Bagwell Center
Bagwell Center Commentary
Bagwell Center Commentaries provide a discussion of relevant news items, public policy issues, or other current issues from an economic perspective. Each Commentary is an expression of the views of the writers (and not the Bagwell Center). Commentaries are eligible for publication elsewhere (such as peer-reviewed academic journals).
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2025
"America's Oasis Desert" by Timothy Mathews, (August 2025) - part of KSU's Year of the United Kingdom
"Cuomo Says What!?" by Timothy Mathews, (July 2025)
"The DOGE Hoax: An Angry Economist’s Rebuke" by Luc Noiset, (June 2025)
"Are We in a Recession? Are We Heading to One?" by Filippo Occhino, (May 2025)
"Herbert Dow Destroys Predatory Prices" by Burt Folsom, (April 2025)
"Congressional District Level Allocation of Electoral College Votes" by Timothy Mathews, James Boudreau, Brett Katzman, and Jesse Schwartz (March 2025)
"The New Tools of Monetary Policy: A Brief Economics Lesson" by C. Slade Dale, (February 2025)
"Behind the Disconnect between Consumer Sentiment and the Macroeconomy" by Filippo Occhino, (January 2025)
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2024
"Why I Think the U.S. is More Socialist and Less Competitive than Europe" by Marcus Marktanner, (December 2024)
"AI Against the Rest: From Renaissance Alley to Silicon Valley" by Zeynep Kelani, (November 2024)
"'Price Gouging' in the Wake of a Natural Disaster: A Brief Economics Lesson" by C. Slade Dale (October 2024)
"Presidential Elections: Electoral College versus National Popular Vote" by Timothy Mathews, James Boudreau, Brett Katzman, and Jesse Schwartz (September 2024)
"The Importance of Omaha to the 2024 Presidential Election" by Timothy Mathews, James Boudreau, Brett Katzman, and Jesse Schwartz (August 2024)
"The Debt the World Owes to the United States" by Burton Folsom, (June 2024)
"The Parable of the Towns" by Luc Noiset, (May 2024)
"Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes?" by Timothy Mathews, (April 2024)
"Open AI's Legal Battles and the Penguin Effect" by James Boudreau, (March 2024)
"Overtime Rules" by James Boudreau, Sean Ellermeyer, Brett Katzman, Timothy Mathews, and Jesse Schwartz, (February 2024)
"The Term Spread, Quantitative Easing, and the Probability of Recession" by Filippo Occhino, (January 2024)
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2023
"The Impact of Authoritarian State Capitalism on Economic Freedom in Türkiye" by Zeynep Kelani, (December 2023)
"On the Thermodynamic Properties of Capitalism" by Alex Maslov, (November 2023)
"On What Does the Federal Government Spend Its Money?" by Luc Noiset, (August 2023)
"Why Can't Government Successfully Create Jobs?" by Michael Patrono, (July 2023)
"Competing Tournament Organizers: the case of LIV Golf and the PGA TOUR" by James Boudreau, and Timothy Mathews, (June 2023)
"It's Time to Kick Billionaires Off the Dole: Subsidizing Stadiums is Welfare for the Rich, Not Economic Development" by J.C. Bradbury, (May 2023)
"Infrastructure, yes. Federal aid, no." by Burton Folsom, Jr., (April 2023)
"The Sacred Triumvirate of Neo-Marxism" by Alex Maslov, (March 2023)
"Is Profit Maximization or Social Responsibility the Morally Correct Goal of Business?" (Part 4) by Michael Patrono, (February 2023)
"What Would Be the Macroeconomic Effects of a Corporate Tax Hike?"by Filippo Occhino, (January 2023)
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2022
"Is Profit Maximization or Social Responsibility the Morally Correct Goal of Business?" (Part 3) by Michael Patrono, (December 2022)
"Corruption's Effect on the Stock Market in Different Economies" by James Boudreau, (November 2022)
"Is Profit Maximization or Social Responsibility the Morally Correct Goal of Business?" (Part 2) by Michael Patrono, (October 2022)
"Free Trade Agreements: Economics or Politics?" by Gohar Sedrakyan, (September 2022)
"Is the Current Inflation Rate 0% or is it 8.5%? Yes and Yes!" by Timothy Mathews, (August 2022)
"Everything Wrong with the Economic Policies of Theodore Roosevelt" by Burton W. Folsom, Jr., (June 2022)
"Is Profit Maximization or Social Responsibility the Morally Correct Goal of Business?" (Part 1) by Michael Patrono, (April 2022)
"Have the Atlanta Braves Been a Home Run for Cobb?" by J.C. Bradbury, (March 2022)
"Three Big Myths about the Income Tax" by Burton W. Folsom, Jr., (January 2022)
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2021
"Why Turkey’s Lowering of the Interest Rate is the Wrong Monetary Policy Tool to Fight Spiraling Inflation" by Zeynep Kelani, (December 2021)
"Pharmaceutical Regulation is at the Root of the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis" by Robert Gmeiner, (November 2021)
"The Economics of Retirement: A Primer (Part 3)" by Michael Patrono, (October 2021)
"Measuring the Impact of Economic Sanctions: Does a Better Quality of the Dependent Variable Matter?" by Gohar S. Sedrakyan, (September 2021)
"The Economics of Retirement: A Primer (Part 2)" by Michael Patrono, (August 2021)
"The Other Path: Canada" by Alex Maslov, (July 2021)
"The Economics of Retirement: A Primer (Part 1)" by Michael Patrono, (June 2021)
"Why McDonald's Is Wrong About the Minimum Wage" by Murat Doral, and Michael Patrono, (May 2021)
"Not Death, but the Other Thing" by Timothy Mathews, (April 2021)
"Basic Economic Theory and the DOJ's Google Lawsuit" by Brian Albrecht, (March 2021)
"The COVID-19 Employment Prospects of Women" by Gohar Sedrakyan, (February 2021)
"How the Wage Gap is Calculated, Why it is Wrong, & What We Can Do About It" by Michael Patrono, (January 2021)
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2020
"Why U.S. Immigration Policy Should Favor Highly Educated and Skilled Immigrants" by Murat Doral, (December 2020)
"Not Taxes, but the Other Thing" by Timothy Mathews, (November 2020)
"The Economist's Approach to Thinking about Discrimination (and Other Issues)" by Michael Patrono, (October 2020)
"Computers Still Cannot Plan an Economy" by Robert Gmeiner, (September 2020)
"Competitive Markets Eliminate Discrimination: the Example of Professional Sports" by Burt Folsom, (August 2020)
"Much to Celebrate: Romania's Transition to an Open Economy 1989-2019" by Michael Patrono, (July 2020)
"Revisiting the Economic Good from a Pandemic" by Robert Gmeiner, (June 2020)
"The Great Pantomime" by Alex Maslov, (May 2020)
"The Economics of Emergency Pricing: Immoral Behavior by Buyers when Prices Fall?" by Timothy Mathews, (April 2020)
"The Economic Good of a Pandemic" by Robert Gmeiner, (March 2020)
"Why Competitive Markets Discourage Discrimination" by Michael Patrono, (February 2020)
"Video Games" by James Boudreau, (January 2020)
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2019
"Vending Machines, Government Policy, and Economic Organization" by James Boudreau, (November 2019)
"Inequality of Incomes and of Alcohol Consumption in the U.S." by Timothy Mathews, (October 2019)
"Do Labor Markets Discriminate Against Women?" by Michael Patrono, (September 2019)
"Hong Kong's Protests Are About Economic Freedom and Opportunity" by Robert Gmeiner, (August 2019)