If we want our economy to flourish, we need our energy to be two things: abundant and affordable. And only free energy markets can provide that.

Can economics declare which team was the big winner in last weekend's NFL draft?

The permanent campaign mindset dominates politics in Congress right now. And it does not bode well for finding solutions to problems.

President Obama has kicked off a three-day bus tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, where the corn is high and at least some factories are spewing smoke. He won these Midwestern states handily in 2008, but he's not taking anything for granted these days. To understand the political economy of the region, it helps to put it in historic perspective.

The Solyndra story includes Obama campaign donors and everybody's favorite Wall Street whipping boy, Goldman Sachs, in the middle of the whole sorry mess. Yet it would be a mistake to mark the story down as merely another excrescence of crony capitalism. It is much worse.

It is no surprise that the Middle East, one of our most intractable problems, provokes so much U.N. activity, even though the real-world consequences are so limited.

What do economists know that NFL coaches do not about drafts and salary caps?

Hefty majorities approve of President Obama's economic performance, but approval numbers for congressional Republicans remain dismal.