America’s housing shortage is more wide-ranging than cloistered coastal markets, stretching from pricey locales such as California and Massachusetts to more surprising places, such as Arizona and Utah. Some 22 states and the District of Columbia have built too little housing to keep up with economic growth in the 15 years since 2000, resulting in […]
Thus Mr. Caplan’s case against education begins by acknowledging the case in favor of getting one. “It is individually very fruitful, and individually lucrative,” he says. Full-time workers with a bachelor’s degree, on average, “are making 73% more than high-school graduates.” Workers who finished high school but not college earn 30% more than high-school dropouts. […]
The U.S. generates more recyclable waste than any other country. China is the top customer for that scrap. China bought two-thirds of the used paper and half the scrap aluminum that the U.S. sold overseas last year, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., part of an overall haul of 13 million metric […]
Rocketing demand and prices for lithium, coupled with China’s stranglehold on supply, are reviving interest in mining Europe’s reserves of the coveted metal some call white petroleum. Prices for lithium used in the batteries that power anything from mobile phones to Teslas more than doubled to $21,000 a ton in the past two years. Analysts […]
Spending at U.S. retailers bounced back in March, but the broader trend in consumer spending shows moderate growth despite a solid labor market and growing worker paychecks. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales reversed three straight months of declines in March, rising 0.6% from the prior month thanks largely to a bump in auto […]
House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway on Thursday will introduce a farm bill, though food stamps absorb much of the cost. More than 40 million Americans are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the official name for food stamps, and the figure is up from about 17 million in 2000. The size of the benefits has […]
Manufacturing, long the sick patient in the U.S. economy as multinationals outsourced jobs, has added nearly 300,000 positions since the November 2016 election, increasing payrolls in 16 of the past 17 months. That included 22,000 positions last month. Overtime hours are up and orders are on the rise, making the current stretch among the strongest […]
A group of distinguished economists from the Hoover Institution, a public-policy think tank at Stanford University, identifies a serious problem. The federal budget deficit is on track to exceed $1 trillion next year and get worse over time. Eventually, ever-rising debt and deficits will cause interest rates to rise, and the portion of tax revenue […]
Liberals are claiming that the Trump Administration’s plans to roll back the Obama fuel-mileage rules will increase pollution. Perhaps they should read up on the latest scientific evidence about the sources of air pollution. A recent study in the journal Science traced and measured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Los Angeles. In the presence of […]
A metal used in the rechargeable batteries that power iPhones and electric cars is one of this year’s best-performing assets, surging more than 20% and outpacing other commodities. Cobalt prices have extended a record run with demand forecasts holding steady and the supply outlook looking uncertain because of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s dominance […]
MissionU, which enrolled its first class in September, is part of new breed of institutions that bill themselves as college alternatives for the digital age. The schools—whose admission rates hover in the single digits—comparable to the Ivy League, according to the schools—offer a debt-free way to attain skills in hot areas and guaranteed apprenticeships with […]
American students had nearly flat results in math and reading on a national exam, continuing a pattern of stagnation over most of the past decade, as some of the lowest performers fell further behind. Eighth-graders made the only statistically significant gain—1 point—in reading, for an average score of 267 out of a possible 500, according […]
In forthcoming research, my colleagues and I find that minimum wages are counterproductive, leading to higher poverty and an increased reliance on public assistance in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The EITC, in contrast, reduces poverty and dependence on public assistance, with one caveat: It may be less effective in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods where there is insufficient labor […]
In the 1980s, the District of Columbia government shut down Ego Brown’s shoe-shining business, citing a 1905 ordinance forbidding shoeshine stands in public spaces. Mr. Brown employed homeless people, providing them not only with a job but a shower and a tuxedo uniform. Then-Mayor Marion Barry ignored repeated requests to reform the district’s shoeshine ordinance. […]
Americans are spending more at the pump than they have in years. Prices could rise even higher just as drivers hit the road for family vacations. “This summer, in terms of average gas prices, will likely be the highest since 2014,” said Patrick DeHaan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a fuel-tracking app. “There’s been very little […]