The hottest Economic Policy Substack posts right now

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Top World Politics Topics

Top links 992 OpenAI hustling for Gulf dollars. Subsidizing the ranchers. Schumpeter on democracy.

Chartbook • 543 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Economic Policy
  1. Big tech is actively courting investment from wealthy Gulf states, which raises questions about funding, influence, and long-term strategic partnerships in the AI industry.
  2. Policymakers are subsidizing ranchers, using direct payments to shape rural economies, land use, and environmental outcomes.
  3. Looking back at Schumpeter reminds us that democracy can be viewed as a competitive process led by elites, emphasizing leadership selection and the limits of mass participation.

Anti-anti-neoliberalism is also not enough

Noahpinion • 21059 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The Democratic party is currently trying to find a strong message after a big election defeat. They need a clear economic policy to connect with voters.
  2. New progressive economics is gaining support, focusing on things like healthcare subsidies, strong union support, and taxes on wealthy individuals. However, it faces criticism for not being popular enough.
  3. Despite some successes, Biden's economic policies need adjustments. It's important to learn from his administration while also being open to new ideas outside of traditional economic approaches.

The Economy Can Survive Tariffs, Not Autocracy

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 176 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. A court decision curtailed a president's tariff powers, showing the judiciary can check executive overreach and help protect the balance of power.
  2. Tariffs have distorted markets but so far haven’t wrecked the economy, and investors were calm because there are other, slower routes to raise tariffs that can produce similar effects.
  3. The larger danger is unchecked presidential power and a drift toward autocracy, which could damage democratic institutions and the economy more than tariffs alone.

Assessing Brink Lindsey's "the Permanent Problem"

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 276 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Rich modern societies have solved material scarcity but have become so big and impersonal that they undermine people’s ability to flourish, producing crises of inclusion, dynamism, and politics.
  2. The problem isn’t the Enlightenment or capitalism itself, but that markets, bureaucracies, ideologies, and algorithms have grown alien and overpowering, leaving people without human-scale power or meaningful connections.
  3. The proposed fix is twofold: revive technological dynamism in physical sectors to lower costs and pursue an "abundance" agenda, and rebuild intermediary, face-to-face institutions while redistributing power so more people can form meaningful groups and purposeful lives.

Tariffs as Taxes

David Friedman’s Substack • 206 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. A tariff is just another tax and can make a country poorer by creating an excess burden — the loss from changes in production and consumption beyond the revenue raised. How costly a tax is per dollar raised depends on how much it changes behavior, which is driven by supply and demand elasticities.
  2. Protective tariffs that block imports to shield domestic industries are especially inefficient because they often stop trade, produce deadweight loss, and generate little revenue while benefiting specific political interests. Such tariffs trade overall economic welfare for concentrated political support.
  3. Many of the recent tariffs were country-targeted and used as a political weapon rather than purely as revenue measures, which tends to make them worse economically than alternative taxes. Legal limits now constrain that weaponization, though some ability to use tariffs for leverage remains.
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The Great Entertainment

Kyla’s Newsletter • 472 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Politics is turning into nonstop spectacle, with leaders treating governance like reality TV; that showmanship erodes trust, breaks alliances, and makes policy unpredictable.
  2. Financial markets are already punishing the drama: foreign selling, unwind of carry trades, and tariff threats are pushing yields up and could sharply raise U.S. borrowing costs.
  3. The durable path forward is material reality, not nostalgia or performance — energy, industry, and truthful institutions matter for the AI race and for rebuilding global trust.

Top Links 987 The slow burn of uncertainty. The war of position at Starbucks. News-flow in 1848 & the (nasty) history of "Hammerskins".

Chartbook • 472 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Economic uncertainty can be dramatic without immediately hurting the economy; its negative effects often unfold slowly and are easy for forecasters and investors to misread.
  2. Long-running internal battles at big companies — a "war of position" — can reshape workplace policy, labor relations, and public perception over time.
  3. Looking at historical news flow and the violent history of groups like the Hammerskins shows how media and extremist movements interact, and that past context helps explain today’s political and social tensions.

