Executive Summary The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) Chair Stephen Miran stated on March 25th he does not believe there is a strong relationship between consumer sentiment and consumer spending in recent years. Miran says this after a 9.76 percent decrease in consumer sentiment from February to March, marking the largest drop since January 2021, … Continue reading
Executive Summary Electricity is a necessary commodity for nearly every person in the United States, and while the delivery process has not changed, deregulation has altered who supplies it. Historically, electrical markets were vertically integrated and regarded as a natural monopoly, but recent market-oriented reforms have aimed to deregulate and introduce competition to lower both … Continue reading
Executive Summary Recent CPI-U and CPI-E (age 62+) data suggests the elderly have experienced higher CPI growth over the same period, and the heightened rate is likely from a greater weight in the shelter component of CPI which accounts for the housing costs of those who both own and rent their properties. Homebuying trends have … Continue reading
Executive Summary The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) pillar two proposal includes three crucial tax rules intended to work with current tax laws worldwide. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and the Tax Foundation made predictions of the effect on US revenue given the adoption of pillar two both internationally and nationally. The … Continue reading
Executive Summary The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has proposed an international tax agreement consisting of two pillars, aimed at taxing digital companies and preventing double taxation. The United Nations (UN) has proposed a potentially legally binding international tax code that rivals the OECD tax code. The implementation of one or both tax … Continue reading
On January 30th, 2016 President Donald Trump, ten days settled into his new Pennsylvania Avenue home, exclaimed during a meeting with small business owners, “Dodd-Frank is a disaster. We’re going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank.” The extensive financial reform law put in place by Democrats has been scorned by Republicans since its … Continue reading
One fundamental principle of financial markets is the relationship between risk and return. This tenet is reflected in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the workhorse of security pricing, where the return required by investors is measured by adding the risk free rate (such as a treasury bond) to a market risk premium, adjusted for … Continue reading
Figure 1. States position on Medicaid Expansion under the ACA. Via: The Advisory Board Company To expand, or not to expand Medicaid, that is the question. Why are some states skeptical about Medicaid expansion and making the assumption that the “plan is [too] costly?” If the states expand their Medicaid program, they would receive federal … Continue reading
