Quarter 2017, pp. 22-27). The interlocutor is David S. Price. Here are a few comments that jumped out at me. How did Tirole end up in the field of industrial organization? “It was totally fortuitous.Continue reading “Interview with Jean Tirole: Competition and Regulation”