Until recently, Germany has been the seemingly unbreakable workhorse that has pulled the European economy back from the brink and kept it ticking along through a myriad of internal and external pressures, as well as political crises, over the last decade. As the undeniable leader of the bloc, the country has spearheaded and supported rescue plans for the Eurozone’s weaker links, as well as a number of controversial policies that work towards further centralization within the EU.

The latest numbers released by China’s statistics bureau fueled widespread concerns about the outlook of the global economy, as the Asian superpower reported its slowest growth rate since 1990. The figures showed a 6.6% growth for 2018, confirming the view that the growth engine of the world economy is running out of steam.

It is difficult to place oneself in the national conversation without entering the hotly debated sphere of “sustainability,” and what needs to be done to create a “sustainable” future, characterized by the usage of resources such that future prosperity is not hindered. It would seem as though the key to ensuring the existence of sufficient resources for the future is to prevent the “over consumption,” of present resources, which appears impossible as the population grows and consumes more of the limited resource stock on the Earth.

Murray Rothbard was a genius. One aspect of this was his writing as an American historian. He was every bit as significant a scholar here as he was as an economist and philosopher.

For example, there is his stunning four-volume history of early America from Jamestown to the end of the American Revolutionary War. His brilliance and originality are on display, as he deftly handles a huge amount of research including a vast array of hitherto unknown facts.

On Friday, Federal Judge Gary Miller declared the federal government’s policy of male-only conscription to be unconstitutional.  Miller ruled that past prohibitions on women in combat may have legally  justified the all-male policy, but since the military has integrated women into combat positions, the past policy can no longer be constitutionally justified.

The US debt ceiling suspension, signed in February 2018, expires at the beginning of March this year. Some commentators are of the view that the US Treasury must carry out special measures if it expects a delay in raising the debt ceiling in March.

In this view, the Treasury would have to draw down its deposits at the Fed and deposit the cash in various government department accounts at commercial banks, for future use to pay government salaries and contractors’ fees.

Banks provide fairly invaluable services to a monetary economy, many of which the economics literature has long been discussing: under division of labor, banks specialize in amassing savings and putting them to use.

On June 23, 2016, the British electorate voted 51.9 percent-48.1 percent in favor of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. The referendum was one of the biggest political earthquakes that preceded the election of Donald Trump on November 6, 2016.

In November, Harvard economists Valentin Bolotnyy and Natalia Emanuel published a new working paper titled “Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men? Evidence from Bus and Train Operators.”

In the study, Bolotnyy and Emanuel study unionized bus and train operators to determine whether or not a gender pay gap exists, and what its causes might be.