Quote Of The Day
“Kaplan also points out that the pay of those at the top of other highly-paid occupations has grown dramatically as well, like lawyers, athletes, and hedge fund managers. Here’s a figure showing the...
View ArticleIn Defense Of A Low Investment Tax
Matthew Yglesias gives the basics: The main reason Romney’s effective rate is so low is that the American tax code contains a lot of preferences for investment income over labor income. That’s...
View ArticleMankiw Vs Krugman
The blogosphere reminded me of this future economic bet between Paul Krugman and Greg Mankiw that Mankiw clearly won: In early 2009, the incoming Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“If I ran the zoo, that’d be my main idea. We’d start out with things like congestion fees and carbon taxes that serve non-revenue policy goals but do raise money. Then we’d add on some land taxes and...
View ArticleThe Economics Of Wal-Mart Wages
A quote from Jason Brennan’s latest book, Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know: If Wal-Mart started to pay high wages, Wal-Mart jobs would become attractive to skilled workers. People who...
View ArticleWhen Affirmative Action Stops
A working paper finds: Proposition 209 banned using racial preferences in admissions at California’s public colleges. We analyze unique data for all applicants and enrollees within the University of...
View ArticleThe Scamming Beggar
I have a long standing rule to NEVER EVER give money to bums. No matter what the circumstances. I even look down on people who do. They rub me as purely emotional acts with not even one second of real...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“I’d even argue that people’s views about climate change are extremely inconsistent. (#2) If you believe that lower demand for fossil fuels in in clean countries will reduce fossil fuel prices in dirty...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“Ironically, the minimum wage creates a reserve army of the unemployed. That in turn allows employers to be less thoughtful, helpful, and kind. It destroys the civilizing effect of competition by...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“One of the Obama arguments at the time was that the rush in the stimulus program was needed to avoid a Great Depression. This was and is highly doubtful (though, yes, it is widely accepted). The US...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“The Treasury Department announced earlier today that it’s ready to sell the 18 percent of General Motors that it still owns, which is going to leave the auto bailout as a large net loser for the...
View ArticleThe Coming Manufacturing Boom – In Mexico
Via Yglesiais: They say that “[a] tipping point was reached in 2012, when average manufacturing costs in Mexico, adjusted for productivity, dropped below those of China.” In other words, rising real...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“It’s not just bathroom tissue that’s lacking: In recent months, food items such as cooking oil and powdered milk have nearly disappeared from store shelves. But even after a decade of price controls,...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“The influence of the California Teachers Association was rarely more apparent – or more sickening – than in the defeat of SB1530. The union showed its willingness to defend an expensive and cumbersome...
View ArticleUnemployment Insurance Affect On Unemployment
“We exploit a policy discontinuity at U.S. state borders to identify the effects of unemployment insurance policies on unemployment. Our estimates imply that most of the persistent increase in...
View ArticleTeachers And Incentives – A Study
“Teachers in the United States are compensated largely on the basis of fixed schedules that reward experience and credentials. However, there is a growing interest in whether performance-based...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“A few years back, Robert Ohsfeldt of Texas A&M and John Schneider of the University of Iowa asked the obvious question: what happens if you remove deaths from fatal injuries from the life...
View ArticleOn Working Holidays
“Which is just to say that in a diverse nation with more than 300 million citizens, opinions are going to vary on the pros and cons of extended business hours. How strapped for cash are you? Where does...
View ArticleMinimum Wage Study
“new evidence based on methods that let the data identify the appropriate control groups leads to stronger evidence of disemployment effects, with teen employment elasticities near −0.3. We conclude...
View ArticleQuestion For Supporters Of The Minimum Wage
Given by economist Don Boudreaux: In the U.S. in 1948, quoting my colleague Walter Williams, “the unemployment rate for white 16-17 year olds was 10.2 percent while that for blacks was 9.4 percent....
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