The tax on rich people's estates disappears altogether in 2010, before reappearing in full force in 2011. Both tax changes have implications for government coffers.... MORE

Deficit concerns have revived some talk of federal sales tax in the United States. Canada's experience as a relatively latecomer to the federal sales tax world could provide some guidance.... MORE

If the government wants to champion health and discourage soda drinking, should it use stomach-churning public service ads or sin taxes? An economist explains the case for, and against, both measures.... MORE

For the first time in over three decades, state and local gambling tax revenues fell in the last fiscal year, a new report finds.... MORE

Much of the carnage in Mexico, it turns out, is evidence that these so-called drug "cartels" are not really cartels, in the economic sense of the word.... MORE

An economist argues for paying more attention to unpaid work, since working for pay actually costs money - the money required to purchase substitutes for family care.... MORE

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia found at least a tenth of their work forces unemployed in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.... MORE

A banking reporter discusses observations about misaligned pay incentives on Wall Street, and how they might have contributed to the financial crisis.... MORE

An economist explains why the new health care proposal could be a very mixed blessing for the insurance industry.... MORE

The city's unemployment rate, now 10.3 percent -- up from 9.5 percent in July -- is higher than the national rate of 9.7 percent and much higher than the 8 percent reported for the rest of the state.... MORE

The city's unemployment rate, now 10.3 percent -- up from 9.5 percent in July -- is higher than the national rate of 9.7 percent and much higher than the 8 percent reported for the rest of the state.... MORE

The average life span of an African-American in New Orleans is 69.3 years, nearly as low as life expectancy in North Korea, according to a new report released today.... MORE

Findings from a new Pew Research Center report can help explain why the self-employed are the happiest workers in America.... MORE

The death, and rebirth, of distance in international trade.... MORE

Not a single chief executive officer of a major American bank attended President Obama's talk on financial regulation on Monday. Where were they? an economist wonders.... MORE

Pundits react to the release of the Baucus health care reform bill.... MORE

Business owners are the happiest workers in America, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.... MORE

Thoughts from readers about how wage growth over the past year compares to that during the Great Depression, and what we can expect going forward.... MORE

The average cost of a family health insurance policy is now $13,375 a year, and other findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual benefits survey.... MORE

The recent increase in the producer price index for residential construction is a good sign for the housing market, an economist writes.... MORE

Americans believe the federal government is wasting about 50 cents of every dollar it spends, with state and local governments considered relatively less wasteful, according to Gallup.... MORE

Gold, China, Treasury bills, something else?... MORE

Recommendations of books about bubbles through history.... MORE

In a question-and-answer session at the Brookings Institution in Washington, the Federal Reserve chairman said he believes that the recession is technically over.... MORE

A cartoon on the trade-offs of attending graduate school versus collecting unemployment benefits.... MORE

Maybe keeping the system mediocre and inefficient will dissuade Americans from extending government benefits to more people, an economist writes.... MORE

Wall Street leaders in the audience of Mr. Obama's speech today grimaced when he spoke of ways for banks to take the lead in reining in pay and making other reforms, but nodded in approval when he blamed the financial crisis not just on Wall Street but at the entire nation's.... MORE

Representative Brad Sherman, Democrat of North Carolina, worries that the administration's proposal would create a permanent expansion of the Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.... MORE

A round table from Room for Debate.... MORE

Using word clouds, a look at the rhetoric of President Obama's speech today compared to a similar speech President Bush gave around this time last year.... MORE

In a series on President Obama's speech today on financial regulation, a look back at the financial reforms spurred by the 1990s Asian financial crisis.... MORE

The third in our series on President Obama's speech today - a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers - on financial regulation and the economy. One of the central goals of President Obama's regulatory overhaul plan is to rein in banks and financial institutions that are "too big to fail." The meltdown [...]... MORE

In the second in our series on President Obama's speech today, four questions for the president on preventing the next crisis.... MORE

Ahead of President Obama's speech today on financial regulation, a reporter summarizes the administration's proposals thus far for thwarting future crises.... MORE

An economist's response to Paul Krugman's magazine essay, "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?"... MORE

America's classrooms have slightly more students than the classrooms in most other developed countries -- but not by much.... MORE

In our series on lessons from the financial crisis, an economist argues that Lehman Brothers' failure demonstrates the important and highly productive role government risk management plays in our daily lives.... MORE

Americans ages 45 to 64 report the lowest levels of well-being, according to Gallup data.... MORE

Are incomes declining because households are shrinking and health costs are rising?... MORE

The government is -- in so many ways these days -- playing the role that the private sector abandoned amid the financial crisis and the Great Recession.... MORE