Mercatus Center

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) stressed this week that economic indicators have improved and that employment in particular has shown sustained recovery, with vaccinations continuing across the country as the economy recovers from COVID-19. As Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell highlighted during his press conference, employment rose by 850,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate sits at 5.9%. Furthermore, household spending and business investment have continued to accelerate...

In a lot of ways, healthcare providers are victims of their own success. Never before in human history have we battled the specters of death and disease so effectively. High demand for healthcare services comes from the often-fulfilled promise of healing, but limited resources inspire inevitable policy and payer battles revolving around access, quality and cost. Clearly, we are all willing to pay a lot for health, as our blossoming...

Ideas of India is a podcast in which Mercatus Senior Research Fellow Shruti Rajagopalan examines the academic ideas that can propel India forward. You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, Stitcher or the podcast app of your choice. In this episode, Shruti and Amartya Lahiri discuss the Indian economy in light of the country’s socialist past, distrust of markets, current monetary policy and continuing...

The founding of America was an ambitious experiment in pluralism to create a nation with people from varied backgrounds, statuses, beliefs and creeds. Even more ambitious was the Founders’ promise of equality, liberty and justice for all—though of course, those principles were only applied to a sliver of the population within the new nation. The country created by this experiment was, and remains, far from perfect. The democratic...

Over the weekend, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to expand production of crude oil starting in August. Immediately, crude oil prices fell 5 percent. This sounds like good news for anyone who is happy to be on the road again but currently has to shell out $3.00 or more for a gallon of gasoline. The expected OPEC expansion should eventually bring overall production to pre-pandemic levels. But how much of our $3.00 gasoline is really about the OPEC cartel, and...

(anyaberkut/iStock/Getty Images) Without the proper guardrails guiding the agency’s hand, there will likely be major losses for the competitive health of the American economy. Anyone without a law degree or an intimate familiarity with the nuances of antitrust statutes would be forgiven if the words “Section 5 of the FTC Act” or “unfair methods of competition” did not sound particularly significant. Those who are more accustomed with the federal...

A lot of people don't care about the nation's growing debt. Some believe that low interest rates for the foreseeable future essentially means a free lunch for the government. Others believe that no matter what the cost of this debt, it is all worth it because of the purported higher returns on government spending. But there is an argument that may convince them otherwise: If inflation ever gets out of control, it's easier to deal with it in a lower-debt environment. I believe that...