The programs at the National Association for Business Economics annual meeting are filled with competing points of view. James Bullard, for example, said the output gap may be smaller than most economists believe, while Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com invoked the notion…

For folks fortunate to have an employer match in their 401k plan, failing to contribute would be like passing up free money. That’s a powerful incentive to save. Now, some officials in Washington want more people to have that incentive…

One of the hot new solutions to the retirement-savings problem is the Automatic IRA. (Sometimes it’s also called the Universal IRA, but see yesterday’s post to learn the problems with that name.) There’s one group that doesn’t like it, though:…

Stifel Financial had a far better 2008 than most securities firms. While the industry was struggling through the financial crisis, Stifel’s net income rose 72 percent last year and its stock price advanced 31 percent.

The firm rewarded Chief Executive Ron…

As I discuss in today’s column, the talk about possible bank nationalization is roiling financial markets. If you forswear the possibility of nationalizing banks, though, you have to come up with a credible alternative. Some experts have found flaws in the Treasury’s…