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3 weeks ago | 
thedailyeconomy.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
On May 12, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at lowering US prescription drug prices. In keeping with his tariff policy, the president was motivated by the price differences — often vast — between identical prescription drugs sold in the US and in the rest of the world.
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3 weeks ago | 
independent.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
The poet Alfred Lord Tennyson reminded us to be careful about language: “For words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the truth within.” Behavioral economists have shown that patients will embrace a surgical procedure with an 80% chance of success, but balk at a 20% chance of failure. Likewise, is a deficit a bad thing? For a diet, a caloric deficit is a good thing; for a patient wasting away in a hospital bed, it’s a bad thing.
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2 months ago | 
independent.org | Alvaro Vargas Llosa |Jonathan Hofer |Craig Eyermann |Nikolai G. Wenzel
Robert Whaples, editor of Pope Francis and the Caring Society discusses the legacy of Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21st. Whaples talks of the way Francis dealt with wealth and poverty, as well as Francis’ environmental writings. Whaples says Pope Francis believed businesses have the opportunity to be noble if they include an element of charity and also provide employment.
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2 months ago | 
independent.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
The hubbub at Harvard is fascinating because of the deafening silence—on all sides—about the most important underlying problem: the US Constitution. President Trump has frozen about $2 billion in federal funds for the university, which has refused to accede to his demands that the university adhere to merit-based hiring (over DEI) and allow federal oversight of the university’s handling of campus anti-semitism. He is threatening more punishment, but Harvard isn’t backing down.
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Mar 20, 2025 | 
blog.independent.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
Among the 64% of eligible voters who cast a presidential ballot in 2024, the vote was almost a tie (President Trump won 49.8% versus Vice President Harris’s 48.3%). The close call is not the most interesting part; the polarization is much more interesting. President Trump is not one to leave many voters or commentators indifferent. He is portrayed as satanic by his detractors and messianic by his supporters.
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Mar 20, 2025 | 
fee.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
Long wait times are the symptom of a deep problem. Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began a US-Canada economic summit designed to improve his country’s economic climate. Canada’s political landscape is shifting. After nearly a decade in office, Trudeau has announced his resignation, with the Party leadership election scheduled for March 9. He will leave behind a country that has been grappling with a decade of disillusionment.
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Feb 27, 2025 | 
catalyst.independent.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
Recently, President Trump placed tariffs on steel and aluminum. The executive action restored a 25 percent tariff on steel (from the first Trump presidency) and raised the existing 10 percent tariff on aluminum to 25 percent. It also revoked exemptions for nine countries and the European Union, which had been negotiated by President Biden subsequent to the 2018 Trump tariffs.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
blog.independent.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel
Austrian economist Gene Callahan likes to remind us that fantasy is not an adult policy option. We are often reminded of his words in national debates and handwringing over potential budget cuts, whether by the Republican-led Congress, or President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—or attempts to address the $36 trillion debt elephant in the room. Economist Bryan Caplan has pointed out a number of systematically biased beliefs American voters hold about the economy.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
spectator.org | David J. Hebert |Nikolai G. Wenzel
The U.S. federal government has a debt problem. At $36.2 trillion (or about 125 percent of GDP), this burden is already so great that it cannot be paid back any time soon and would take decades of concerted efforts to do so. Further, it is abundantly clear that this is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. But what are we to do about this? One answer floated about is to trim waste from the federal government.
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
spectator.org | Nikolai G. Wenzel |David J. Hebert
In its continuing frenzy to see anticompetitive behavior behind every bush — and then apply the wrong remedies — the Biden Department of Justice recently sued RealPage, a technology company that helps landlords determine how much to charge in rent. On the face of it, RealPage is one of the many new tools offered by modern technology. It aggregates national data with landlord data and suggests a figure for rent.
