The Open Market Blog

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/23/2009

‘Though there’s uncertainty about the exact date, April 23 is observed as William Shakespeare’s birthday, and Reason’s Nick Gillespie…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/07/2009

The latest figures on consumer credit from the Federal Reserve show that consumers are hunkering down, especially on credit card debt. Revolving…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/27/2009

Today I took a Metrobus to work.  It as usual was very crowded — and as usual mainly with young people.  A young man got…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/19/2009

I admire Dan Ikenson’s work on trade issues at Cato. Usually I agree with his views. A notable exception is his post…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/09/2009

I thought at first it was a parody – Robin Givran’s Washington Post review of the fall fashion collections in Paris. But no.

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/04/2009

The “Beige Book” is out, and the news is dismal. This afternoon the Federal Reserve released its summary…

• By: Fran Smith
• 03/03/2009

Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office posted its year-by-year estimate of the effects of the recently enacted economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/27/2009

Yikes! In the last quarter 2008, according to the Commerce Department release today, U.S. GDP growth was minus 6.2 percent – far…

• By: Fran Smith
• 02/12/2009

In a  startling development, President Obama’s latest nominee for the head of the Commerce Department withdrew his name from consideration – not because of…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/14/2008

I couldn’t let the workday end without giving President George W. Bush kudos for his fierce defense…

• By: Fran Smith
• 11/05/2008

A bit of election trivia from Reuters today, which tracked how the stock market fared the day after presidential elections from 1896 through…

• By: Fran Smith
• 10/29/2008

The Wall Street Journal today has an insightful article by George Newman, “an economist and retired business executive.” Newman brings up a…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/29/2008

Today, as Ryan Young noted in his post, negotiations collapsed in the ninth day of talks to resuscitate the World Trade Organization’s…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/28/2008

With a lot of attention focused on the unintended consequences of ethanol policy in raising the costs of food, here’s another example of those…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/28/2008

A just-released working paper from the World Bank, “A Note on Rising Food Prices,” points out that the increased production of biofuels has…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/23/2008

As the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round negotiations continue, India has raised the immigration issue with the U.S. and the EU. This is…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/22/2008

The Financial Times has terrific reviews of opera — witty, trenchant, and caustic when reviewing some of the avant-garde European productions.

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/16/2008

In a posting on Discover Magazine’s blog today, it was reported that this summer the largest “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/16/2008

Another nail in the coffin for biofuels and government support. A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) released…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/15/2008

Lots of good material in the World Trade Organization’s annual World Trade Report 2008. Released today, the report, “Trade in a Globalizing World,”…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/09/2008

Well, it’s about time. According to Reuters, the progressive Democratic Leadership Council today called upon the next president to focus on the multilateral trading…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/03/2008

The Financial Times noted today that the OECD’s recently released report on employment prospects in the developed world showed an uptick in unemployment…

• By: Fran Smith
• 07/02/2008

Senator John McCain, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential candidate, continued his strong support for free trade with a visit to Colombia and discussions with…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/26/2008

American Express will be $4 billion richer, thanks to the U.S. Department of Justice and a 2004 antitrust suit against Visa and MasterCard. According…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/25/2008

Environmentalists are ecstatic over the state of Florida’s announced purchase from United States Sugar of a vast tract of land —…

• By: Fran Smith
• 06/17/2008

In today’s New York Times, John Tierney has a wonderful spoof of the world-famous opera house, La Scala, commissioning a new opera based…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/23/2008

In a strong defense of international trade  and the pending U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, President George W. Bush in a Fox interview today also worried…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/22/2008

On Reason‘s blog today, Michael C. Moynihan asks the question, “Does Yusuf al-Qaradawi Qualify as an Intellectual?” Moynihan was referring to al…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/21/2008

In an editorial today, the Washington Times skewers the 35 Republican Senators and 100 representatives who voted for what the WT called the “odious”…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/20/2008

According to their press release today, the Business Roundtable convened a policy meeting with CEOs of major companies and members of Congress to urge…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/20/2008

David Brooks’ column today in the New York Times discusses the Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s positions on the bloated Farm Bill in…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/16/2008

The new Farm Bill is a done deal — with both the House and the Senate passing the conference report with huge numbers:…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/14/2008

On the floor this morning, U.S. House of Representatives is considering the House-Senate conference report on the new Farm Bill, which the White…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/08/2008

This year’s corn crop is being planted much later than normal because of cool, wet weather in the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 05/06/2008

Hans– Glad you posted about the bloated farm bill and how…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/28/2008

Though a bit late in figuring things out, the steel industry in the European Union and a steel workers’ union have said that the…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/28/2008

The U.S. Department of Agriculture features a Colombia “tariff ticker” on its website to illustrate in money terms how the pending U.S.-Colombia Free Trade…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/28/2008

The 2007 Farm Bill, which has been in conference for months as conferees struggled with the threat of an Administration veto over budget-busting funding…

• By: Fran Smith
• 04/23/2008

Well worth reading in today’s Wall Street Journal — former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III’s cogent analysis of why it is critical…