Analysis

Kazuhito Yamashita, RIP

Here is an appreciation, via Tyler McGraw. He was a true great of the guitar. The post Kazuhito Yamashita, RIP appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Truflation Chief Economist: “Less Than 1 Percent Inflation? Yes.”

From Townhall today: As of today, y/y CPI inflation is 0.93%! Source: Truflation, accessed 2/4/2026 3pm CT. For comparison, a month ago, the inflation rate was 1.95% y/y; hence we achieved a...

Coffee Break: Elon Musk Headed for Supernova with OpenAI Suit, SpaceX-xAI Merger?

Elon Musk, on paper the world's wealthiest human, threatens to go supernova under the pressure of his appearances in the Epstein Files, his suit against OpenAI and Microsoft, the merger of SpaceX and...

Regulating a Monopolist without Subsidy

We study monopoly regulation under asymmetric information about costs when subsidies are infeasible. A monopolist with privately known marginal cost serves a single product market and sets a price....

“When Tariffs Hit Home”

That’s the title of my “No Jargon” podcast on the Scholars Strategy Network, posted yesterday. I talk about “the biggest economic trends of the past year and explains how rising tariffs are shaping...

Wednesday assorted links

1. Robots need your body. 2. “Regulation as Pruning of the Adjacent Possible.“ 3. Game theory with Iranian drones? 4. It’s happening. And an LLM trained on global art auctions. 5. Why is the Thai...

Private Employment Growth at a Crawl, Small Firms Gain, Manufacturing Down

+22K vs. Bloomberg consensus of +46K, down from December (rev’d) +37K. Alternative business cycle indicators incorporating these figures show the labor market growth at near zero: Figure 1: Implied...

Turmoil at FEMA Adds to the Revolt Against Kristi Noem

Is Kristi Noem incompetent, evil, or just doing exactly what Trump wants her to do? Her misrule at FEMA provides more to consider.

Links 2/4/2026