The official unemployment rate has come under fire as of late. The past year has given rise to the charge by many that the unemployment rate under represents the true state of unemployment. Many have cited the U-6 rate which is currently around 14.0%. (For a description of the different rates, click here) The recent [...]

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report for July. Suffice it to say, it does not show much of an improvement over the June data. In fact, the unemployment rate increased from 8.2% to 8.3%. While it is only a tenth of a percent increase, it means that all of the [...]

As reported this morning by CNBC, January housing data has shown an uptick in foreclosures rates across the country, largely due to the end of the freeze on foreclosures. In late 2010 the issues surrounding robo-signing (in which many homeowners were foreclosed upon illegally) made national headlines and major banks responded by temporarily halting foreclosures. [...]

Government is often an exercise of competing values. Do we trade prosperity for security? How much do we sacrifice security for equality? But this statistics packed video from the Charles Koch Foundation (setting off liberal conspiracy alarms) demonstrates that freedom is the keystone value. Pursue freedom in your country and you get more prosperity, security, equality, and happiness.

F.A. Hayek states his criticism of Keynesian theory and even Milton Friedman.

Steven Landsburg helped launch economics books for the lay reader with The Armchair Economist. His latest work, The Big Questions, uses the tools of math, science, and economics to tackle questions of philosophy. Here’s an informal review from Greg Mankiw.

Landmark economist Robert Samuelson had died at the age of 94. Samuelson wrote perhaps the single most influential textbook of all time, Economics. Here is a segment from the New York Times obituary.

Let’s say you want to do your Christmas shopping on Ebay. How do you get the best price? Do you enter the maximum amount you’re willing to pay and check bank when the auction is closed, or you do outbid the current high bidder by $1 just before the deadline. It turns out that it doesn’t matter. Both EBay strategies get you to the same winning bid.

Russ Robert tackles the challenges of financial reform in the latest edition of The Economist’s Voice.