Economy

Richard August and Derek Amey on State of the State

State of the State: Where Have All the Workers Gone?

By Justin Katz | January 16, 2022 |

Host Richard August talks jobs and economics with Derek Amey of StrategicPoint, a wealth management firm.

A water drop and ripples

Forcing health insurers to cover at-home tests is just plain foolish.

By Justin Katz | January 14, 2022 |

Sorry, but I don’t see how this, from Janine Weisman, isn’t a display of the need for greater education in economics: Good to know: Starting tomorrow, health insurers must pay for your at-home #COVID-19 home test kits. All @BCBSRI plans except Medicare fully cover the home test kits without a prescription, and each person on…

"Your Vote Is Your Voice" sign

Black Rhode Islanders should recognize how much Harrison Tuttle’s ideology hurts them.

By Justin Katz | January 12, 2022 |

Harrison Tuttle is not merely another run-of-the-mill progressive with all of the approved leftist views.  He’s also the director of the Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee in Rhode Island.  So, when he takes a position on an issue, one would expect him to do so in light of the interests of black people. His…

A water drop and ripples

Here’s a great response to demands for student debt cancelation.

By Justin Katz | January 12, 2022 |

Robert Wiblin gets to the economics of student debt cancelation in a dead-on way with this comment: Cancelling student debt is good but we could do more. The government should also tax non-college grads in order to fund a $5,000 annual gift for all college grads as a way to show appreciation for how smart…

A water drop and ripples

New business starts can be a sign of an unhealthy economy.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2022 |

I’ve long speculated that Rhode Islanders start businesses at a healthy clip because the economy isn’t producing work at the level of hours and/or pay that they want.  That is why the Ocean State sees a lot of businesses struggle when they start formalizing things.  All the business stuff is too complicated, especially when the folks…

United Van Lines 2021 map of state migration

Who’s on the move into and out of Rhode Island?

By Justin Katz | January 5, 2022 |

For the second year running, United Van Lines’ study of its customers finds Rhode Island to be have more people moving in than moving out.  In fact, percentagewise, Rhode Island was the tenth-most-inbound state.  What’s going on?  Has the Ocean State somehow become a population draw? This particular data isn’t well enough defined to get…

A water drop and ripples

We’re watching the radicals define mainstream opposition right out of the conversation.

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2022 |

Interestingly, this is essentially the same point I just finished being proclaimed a racist for making with regard to the racial net worth gap, and an academic journal wouldn’t let a mainstream scholar make it: I suspect the real beef the ELJ Executive Board has with the essay is that Larry explicitly stated that racism…

Cars in a COVID testing line

COVID is partly a cultural phenomenon, allowing story shifts.

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2022 |

In a wide-ranging discussion loosely related to Internet narratives, Frank Rose and EconTalk host Russ Roberts touch on how immersive stories can draw us into activities outside their delivery — whether buying action figures, chatting with Broadway actors by the stage door, or digging into the history of non-fiction characters.  As I set out to…

A water drop and ripples

Progressives have an interesting perspective on Barrington’s minimum wage.

By Justin Katz | January 4, 2022 |

Steve Ahlquist has a strange explainer on Uprise RI about how Barrington got away with implementing a minimum wage policy for municipal workers: State law passed during the regime of House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello prevents municipalities from raising the minimum wage within their borders. But the state cannot prevent individual cities and towns from establishing their…

A water drop and ripples

Inflation would be an interesting challenge, if it were just a model experiment.

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2022 |

Ryan Rappa thinks the Fed is going to have to make debt relief part of any plan to control inflation.  Actually, I should specify that whoever wrote his commentary’s headline thinks that, because Rappa’s essay mainly just ruminates about the problem.  The closest he comes is this: This risk is multiplied by other forms of…