- Trump and Immigration. Trump took multiple attacks on immigration this year, including his views on chain migration, his unprecedented family separation policy, and his expressed desire to remove birthright citizenship. With the United States ending the year with the partial government shutdown surrounding the border wall (which is a bad idea to begin with) and Trump turning his back on asylum seekers, it doesn't look like immigrants are going to have a good year in 2019.
- Trump and Tariffs. International trade is another topic about which Trump has expressed woeful ignorance this year. He started off the year with tariffs on solar panels, proceeded with tariffs on steel and aluminum, and decided to escalate to an all-out trade war with China. Comedian John Oliver understands the price of this stupidity, and covered it quite well this past July.
- Trump and NAFTA. Trump had a campaign promise of overhauling NAFTA. I'm sure he'll make a bigger deal out of it than it actually is. Rather than a major overhaul, it was only a tweaking that made it slightly worse. Given how protectionist Trump is, I felt that it was the least worst scenario.
- Having Children Can Be As Selfish As Not Having Children. This blog entry is not related to public policy, but it was one of my more controversial pieces of the year. The title speaks for itself.
- International Economy. A lot of economies have made the news in terms of having problems, including Argentina, Greece, Italy, and Turkey. If the global markets are as crazy as this past year (or even crazier), the global economy is going to be on quite the roller coaster for 2019.
- Causes of Wage Growth Stagnation. An economic question on many minds this year is why has wage growth been stagnant. I come up with a list of 10 possible explanations, ranging from retiring Baby Boomers and automation to unions and monopolies.
Happy New Year!
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