The Huffpo and the minimum wage cheerleaders have now gone off the deep end. If you simply SAY that someone “demolishes” a classic argument, does that make it so? And just look at how uber-sophisticated and intelligent that post is. WHAT classic argument? It’s not like anyone tells us. Is it the classic moral argument […]
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Lest one wonder if Wintercow has truly disconnected I’ll just remind folks that I’m not permitted to comment on the goings on in Ferguson or Iraq or Palestine or just about anywhere for that matter. I’m a resident member and practicing oppressor, paid by corporations and clandestine organizations to subtly promote and continue this oppression […]
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The emperor indeed has no clothes and it’s apparently a feature of the argument, not a bug: Barry Ritholtz: U.S. on Highway to Flunking Out, by Barry Ritholtz: Roads are crumbling, bridges are collapsing, and what was once considered one of the greatest achievements of any government anywhere has fallen into embarrassing disrepair. I am of course discussing our […]
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I swear my post on rents is coming soon! In the meantime, think about the implications of the big Picketty assumption/finding that the rate of return on capital going forward will exceed the average rate of economic growth. And assume that we actually understand what this means – do read all of the book reviews […]
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Posted in Economists, Education on Apr 27th, 2014
Worth far more than a mere link, UCLA economist Matthew Kahn comments on Alan Dershowitz’s retirement from Harvard’s faculty.
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Readers who are following the adulation of Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the 21st Century do not need much information about the book. One major theme of the book is that if the rate of return on “capital” exceeds the overall rate of return in the entire economy, then it follows that the rich and elderly gain in […]
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Posted in Economics Problems, Economists on Apr 19th, 2014
Let me preface what I am about to write with an admission of some thoughts that have nagged me lately. Those thoughts include that I am increasingly sympathetic with leftist concerns about super-wealthy people and their outsized influence on the world (won’t go into the reasons why at the moment). Let me also recognize that […]
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Posted in Economics Problems, Economists on Apr 10th, 2014
I recommend to all of you to read Vox, which is Ezra Klein’s new enterprise. It is definitely a progressive site, but if all you do is read sites you agree with a priori I’d suggest you’re not understanding the full picture of the ideas you care deeply about. The folks who write for Vox […]
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Posted in Economists on Dec 26th, 2013
Walter was one of the most important economists of the latter half of the 20th century. and a pretty neat guy to boot. My colleague Steve Landsburg has penned a worthwhile appreciation of him here. Please do read it. Here are some tidbits: It was Walter who told me that when all frozen pies had […]
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Try this on for size: Evidence indicates that the price elasticity of demand for labor is quite high, at least 3. That is, an increase in average wages of 1% would lead to at least a 3% decline in the number of hours of work demanded by employers. Labor economists believe, however, that the price […]
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