In the environmental debates of the 1970s, one common name hurled at environmentalists was to call them “neo-Malthusians.” This dismissive insult was meant to imply that the concern for environmental issues was nothing more than the contemporary application of the failed analysis of Thomas Malthus (1766-1834). Malthus was a classical economist in the tradition of […]
A few years ago I was visiting the museum of a local Maine historical society. When the docent discovered I worked as an economist, he immediately wanted to show me their collection of early currency that had circulated in the community. His assumption was that an economist would, of course, be interested in money. I […]
The trouble with taxes is that no one likes to pay them. We want the services of government (good roads, public schools, national defense, a functioning court system, etc.) but would rather that someone else pay for these things. Yet taxation is necessary in modern society. Taxes are needed to fund what economists call public […]
For some Mainers, the answer might be to stock up on Allen’s Coffee Brandy and buy a few lottery tickets. Others would pay off some credit card debt or put the money in the bank. Some might buy blankets and towels to give to the local humane society to better care for furry friends. A […]
Economists become famous by winning the Nobel Prize (technically the Swedish National Bank’s Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) or becoming public intellectuals like John Kenneth Galbraith or Paul Krugman. But economists do not have to be famous to be important. Significant contributions come in many guises. The most important economist you […]
For several years, Republicans in Congress routinely made a show of voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which they pejoratively labeled Obamacare. Having refused to participate in the crafting of health care reform, they offered no alternative to the ACA. Nor did they suggest ways to improve the system despite the President’s call […]
The new administration in Washington continues to limit immigration to the U.S.A. with policies questioning the suitability of people from various countries to become Americans. This made me think of immigrants in my own family. In 1913 my grandfather, William Oliver Anderson, immigrated to Massachusetts from Glasgow, Scotland. He made a career in the shade-grown […]
Robert Gordon’s 2016 book The Rise and Fall of American Growth is a comprehensive history of “the U.S. standard of living since the civil war.” Gordon, a Northwestern University economist, details changes in consumption of food, clothing, shelter, and transport during a period when Americans experienced unprecedented improvement in quality of life. From brutally difficult, […]
I remember clearly my first inkling of something new called the world wide web. I had recently started using email and two colleagues brought me a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication describing a new information system. One would be able to use a computer and software that would “crawl” about looking for information stored on […]
In this season of interminable political ads, one Bruce Poliquin TV ad berates his opponent Emily Cain for supporting a “national energy tax.” The ad says such a tax would be bad for Maine. I do not know whether Emily Cain supports a national energy tax or not, but I do. Contrary to the Poliquin […]
I am proud to be a Mainer, born in Caribou and schooled at Brewer High School, Bowdoin College, and the University of Maine. I am grateful for a 35 year career at UMaine, the last decade in the School of Economics.
