Making Sen$e Columnist

Column: How can the stock market rally possibly continue?

By Vikram Mansharamani

The world seems to be precariously balanced on the edge, with instability lurking in almost every region of the globe, but financial markets seem not to care.

Why won’t Social Security give me the retroactive child benefits I’m entitled to?

By Philip Moeller

Phil Moeller talks about how to get retroactive benefits from Social Security and more in this week's "Ask Phil."…

Column: Doctors have the power to help their patients thrive financially

By Andrea Levere

As your wealth declines, so, too, does your health. We all need to be a little more creative about how to tackle both, writes Andrea Levere, president of Prosperity Now.

Is China manipulating its currency? The Big Mac and Mini Mac indexes disagree.

By Benn Steil

The Mini Mac Index compares the price of iPad minis across countries to measure the extent to which various currencies are overvalued or undervalued.

Column: ‘The Medicare Maven’ on Ivy’s health insurance horror story

By Philip Moeller

The U.S. provides the world’s most expensive health care. And what do we get for all this money? Health outcomes that place America and its residents solidly in the ranks of developing nations.

Column: ‘Maddeningly complex’ health care costs force patients to become detectives

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

We are constantly told we should be better consumers of health care, that we should shop for insurance and high-value care. Well, how can we be expected to do that if the prices are unknowable and we get contradictory answers…

Column: My health insurance nightmare and what I’m doing from now on

By Ivy Austin

All I had wanted to know was my financial liability for a medical procedure. Who wouldn't?…

Column: What does it mean when the Fed says it should ‘normalize’?

By Benjamin M. Friedman

As the economy has returned to normal following the financial crisis and the unusually steep recession that it triggered, the Federal Reserve now represents its intended course as “normalizing” monetary policy. Harvard's Ben Friedman explains what the Fed means by…

Column: Fighting trickle-down economics in Seattle

By Nick Hanauer

Trickle-down economics claims that if wages go up, jobs must come down. A controversial new study from the University of Washington has inadvertently fallen prey to that antiquated narrative.