Without the elements of trust and fairness, democracy and free market capitalism cannot work. And poll after consumer poll reveals that a greater percentage than not believes our government and the business and financial sectors are lacking both.

Markets can make people do bad things. That's the disturbing -- but sadly not all that shocking -- conclusion of a recent experiment by two German ...

When economic "rents" or market failures provide economic benefits to weaker groups -- those with less stature or power in society -- efforts to eradicate such "inefficiencies" may further empower dominant elites in ways that are counterproductive for the larger society.

If it wasn't clear before, it's clear now: Employers just aren't hiring. The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday released its latest Job Openings...

There are more than 2 million unemployed Americans who might have jobs today if not for austerity. That's the conclusion of a new study by Michael ...

Nominal wages for incumbent workers are still pretty sticky. If you're lucky enough to have a job, think about your own case. I suspect you haven't seen much in the way of raises, but has your salary actually been cut in nominal terms?

Capitalism's founder Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is indeed invisible to most of society. However, that invisible hand now belongs to big business, finance and government -- to whom it is very visible indeed.

If you have studied economics at the university level in the last 35 years, it is likely you were introduced to the concept of "asymmetrical information" and George Akerlof's famous 1970 article on markets for "lemons."

Think about three million empty, decaying and devalued houses following the leveraged-up mortgage crash of 2008. And what about the jobs lost, and spike in the number of people living below the poverty line?

Hard as it may be to believe, there are forces in Washington that oppose the revival of the U.S. manufacturing sector. Who are they, and how do we counter their efforts? I think -- roughly -- they fall into five groups.

Sometimes it's hard to remember why anyone would want to work on Wall Street, what with the long hours, popular scorn and legal entanglements involved...

Five years ago, experts were obsessed with peak oil; now we have more natural gas than we know what to do with. It is clear that we have -- or are on the verge of developing -- all the technology necessary to respond to climate change. And that's where the pessimism kicks in.