Ask an Economist

This is an interesting thought experiment. Many factors must be considered, and it is difficult to address them all at once, but here are some important ones.

No, it's not possible; that is, the Federal Reserve can always pay IORB.  The reason is simple: unlike an ordinary bank, the Fed's liabilities are in units (dollars) that it creates.  Put differently, unlike a private business, the Fed d

Both opinion from you and your friends make sense but there are some important factors missing. The decision of having one more child or not depends on how parents weigh benefit versus the cost associated with that child.

It is certainly true that disposing of milk or other agricultural commodities once produced is inefficient.  The producers receive no income from commodities that are discarded, while there are consumers who would benefit from these commoditi

Your question relates to what we teach in our Principles of Microeconomics courses: “The Law of Supply.” Indeed, producing 4,000 pounds of apples and charging $4 per pound creates a surplus in this specific market you describe....

The answer is hidden in your question. The company hedges to mitigate risk, to guard against excessive downturns in profit. It “pays” for this risk protection by potentially foregoing some profit. There is of course a risk-return tradeoff.

Think of a bundle of goods bought at $1 in 1928. This bundle would consist of many goods. The average increase in bundle price would be $17.31 in 2022.

Without a doubt, demand has outpaced supply over the past 18 months.  In labor markets, there are currently 4.9 million more jobs available than there are individuals looking for work (i.e., comparing job openings from the JOLTS release to th

I believe the question being asked is how to calculate what an NIL deal might be worth to a college athlete?  In particular, the focus of the question also seems to be on determining what a college athlete could get paid to be a sponsor, a sp

That's a bit like asking which of your two eyes is more important. As in many cases in economics, the answer to your question is: it depends. There are markets where, at a point in time, supply is more important.

I am unaware of any discussions pertaining to a Marshall-like plan for the Russian economy presently.

There is a lot in this question to digest:  the trade war, impacts by farm size, and the effectiveness of government support.  For the soybean market, the U.S.-China trade dispute did have a significant impact.  Roughly half of U.S.