The Chevrolet Volt electric car from GM invariably is mentioned in my economics classes whenever the discussion turns to alternative energies. It is often held up as the “car of the future” and a paragon of the green economy transforming the United States. While I would be delighted to see the Volt reach these aspirations,
The FBI arrested four people today and charged them with securities fraud and conspiracy as part of an expanding investigation into a “criminal club” of insider trading. The Wall Street Journal reports that since late 2009, the government has secured 56 guilty pleas or convictions out of 63 people charged with insider trading. In related
Rick Moranis frets over this question in an ironic piece from the Wall Street Journal, and in the process he raises several helpful questions which touch on the intersection of economics and morality. His day of discontent began with grinding coffee beans at home and he wondered whether he was harming his local coffee shop
Could it be that college graduates today are worse off than indentured servants from colonial times? A closer look at the data shows a remarkable similarity according to a provocative article by Jeffrey J. Williams in the January issue of Academe Online. The majority of immigrants to the British colonies arrived under “indenture,” or an
Today we salute the achievements and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We can be grateful for how God used him as an ordained minister to fight nonviolently for racial equality and an end to discrimination in the United States. This was a fitting battle in a country that holds “these truths
The travails of the Eurozone have been widely reported in the as the leaders in Brussels continue to propose new solutions to preserve the Euro. Market interest rates on the sovereign debt of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy continue to increase, reflecting the mounting concerns of investors about a default on government bonds. A key
If the term “hydro-fracturing” or simply “fracking” is not already familiar to you, gentle reader, then you are missing one of the significant economic developments in our lifetimes. This new technology for using water, sand, and chemicals to fracture shale formations deep in the ground is releasing enormous quantities of natural gas from unexpected parts
Do you crave the gooey center pieces from the brownie pan, or is your passion for the dense, chewy edge brownies? I prefer the latter, and apparently so do tens of thousands of others. In 2010, a company called Baker’s Edge sold more than $2 million worth of brownie pans specially designed to make every
More firms are paying nothing in federal income taxes. Before this trend troubles you, don’t overlook the fact that more people are paying more in personal taxes in the United States. John McKinnon of the Wall Street Journal reports that the percentage of corporations organized as nontaxable businesses has grown from about 24% in 1986
Earning a degree from an elite business school, such as the Harvard MBA, is transformational, “it forges a new identity as a permanent member of the business elite.” As a business policy professor of Harvard Business School stated, “We don’t teach business, we work on your minds.” One of the most influential business philosophers is