Keeping Up Against the Joneses: Balsa’s 2025 Fundraiser

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1075 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. A very small nonprofit is dedicated to researching and pushing for Jones Act and maritime policy reform, and in 2025 it intervened in a Section 301 process, published operational analyses, ran research RFAs, and held dozens of stakeholder conversations.
  2. They’re fundraising with a $200,000 target (and a $50,000 minimum to stay viable) to hire a full-time policy analyst, fund additional studies, and complete a comprehensive Jones Act policy binder.
  3. With more funding they can scale impact by funding more academic studies (~$30k each), hire more analysts, possibly pay senior advisors, and even spin up a 501(c)(4) to enable direct political advocacy and expand into related reform areas.

Anti-corporate housing

Erdmann Housing Tracker • 758 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Large institutional buyers are not the main driver of high housing costs; their market share is small and banning them would cut off investment needed to create millions of rental homes.
  2. Strict mortgage underwriting and federal rules since 2008 have blocked many households from buying and slowed new home construction, creating a persistent supply gap.
  3. Targeting corporate landlords with bans or higher taxes without restoring mortgage access and boosting building capacity risks worsening affordability; solutions should combine looser underwriting, investor capital, and pro-housing zoning reforms.

Macroeconomics: The predator of foolish regimes

Noahpinion • 19353 implied HN points • 19 Dec 24
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. Bad economic decisions, like keeping currency overvalued or borrowing too much in foreign currency, can lead to big problems for any government. This can happen regardless of whether a country is socialist or capitalist.
  2. Countries often face different types of economic crises. For example, some might deal with inflation while others face deflation, and they need to respond differently to fix these situations.
  3. Leaders who think they can control the economy through micromanaging are usually getting it wrong. Big economic problems need big-picture solutions.

The Pettis Paradigm and the Second China Shock

Noahpinion • 16059 implied HN points • 16 Jan 25
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. China has a large trade surplus, which is complex and not solely based on traditional economic theories. Many think its economy is getting help through government loans and subsidies.
  2. There are many opinions on how to deal with China's trade practices, especially the idea of using tariffs. Some believe that tariffs can help change China's focus from exporting to better domestic consumption.
  3. Economics is complicated, and experts often disagree on how to fix trade issues. Current solutions might not work as intended, and some past policies have not improved the situation as hoped.

Upcoming | Two Sessions Policy Briefing on March 17

Pekingnology • 49 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
🌍 World Politics Economic Policy
  1. The seminar will decode China’s 2026 Two Sessions, focusing on the Government Work Report and the 15th Five-Year Plan to clarify Beijing’s policy priorities and strategic direction.
  2. It’s an English-language lunch briefing in Beijing on March 17 aimed at multinational executives, international organization representatives, and diplomats, and it requires paid registration.
  3. A panel of former officials and trade experts will give a forward-looking assessment of macro targets, industrial upgrading, technological innovation, high‑standard opening-up, and what these developments mean for business and diplomacy.

Does Manufacturing Matter?

ChinaTalk • 726 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Manufacturing alone is not a reliable path to mass jobs or higher productivity in advanced economies, since automation and high-value services often capture most of the gains.
  2. Manufacturing matters for national security and geopolitics, but the priority should be targeted: focus on chokepoints and dual-use goods like chips and magnets rather than low-value items like t-shirts.
  3. Industrial policy needs rigorous trade-off analysis—assessing monopolization risk, how quickly capacity can be repurposed, ecosystem effects, and opportunity costs—before deciding where to subsidize production versus buying other capabilities.

The Myth of the $140,000 Poverty Line

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1358 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The proposal to raise the poverty line to $140,000 rests on flawed assumptions and cherry-picked evidence.
  2. It mixes up the cost of merely participating in modern American life with a proper poverty definition, and that misuse of concepts and data weakens the argument.
  3. There really are affordability problems in the U.S., but redefining poverty this way doesn’t clarify those problems or offer a useful solution.

Reading List 05/24/25

Construction Physics • 7724 implied HN points • 24 May 25
đź’Ľ Business Economic Policy
  1. Tulsa is attracting remote workers by offering $10,000 to new residents, which helps local businesses and encourages tech company growth.
  2. A tornado in St. Louis caused massive damage, destroying thousands of buildings and resulting in multiple fatalities due to sirens not sounding.
  3. In Shenzhen, stolen iPhones from around the world are often broken down and sold for parts, highlighting a global issue of theft and recycling.

