Leonard Nakamura suggests that a new era of heightened creative destruction that began in the late 1970s also ushered in a new era of heightened competition. Such intensified competition has made leaders of large industrial enterprises vulnerable to a level of uncertainty previously reserved for...

Has American economic progress slowed dramatically—or even stopped? Or are the statistics wrong: has the U.S. economy been experiencing strong growth, but our official measures fail to reflect it? In this article, Leonard Nakamura explores how economic progress is measured and discusses some...

Generating new products requires corporations to spend very large sums of money. These expenditures often lead to the development of intangible assets, such as patents and copyrights, that can add considerably to a company's coffers and stock market value. However, in general, our accounting...

The financial crisis of 2007-2008 left in its wake new responsibilities for regulators to monitor the economy for risks to financial stability. The new task of monitoring financial stability includes tracking the risks of financial instruments and learning where these risks are located within...

Leonard Nakamura states that despite consumers’ lack of respect for advertising, it nonetheless plays a significant role in the economy. For one thing, it helps consumers find out about new products, and new products have been rising in economic importance. It also plays a role in subsidizing...

Two recent studies have concluded that for roughly four decades the measure of inflation for rents in the U.S. consumer price index was substantially underestimated. Why should this mismeasurement be of concern? In “Gimme Shelter! Rents Have Risen, Not Fallen, Since World War II,” Len...

Leonard Nakamura examines this paradox of low savings accompanied by increased wealth.

Which is more likely to encourage creativity and innovation: a centralized or a decentralized system of support? That is, should large organizations and recognized experts determine who gets funding for their ideas? Or should small businesses, patrons, and foundations provide the primary support...

With house prices often below the face value of mortgages these days, the expected return on many mortgages has tumbled, since one of the major forces supporting mortgages, the collateral, has weakened. One source of these mortgage problems has been the validity of the home appraisal, which is...