Michael Munger
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Financial
My Disagreement with John Tamny on SALT Deductions
In a recent essay, John Tamny, at RealClearMarkets got rather SALTy. Worth reading. John (whom I know and like, and…
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Financial
The Penny Problem Has a Third Option: Buy Them Back (With Interest)
Adam Smith recognized the importance of the “make or buy” decision. It is the maxim of every prudent master of…
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Financial
SALT in the Wound: How Tax Deductions Reward Fiscal Irresponsibility
On May 22, Donald Trump celebrated the House’s passage of HR1 , proclaiming THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL has PASSED…
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Financial
How Interest Rates Set Asset Prices: One Weird Trick
What determines the price of a stock, bond, or other income-producing asset? Interest rates play a larger role than most…
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Financial
Inside US Air Traffic Control: Conflicts of Interest and Absence of Oversight
Milton Friedman famously recognized that policy change only happens in crises: Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces…
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Financial
My $100 Tomato: Is Self-Sufficiency Overrated?
The main principle of trade policy is make or buy. “Economics” comes from the Greek word oikonomia, deriving from oikos,…
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Financial
Three-Dimensional Trade Chess, Explained
Supporters of tariffs claim that mainstream economists don’t understand the game. This “game” has been described by Peter Navarro as…
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Financial
The Social Media Jam: Why Too Many Choices Leave Us Feeling Stuck
There’s a famous experiment involving jams. Not problems, and not what old people call music, but the third thing: sweetened…
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Financial
Crop Insurance, NASCAR and Seatbelts: Why The Safer We Get, The More Risks We Take
In his famously odd 1975 book, Platform for Change, the British business professor Stafford Beer made the following observation: So…
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Financial
DAFT Decisions: Why Deficits Are Future Taxes
In 2009-10, I was invited to dozens of speaking opportunities, as well as lots of radio and television appearances, because…
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