Ask an Economist
Welcome to Ask an Economist, a public service of the Department of Economics at Iowa State University, designed to answer your economic questions.
Our talented faculty and alumni can answer questions on a variety of economic topics to help you make more informed choices about your day-to-day decisions--or to just add a more reasoned voice when talk of the economy comes up around the dinner table.
Questions & Answers
Minimum wages are wage floors set by law, not by the market. They, however, are subject to political pressure from citizens.
The question of how demographics relate to economic issues (e.g., poverty, economic growth) has been at the forefront of economics ever since its infancy as a science. For instance, Rev.
If I understand your question correctly, you are asking about factors that will determine the success or failure of the Arena Football League. As with any firm or industry, ‘economic’ success or failure depends on the ability of the firm or
None of us here have direct expertise on this issue.
Medieval cathedrals and other structures are indeed impressive works of construction, and to look at them is to marvel at human ingenuity. Medieval societies were in fact technological quite progressive, a fact documented for example in Joel
You have put your finger on an important topic that economists have been arguing about since Kenneth Arrow’s analysis of the incentives to innovate in “Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Inventions” in _The Rate and...
Continue Reading AnswerSouks and bazaars are in appearance competitive market places. The close proximity of shops selling virtually identical goods should drive price down.
While it is true that, in general, farmers are still facing high production costs. They have also seen some of those costs fall over the past couple of years. And it is not true that they have nowhere to sell their products. Crop
An increase in government spending will increase the domestic interest rate. A lot depends on how analysts perceive future price levels and inflation.
My best guess is that you are interested in the effects of investors withdrawing from the financial market (as opposed to the labor market or some other market).
As you probably have seen already, you can find the measure of value added to GDP per sector of the US economy at the Bureau of Economic Analysis website, specifically at this web address: https...
It means that once the dust has settled, insurance companies have paid out, homes have been rebuilt, infrastructure redone, people have moved out, businesses rebuilt, and so on, the total cost of all that would reach billions.
Alas, your concern about lack of sound fiscal management is not only justified in this case but is justified far more broadly. Many policy changes are initiated without third party studies to back them up.
Although China has had a spectacular economic growth in the last three decades, income/wealth inequality has been rising over time. It would not be a big problem as long as the high growth of economy can be sustained.
I am not sure I agree with the premise that the government buys a lot of goods and services which are otherwise not traded in a competitive market. (I suppose military expenses come under that description, to some extent.).
Food waste arises from preferences, incentives, and constraints. Retailers have time and other resource constraints which implies that it simply will not be worth it to sell every last item of food in every instance.
If prices are not rising at all over time or even falling, it would act as an disincentive for firms to produce goods for the market. For durables, if people expect prices to fall, they will wait.
Without questioning the specific numbers cited in the study, I would argue that much of the total does not represent a bailout of banks in a conventional sense.
If the central bank printed some money and "gave to someone secretly" and that person did not spend it, nothing would happen.
This is a very intriguing proposal that deserves to be researched. It can have a stimulative effect for sure, at least in the short run.
Taken literally, fringe benefits are extra, non-monetary compensation, such as health insurance, etc.
A fundamental principle of accounting is that the liabilities of one party are the assets of another. National debt is simply the amount owed by the federal government – that is, its liabilities.
Information on changes in deposits at commercial banks can be useful in gaining a better understanding of a local economy.
There are many things to consider in making the choice between purchasing a new or used car, including a comparison of sticker prices. As you suggest, new car values depreciate significantly in the first few months of ownership, often droppi