Ecological economists such as Herman Daly write that the more full the world becomes, the higher are the social or external costs of production.

Social or external costs are costs of production that are not captured in the price of the products. For example, dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that result from chemicals used in agriculture are not included as costs in agricultural production.  The price of food does not include the damage to the Gulf.

Food production is a source of large s ... Read more »

The unemployment rate for black workers has been significantly higher than for white workers since government data has been collected. But despite the fact that college graduates fare better in the job market, getting a degree still doesn’t mean black workers catch up with everyone else.

The unemployment rate has been higher for black college graduates than for all graduates for decades, but the gap widened since 2007, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Res ... Read more »

Like most reasonable people, I agree wholeheartedly that people who accomplish greater, worthier, nobler things should be rewarded more than those who don’t. I’m not the World’s Last Communist, shaking his fist atop Karl Marx’s grave at the very idea of riches.

Perhaps I’ve asked an absurd question. Perhaps there’s no such thing as too rich — anywhere, ever. But try this thought experiment: Imagine that there’s a single person in the economy who is so rich he’s worth what everyone else is, combined. If there were such a person, he’d be able to buy everything the rest of us own. In time, his family, inheriting his wealth, would become a dynasty and he could, by bestowing favors, direct the course of ... Read more »