Hicks Commentary: I’m Not Trying to Change Your Mind
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks September 14, 2025 Readers frequently offer advice on my columns, with a common theme of helping me be more persuasive. I apprec “...”
Hicks Commentary: The Real Lesson of the China Shock
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks September 7, 2025 A fantastically high share of our debate over economic policy involves a false lesson of the China Shock and i “...”
Hicks Commentary: The Socialist Presidency
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks August 31, 2025 In the past few weeks, President Trump has moved the U.S. closer to socialism than any president in history. By “...”
Hicks Commentary: America Is Not in Decline, but Trump and Sanders Could Change That
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael Hicks August 24, 2025 One great irony of our times is that the claims of economic decline that animate both the MAGA movement and the Dem “...”
Hicks Commentary: What Made Us Fumble Education Policy?
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks August 17, 2025 Indiana made a billion-dollar mistake based on a flawed jobs forecast a decade ago, and we’re still paying “...”
Hicks Commentary: Grim Recessionary Facts
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks August 10, 2025 In March, I predicted the U.S. economy would enter recession and in April I explained how Indiana would be esp “...”
Hicks Commentary: Some Easy (and Not So Easy) Spending Cuts for the Next Budget
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks August 3, 2025 The coming decade is almost certain to see Americans take more seriously our large national debt. I see this as “...”
Hicks Commentary: More Bad News about Hoosier College Attendance
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks July 27, 2025 The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has released the state’s go-to-college data for 2023, the most rec “...”
Hicks Commentary: It’s Stagflation, Not Inflation
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks July 20, 2025 The average American family will pay about $2,500 more this year because of tariffs. But unlike inflation, your “...”
Hicks Commentary: A Golden Age of Economic Columnists
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog. By Michael J. Hicks July 13, 2025 I have the very good fortune to be living amid a veritable golden age of economic columnists. There is such an i “...”