Cool Paper on the progressive effect of upzoning

Erdmann Housing Tracker • 252 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Targeted upzoning mainly triggers redevelopment on low-density, high-value parcels near city centers, and those changes tend to take many years to materialize.
  2. Newly added floorspace lowers rents only modestly and diffusely because supply effects spread across the region, so undoing the large scarcity-driven rent premium would require much larger, citywide building and depends a lot on migration responses.
  3. Mid-20th-century zoning now imposes large welfare losses because floorspace prices far exceed construction costs, and the post-2008 mortgage/finance shock that curtailed suburban single-family building amplified the current housing shortage.

On the Farm, Trump’s Tariffs Are Still Causing Misery

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 125 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Tariffs and trade fights have severely hurt farmers' incomes, with soybean prices collapsing so some couldn't break even.
  2. Cuts to federal sustainability programs removed important support and made it harder for farms to survive.
  3. Even if some tariffs are struck down, the damage to long-built export markets may not be fixed and farmers still face ongoing uncertainty about future policy.

Top Links 978 Charting Trump's tariffs. The world's wealthiest people. India building in the Himalayas & bombing Somalia.

Chartbook • 500 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Economic Policy
  1. Trump’s 2025 tariffs have complex effects that can’t be captured by a single measure; you need a three‑dimensional view to understand their full impact.
  2. There’s a feature on the world’s wealthiest people, highlighting top fortunes and who holds the most wealth.
  3. India is both building in the Himalayas and carrying out bombings in Somalia, combining major construction projects with overseas military action.

The Man Behind Trump’s Attack on the Fed. Plus. . .

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 412 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. A relatively unknown official at the Federal Housing Finance Agency is using his position to push the president’s agenda, targeting Federal Reserve officials and digging into mortgages of political opponents.
  2. Pro-regime editors are manipulating Wikipedia to soften or rewrite Iran’s recent crackdowns, risking a distorted public record of atrocities.
  3. Digital platforms are rapidly reshaping personal and legal life: young influencers are moving to adult subscription sites when they turn 18, migrants are using apps and forums to navigate or evade enforcement, and AI and tech debates are changing how societies plan for jobs and justice.

The Supreme Court Ruled Against Trump's Tariffs. Now What?

Apricitas Economics • 119 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. A Supreme Court decision struck down most country-specific tariffs under emergency powers, so the administration replaced them with a temporary 10% flat tariff while sector-specific tariffs under other authorities remain in place.
  2. The tariffs have not reshored manufacturing or fixed the trade deficit, and they have raised consumer prices and failed to generate broad new factory investment, meaning Americans bore much of the cost.
  3. Legal and policy uncertainty will persist because the administration can rebuild tariffs through slower statutory processes or new orders, leading to lawsuits and continued business confusion even if some measures were curtailed.

Why targeted tariffs are more effective than broad tariffs

Noahpinion • 16882 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Targeted tariffs focus on specific industries or products, helping to reduce dependence on foreign sources like China for critical goods, such as batteries.
  2. Broad tariffs can create problems by raising costs for American manufacturers, making them less competitive against foreign companies, which may worsen trade deficits.
  3. To effectively improve trade balances, policies should avoid broad tariffs and instead concentrate on targeted measures that do not negatively affect American industries.

China’s Stealth War Has Already Begun

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 881 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. China is running a coordinated, stealth campaign to weaken the U.S. across economic, technological, informational, diplomatic, and gray-zone military areas while avoiding open warfare.
  2. The Chinese state uses subsidies, forced technology transfers, and state-directed investments to seize control of critical supply chains and strategic industries like rare earths, batteries, pharmaceuticals, and advanced sensors.
  3. Beijing also manipulates international institutions, pressures allies, and exploits platforms and algorithms to shape global opinion and keep the U.S. divided and unsure how to respond.

Why Trump’s Credit-Card Crackdown Will Backfire

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 333 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. A 10% cap on credit-card interest would push banks to play it safe and pull back, leaving many people without credit cards or access to credit.
  2. Bank leaders say such a cap would harm the economy and could trigger a recession, so they oppose it and won’t voluntarily comply without a law.
  3. Forcing or enforcing a rate cap could create big unintended harms that outweigh any short-term affordability gains for consumers.

