Slideshow: Econ 101, Hayek, and Why We are Losing the Drug War

Decades of efforts to reduce the supply of illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin have failed to stop widespread availability, and as an unintended consequence, have encouraged violence that has destabilized important US allies like Colombia and Mexico. This slideshow uses concepts from Econ 101 and the writings of Friedrich Hayek to explain why strategies used in the war against drugs create the conditions for their own failure.

Keywords: Supply and demand, elasticity, Friedrich Hayek

Slideshow: Monetary Accommodation of Oil Price Shocks: Some Simple Analytics

As oil prices spike in response to events in the Middle East, inflation has risen above its target level in the US, the UK, and the euro area. The three central banks face the choice of whether to resist the inflationary impact of the oil price shock, at the risk of slowing growth and rising unemployment, or to accommodate the shock, at the risk of inflation. This slideshow uses simple macroeconomic analysis to explain what happens when central banks accommodate oil price shocks or decide instead to resist oil price inflation.

Keywords: Monetary policy, oil price shocks, accommodation, aggregate supply and demand

Slideshow: Move Over Ethanol, Market Forces Favor CNG

The US government has spent billions in the elusive search for a "fuel of the future," that would be cheap, clean, and made in America. At the same time, it has given little attention to an off-the-shelf alternative, compressed natural gas (CNG), which is all of the above. This slideshow looks at the market forces that favor CNG and the barriers to its wider use.

Keywords: Energy, natural gas, CNG, elasticity, regulation.

Slideshow: What Can the US Learn from the French Health Care System?

The French health care system combines top-quality performance with broad freedom of choice for both patients and doctors. How does it do so at a per-capita cost that is half that of the United States? This slideshow gives some details of the French system.

Keywords: Health care economics, France

Slideshow: How A Price-Smoothing Oil Tax Could Help Make This the Last Oil Price Shock

Producing countries have learned to protect themselves from oil price volatility by using national wealth funds that build up when prices are high and run down when prices are low. This slideshow explains how a variable, price-smoothing oil tax could offer similar protection to consuming countries.

Keywords: Oil prices, taxes, oil price volatility, externalities, national security, environment