Allison Schrager

Getting on an airplane has become the perfect metaphor for life in America. On the one hand, flying has become cheaper and more accessible. On the other, it has become more stratified and stressful. Sure, everyone likes those $199 fares, but no one likes having to shuffle through the first-class cabin, where the amenities are right in your face, on their way to their middle seat in coach, where there is no room in the overhead bins.

The market, as I have noted before, is a small miracle. All these people come together — sellers, buyers, go-betweens — with different preferences, needs

The Gross Domestic Product serves as a key indicator of a country's economic status, highlighting overall production. While it may not be perfect, there's a strong connection between GDP and quality of life measures. Detractors, such as political figures, often propose different metrics, yet none have gained significant traction. In the end, GDP serves as a fundamental tool for assessing economic vitality and national living standards.

It is an odd confession to make about a statistic, I realize, but then again I am an economist, so I am just going to go ahead: I love GDP. There. I said it.

It is an odd confession to make about a statistic, I realize, but then again I am an economist, so I am just going to go ahead: I love GDP. There. I said it.

A U.S.–Japan joint effort to support the currency won’t undo decades of distorted bond prices and mounting debt.

IT IS AN ODD CONFESSION to make about a statistic, I realize, but then again I am an economist, so I am just going to go ahead: I love GDP. There. I said it.

When a market fails, it is tempting for public officials to intervene to fix it. Sometimes these interventions work. Often they make the problem they are trying to solve worse.

The market, as I have noted before, is a small miracle. All these people come together — sellers, buyers, go-betweens — with different preferences, needs and resources, and they manage to come up with a price. The market clears and everyone is better...

Critics of gross domestic product (GDP) point to how little it tells us about how people are actually faring. It overlooks inequality, for example. But politicians have a special reason to diss this statistic as a metric of progress—it catches them out.