President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief plan is on the verge of becoming law. With so much uncertainty about the likely course of output, employment and prices, its effect on the economy is unusually hard to predict. But it’s a fact that Congress is providing much more stimulus than any…

Economic growth is under attack. Or, more specifically, the idea that public policy should place a large amount of emphasis on the economy’s rate of growth is under assault by the political right as well as the left. Traditionally, conservatives have placed a premium on growth as the best way to…

Senator Bernie Sanders wants the federal government to provide a $15-per-hour job to every American who wants one. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker — both likely 2020 Democratic presidential aspirants — have expressed support for the idea as well. It’s hard to overstate the silliness…

Many agree that Facebook needs to make some changes. But those changes are a lot more complicated than the public conversation suggests. Let’s discuss three of what would seem to be the simplest moves Facebook could make: tighter standards for political speech, user verification, and allowing…

“Big tech” is under increasing scrutiny. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook are being accused of a wide variety of sins: promulgating fake news, stifling innovative competitors, and crushing mom-and-pop shops, to name a few. Some critics have gone so far as to call for these…

During the last US government shutdown, in 2013, the columnist Max Fisher directed my attention to Australia. In 1975, the legislature there couldn’t get its act together to fund the government, which shut down. Queen Elizabeth’s official representative in Australia — remember, she is also Queen of…