Ask an Economist

Thank you for bringing this rumor to our attention.  First, it would be helpful to understand what you mean by “a country’s success” or “potential”.  I suspect you may be referring to a country’s growth in income (growth in GDP/economic

Tariffs, like many government policies, have both costs and benefits.  As your questions points out, we have heard much about the costs of tariffs in the ongoing trade disputes.  But there are also benefits that accrue.  For example

Let me first state that I cannot answer the legal part of the question.

Politicians can claim credit for whatever they want – and typically they do claim credit for everything that looks good and blame everything that looks bad on their opponents. 

It is not possible to provide a very good answer to this question because because it is not very clearly posed and is not specific about the desired remedy.

The difference is between real and nominal growth. The GDP of a country is the $ value of the goods & services produced by that country in a year. Say, the GDP of a country in 2010 is $100 and that in 2011 is $110.

A mutual savings bank (MSB) is a chartered financial intermediary that operates as an association of individuals who are depositors, also known as members.  MSBs are owned by their depositors, not stockholders, and this means that an MSB’s pr

GDP is the $ value of the total value of final goods and services produced in a year. That is the income definition. There is an equivalent expenditure definition.

The policy-driven increase in the import price of U.S. soybeans into China generated a change in relative soybean prices across the globe, making U.S.

The need to pay it back would discipline the actions of the borrower, make them choose more worthwhile projects. This would raise efficiency. 

Projects like temples and pyramids, as with public monuments today, represent a choice about how labor effort in a society is directed. Some labor is required to produce food, shelter and clothing that are necessities for sustaining life.