The Coming Labor War

Dana Blankenhorn: Facing the Future • 99 implied HN points • 04 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Workers in many fields, including tech, are facing pay cuts and longer workdays due to changes like returning to the office. This shift can feel like a 20% decrease in salary when you consider added costs and time.
  2. Many employers believe they don't need the human workforce because of advancements in AI and automation. But this belief ignores the reality that people are essential for gathering data and driving the economy.
  3. There is a growing movement among workers, including office employees, to demand better wages and working conditions. As more people realize they are part of the labor force, we might see significant changes in workers' rights in the near future.

Billionaires Can Flee Mamdani, But Small Business Can’t Hide

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 445 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The mayor’s ambitious social programs will be expensive and will require new revenue from the state to be paid for.
  2. Wealthy individuals can often avoid higher personal taxes by moving away, but corporations are harder to escape taxing because state and city corporate taxes are apportioned based on where their sales occur.
  3. If Albany raises corporate income taxes to fund these plans, the increases could ripple through the economy and end up hurting small, local businesses.

đź—˝ I love progress, which is why I love liberal democracy

Faster, Please! • 1370 implied HN points • 13 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Political and economic freedom need constant support and defense. It's not always obvious why they matter, so we have to keep talking about them.
  2. Some people in Silicon Valley think a stronger, more autocratic government could speed up progress. They believe less democracy would remove obstacles to innovation.
  3. While there are ideas for improving innovation, rushing to more authoritarian rule may not be the best solution. We should find ways to innovate within a democratic framework.

Land, Debt, and Crises

In My Tribe • 850 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. Home ownership in the U.S. has faced many challenges over time. Policies have changed, but finding a solution everyone agrees on is still tough.
  2. During the Great Depression, many farmers couldn't pay back their mortgages, leading to important reforms like the introduction of 30-year amortized loans that helped stabilize home financing.
  3. Past regulatory changes meant to prevent financial crises often backfired, leading to more issues. Reducing reliance on debt and promoting savings for down payments could help make finance more stable.

My Family Lives in the Shadow of the American Dream

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 2870 implied HN points • 22 Aug 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Many families struggle to achieve the American Dream, even in a wealthy country. They often feel left out and neglected.
  2. Maintaining a family and a farm requires hard work, often with little recognition or financial reward for all the roles played.
  3. Families are facing rising costs for basic needs like groceries, leading them to find alternative ways to sustain themselves, like raising their own food.

Extreme Wealth

In My Tribe • 880 implied HN points • 22 Nov 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. There is a growing divide between the ultra-rich and everyone else, with the top 10% holding a huge portion of the wealth and spending power. This affects how society and institutions function.
  2. Philanthropy isn't always the answer to help those in need. Businesses that seek profit can sometimes create better outcomes than nonprofits because they are held accountable by customers.
  3. Everyone has a role in addressing extreme wealth. The wealthy should practice restraint in their earnings, while the rest of us shouldn't flatter or rely on the rich for our wellbeing.

Economics Links, 12/16/2025

In My Tribe • 561 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. There’s a deep political-economics mismatch in health care: voters want broad, low-cost access so politicians promise it, and that demand makes cost control nearly impossible without unpopular rationing or higher out-of-pocket costs.
  2. A direct primary care model with a monthly membership plus catastrophic insurance can make routine care affordable and accessible for generally healthy people and small-business owners, but it won’t cover regular specialist or chronic-care needs.
  3. Growth requires willingness to accept risk, and stripping risk out of people’s lives can drag down growth; meanwhile, current entitlement programs direct large benefits to retirees (often the wealthier), creating intergenerational imbalance and political barriers to reform.

Top Links 969 Angry French steel workers. The case for European counter-policy. Broligarchie. Audrey Hepburn & Anne Frank.

Chartbook • 429 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Economic Policy
  1. French steelworkers launched a spontaneous strike in early December that left at least one plant operating at only about 30% of capacity.
  2. There is a case being made for stronger European counter-policy to respond to industrial, economic, and social stresses across the region.
  3. The roundup mixes political and cultural links, from concepts like "Broligarchie" to pieces on figures such as Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank.

Why Your Boss Can Block Your Unemployment Benefits

Can We Still Govern? • 133 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The experience-rating system ties employer taxes to benefit claims, so employers have a strong financial incentive to contest and sometimes block workers' unemployment claims. This incentive has even spawned a claims-management industry that helps firms fight benefits.
  2. Employer pushback is common — about 26% of applicants reported contestation — and it disproportionately affects less-educated workers; contested claimants were much less likely to receive benefits and reported greater material hardship and stress.
  3. Because contests can deny legitimate claims and worsen hardship, policymakers should rethink the employer role in UI by limiting contestation, changing tax incentives (for example, taxing layoffs instead of claims), or strengthening worker supports and data collection for appeals.

