The Conference Board reported increases this week for the Leading Economic Index in the Euro Area (0.4% in April), Mexico (0.8% in March) and Australia (0.4% in March).   

The video above documents how the Institute for Justice filed a federal lawsuit and successfully overturned an El Paso, Texas city ordinance that prevented food trucks from operating within 1,000 feet of an established restaurant or convenience store, which effectively … read more >

UK Independent — “North Sea oil production has slowed to its lowest level since records began 15 years ago following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s recent tax raid on the industry. An update from the U.K. Department of Energy yesterday … read more >

The chart above is from a Bloomberg article and shows that “Most of the world’s oil is produced in states that are undemocratic. The U.S., Canada and Norway are the exceptions.” The article refers to this 2009 research paper “Oil … read more >

I highly recommend this very insightful Bloomberg article “Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet” by Yale law professor Stephen Carter, based on his conversation while flying and sitting next to a successful business owner, about how regulatory and tax uncertainty is … read more >

Corporate profits after tax (unadjusted) reached a new record high in the first quarter of 2011 of almost $1.5 trillion.  After adjustments for inventory and depreciation, after-tax corporate profits in the first quarter dipped slightly from the all-time high in … read more >

The Rockefeller Institute of Government reported this week that tax collections by state governments are showing strong improvements in the first quarter of this year compared to the same quarter of 2010.  Overall, tax collections increased by 9.1% in the … read more >

Bloomberg profiles George Mason economist, blogger, infovore, speed reader Tyler Cowen.