Matthew O'Brien

Conservatives like to fret that the United States is turning a giant European-style welfare state. But our big government and banking rules are what keep us from becoming Europe. [Reuters] The last few years have been a tale of two currency unions. On one side of the Atlantic, you have the euro zone. It features a dysfunctional group of state economies that don't necessarily make sense together. Bailouts, recession, and general doom have been the norm lately. On… More »

The news from Europe lurches forward and backward, but the fundamentals are fundamentally the same. The euro is basically doomed. Here's a simple way to think about why. For all the talk about bond yields and deficits, Europe really faces a trio of existential crises. First, southern Europe has a competitiveness problem. Second, it also has an unemployment problem. Third, Europe itself has an institution problem.During the bubble days, credit poured into Europe's… More »

A currency union for states this wildly different turns the most important economic lessons from the 20th century on its head. More »

You've heard of an international market for superstar soccer players. We need one for for superstar central bankers. More »

... but the beatings will continue until bond yields improve! More »

Even if Romney's hot mic moment is a preview of the loopholes he would close, his tax plan creates a lot of red ink. More »

The era of cheap Chinese goods is coming to a close. The era of middle class China is nearing. More »

It will be "bankruptcy for our time" unless Europe's leaders dramatically change course.Europe has many problems. But one problem it doesn't have is too little unemployment. That's apparently news to the continent's lords of finance -- at least based on the policies they are prescribing for Europe's troubled economies. They're acting as though the gravest possible crisis the euro zone could face is inflation. That, in a nutshell, is why this crisis never went away… More »

A lonely continent turns its eyes to Mario Draghi and the ECB to stop the latest round of Euro panic. More »

Why did Instagram's founders dilute their own stake in the company just four days before finalizing its acquisition? More »

Salaries have skyrocketed the past few decades. Revenues have skyrocketed even higher. Here's a plan to make things fair for baseball's 99%. More »

Beware the mehs of March. Buried in the latest disappointing jobs number -- one that not only failed to meet expectations, but also failed to tell us whether we are SAVED or DOOMED -- was a not-so-good nugget that actually was not-so-bad. Which is almost reason to be optimistic. (How's that for optimism!)Fewer people were working or looking for work in March: 164,000 fewer people, to be exact. That's bad. Less people in the labor force means, all else equal, that… More »

Diamonds are forever, but the meaning of the diamond engagement ring has changed dramatically in the last century More »

Unless inflation falls, QE3 isn't coming. More »

A cute bad idea from an 11-year old economist More »

His investing acumen helps explain why Keynes was so skeptical of markets and fond of government intervention. More »

Budget cuts have helped create depression-level unemployment in Europe's periphery. American policy makers: take note. More »

Markets think that whatever Obamacare's fate, the result will be good for insurers. More »

The recovery is real, even if it's not spectacular, and Gross Domestic Income explains why. More »

In wealthy households across the Emerald Isle, Irish eyes are smiling. But the rest of the country is totally miserable. More »