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Daily Archive for November 17th, 2009

Cut the Payroll Tax

It would be desirable anyway, but if we are talking about how to deal with the unemployment problem, my colleague Mark Bils and coauthors show that: that cutting the payroll tax by six percentage points (of the 12.4% Social Security component) would, under standard assumptions, increase employment by three million to four million workers—an amount […]

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A Fun Nudge

My favorite is the piano staircase. Too bad the real nudges we will get are not so innocuous. How do you spell Farvegnugen? HT to Zach S.

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Who is Paying Taxes

Federal income taxes that is. The picture would be different if you included all taxes. Anyway, here is a terrific picture. And folks want the “rich” to pay even more. I guess the rich can’t buy their way out of that one. Is there any limit to one’s moral obligation to society? If I engage […]

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The Null Set

That appears to be an apt description of the size of the educational establishment that has a clue about how to teach math to K12 students: A distinct lack of interest in allowing mathematicians a major voice in determining the content of the high school mathematics curriculum isn’t confined to educational research publications or presentations. […]

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Hovering Nuns in the Cafeteria

What follows is a slightly edited version of an e-mail exchange I had with a former colleague of mine. I learn more economics by talking to him and thinking about his questions than I do from virtually any other source. Here is an e-mail a former colleague of mine sent me recently: Finally, I was […]

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