We can have one without the other
As the first punches from Covid 19 landed on state and local government revenues in spring 2020, it was clear that the virus’s impact, compounded by mandated shutdowns, blew big holes in budgets. Public health and the economy both slumped quickly, draining revenue for essential… Read More »Property Tax: The Last One Standing – Part 1
Most recent economics texts have devoted little or no space to the subject of rent and rent seeking. In classical economics, that which prevailed over a century ago prior to what is today known as neoclassical economics, rent was a pivotal idea and factor of… Read More »The Impact of Rent and Rent-Seeking on the Economy
Major internet-based platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) command monopolies allowing them to charge well beyond their costs. (The House Antitrust Subcommittee determined in October 2020 that Facebook wields monopoly powers in social network and has maintained its position by acquiring, copying or killing its competitors.)… Read More »Platform Capitalism is Eating Your Town
The “Green New Deal” is a set of proposed laws that are intended to reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change. The term is, of course, adapted from the “New Deal” policies of the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression. New Deal policies included… Read More »A Green New Deal Tax Shift
By: Matthew Downhour Analogies are simple and sometimes helpful ways to understand policy and economics but can obscure as much as they reveal. Both on the left and right, it is popular to think of the economy (or more broadly, the good things in life)… Read More »BOOK REVIEW: One Billion Americans
Addressing a conference on urban issues held in San Francisco, the British author and economist Barbara Ward (famous for several best-selling books on international equity and developmental economics) explained a key challenge afoot in the Bay Area. The year was 1967, and the locals were… Read More »California Voters May Opt for Value Capture to Save Transit from the Pandemic
By: Victor Ramirez Like the iconic scene of Clint Eastwood in the Wild West facing two gunmen in a three-way duel and whoever shoots first is at a disadvantage, such is the nature of real estate construction. It is in each property owner’s interest that… Read More »A Tax That Boosts The Economy
There are two types of democracy. First, the democracy of a small club with a voting membership of less than a thousand. Here, the members can personally meet and know the candidates for office, and can have their voices heard within the club. Second is… Read More »How Democracy Fails and Succeeds