ORANGE MAN, BAD MACRO: Trump’s War on Powell & Economic-Policy Reality

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 315 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The president is trying to criminalize Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell for doing his job and resisting political pressure, which threatens Fed independence and the rule of law.
  2. Powell’s monetary policy largely succeeded: it sustained growth before COVID, supported spending during the pandemic to avoid a deep depression, and powered a rapid post-vaccine recovery toward full employment, although that recovery contributed to a higher price level partly driven by external shocks.
  3. The administration’s immigration enforcement and broader tactics are becoming brutal and politicized, and some officials who enable or tolerate these actions should have resigned instead of staying on.

Chartbook 402 Dual-circulation: travels through China in the summer of 2025.

Chartbook • 2818 implied HN points • 05 Aug 25
🌍 World Politics Economic Policy
  1. China's rapid urbanization and industrial growth have created cities and infrastructure on a scale that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. This makes understanding urban life in China crucial for grasping modern global dynamics.
  2. Experiencing life in China can shift your focus away from Western issues, highlighting how unique and self-contained China's culture and economy are. This perspective helps recognize China's central role in shaping global development.
  3. The concept of 'dual circulation' reflects how China engages with the world economically, emphasizing its independent and dynamic growth model, which is different from Western narratives. This indicates a new phase in globalization that moves beyond Western frameworks.

Finance Is Easier to Move Than Tech

Points And Figures • 906 implied HN points • 23 Nov 25
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. Finance is easier to move than tech because it relies on digital interactions and less on physical locations. This makes cities less important for financial businesses compared to tech, which often depends on specific facilities and human networks.
  2. Cities like New York and San Francisco are losing talent and businesses due to high costs and regulations, while states like Texas and Florida are becoming more attractive. The movement is driven by factors such as taxes, regulations, and personal preferences.
  3. Personal connections and networks in places like Silicon Valley are hard to replicate, making tech harder to relocate. People often have strong ties to their local ecosystems, making them reluctant to move even when conditions are better elsewhere.

The Women Who Support Trump, DeSantis' Insanity Just Got Worse, Fewer Kids Going to College, The Right Boycotting Chick-fil-A, a Cop’s First 45 Words Tell You If You're in Danger, Johnny Mathis Sings

kareem • 6210 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. Some women who support Trump overlook his sexual misconduct allegations.
  2. The reasons given for women supporting Trump may lack logical reasoning.
  3. Supporting a leader solely for economic reasons, despite moral concerns, can have significant consequences.

The US Is Not Broke

Doomberg • 6730 implied HN points • 13 Feb 25
đź’° Finance Economic Policy
  1. The US has a very high level of public debt, but the situation is not as hopeless as it sounds. There's still a lot of flexibility in managing this debt.
  2. Experts suggest the US might be in a state of 'fiscal dominance,' meaning traditional monetary policies might not work effectively anymore. This makes managing the economy tricky.
  3. The current administration has experience with managing debt and can take steps to improve the financial situation. The President has options to deal with the debt and is not completely stuck.

Reflections on the Caplan-Bruenig Poverty Debate

Bet On It • 306 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. There’s surprising agreement on supply-side reforms like more immigration, housing deregulation, and nuclear power, but some on the left resist labeling these measures as free-market policies.
  2. A core moral disagreement is over private property and 'factor payments'—some deny that earnings are morally owned, a view that undermines ordinary property rights and even self-ownership with radical justice implications.
  3. Because of those deep moral differences and an emotional anti‑market stance on the left, practical cooperation between libertarians and the left looks unlikely even when they agree on specific reforms.

Why Georgists use the đź”° mark

Progress and Poverty • 3309 implied HN points • 17 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Economic Policy
  1. The Georgist movement believes in humility and learning from others to bring about real change. Activists are encouraged to understand people's objections and communicate compassionately.
  2. The đź”° mark, adopted by Georgists, symbolizes being a beginner and the need for patience and humility, much like new drivers needing extra care on the road.
  3. As society faces economic inequality again, the Georgist approach to land reform is seen as vital. They aim to advocate for sharing land effectively, rather than falling into old traps of ideological conflict.