The Miami Herald reports that a local couple is going all the way to the state supreme court to fight a local ordinance banning front-yard vegetable gardens:
Hermine Ricketts and her husband Tom Carroll may grow fruit trees and flowers in the front yard of their Miami Shores house...
Vegetables, however, are not allowed.
If you’ve been shopping for real estate or stocks lately, you might be wondering how the Fed gets away with all that talk about how inflation is “low,” “muted,” or “below expectations.”
One of the more contentious aspects of the tax reform bill currently going through Congress is a proposal to treat the value of graduate-student tuition waivers as taxable income. In the US most PhD programs charge tuition, like undergraduate programs, but PhD students are typically granted a waiver of tuition along with a modest stipend to cover living expenses. In the early versions of the tax bill, the value of this waiver -- which could be $50,000 to $60,000 at a private university -- would be classified as taxable income.
Today Janet Yellen announced that the Federal Reserve is following through with its planned third rate, moving the effective federal funds rate to 1.25-1.5%. This move was widely expected, and considered to be “priced in”. As I noted in October, one of the most surprising winners of Trump’s presidency has been Yellen.
The Summer 2017 issue of the QJAE is now online. (Here are the full archives.)
Volume 20, no. 2 (Summer 2017)
Articles:
Deflation and Economic Growth: The Great Depression as the Great Outlier by Pavel Ryska
Former FBI special agent Clint Watts has responded to tweets from President Trump critical of the FBI by branding the president an “enemy of the state.” Watts claims Trump’s tweets will “sow doubt” and “hurt” the abilities of the FBI, “so he is an enemy of the state whenever he is pushing against the FBI in that way,” he concluded.
This week, the Supreme Court heard the first arguments regarding Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and as you can imagine, people immediately took to social media in order to voice their opinion on the matter.
Latin American revolutionary Simón Bolívar is commonly referred to as the George Washington of Latin America by numerous scholars and political figures. Bolívar’s military prowess was unquestioned, as he led a vigorous liberation campaign that freed present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela from the grasp of the Spanish Empire.
No part of the economy seems as convoluted as the health care sector. It comprises a vast array of services and procedures, and is usually embedded in a complex legal framework, influenced by powerful interest groups and state monopolies. Medical expertise, gained over years of education and training, seemingly invalidates consumer choice. The complexities of health disorders and its terminology further dis-empower the individual from understanding and autonomous decision making.
