The puzzle of underissuance of national bank notes disappears when one disaggregates data, takes account of regulatory limits, and considers differences in opportunity costs.

The puzzle of underissuance of national bank notes disappears when one disaggregates data, takes account of regulatory limits, and considers differences in opportunity costs.

In a just-published piece in Tax Notes, AEI economists Kevin Hassett and Alan Viard explain how targeted tax increases on big oil companies pose significant risks to the economy.

Attempts at austerity and deleveraging in Europe have converted an economic problem into a political dilemma, with leftist governments rising against Germany's austerity-laced rescue packages. Germany now faces a tough economic decision that will involve choosing between a breakup of the current euro system and a movement toward a common fiscal policy in Europe.

On April 5, 2012, the President signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which passed by a large bipartisan majority in the Congress. The Act is designed to facilitate the equity funding of new companies. Recent research has documented that from 1980 through the 2008-09 recession new companies have been main drivers of job creation in the United States. 

The Financial Times’s Ed Luce has a largely incomprehensible column on the witches’ brew of Iran, Barack Obama, Israel, and the Republicans in today’s paper. Starting off coherently, Luce notes that 2012 may be the “year of Iran,” if Tehran achieves nuclear capability,...

If we hope to have a viable banking industry in the future, the Volcker Rule - among many other provisions of the Dodd-Frank should be revisited now.

Resident scholar Alan D. Viard was one of the nominees for Tax Notes' annual "Person of the Year" award.