Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Macroeconomics, Politics on Aug 1st, 2016
This finding, while not surprising, is hard for me to square with the Political Economy we live in: On the Distribution of the Welfare Losses of Large Recessions by Dirk Krueger, Kurt Mitman, Fabrizio Perri – NBER WP#22458 How big are the welfare losses from severe economic downturns, such as the U.S. Great Recession? How […]
Posted in Regulation, Special Privilege on Jul 19th, 2016
… you may get hit in the head.
Posted in If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Inequality, Politics, Special Privilege on Jun 27th, 2016
A very good and underappreciated site is Put a Number on It. Here, from a recent post on inequality, is not something many are familiar with: Transfers comprise social security and the rest of welfare. I gave $5,700 to every person over 65 and spread the rest based on number of children and distance from […]
Posted in Politics on May 27th, 2016
If someone had told two years ago that one party was going to run a ticket with two ex-governors who were regarded as competent and scandal-free while another party was going to run Trump, which would you have guessed would be the mainstream party and which would you have guessed would be the wacko third […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price System, Welfare State on May 3rd, 2016
Picking up on a theme from two years ago, let’s consider again the argument in favor of progressive (re)distribution of income from the wealthiest to the poorest. The argument I made back then was that on basic behavioral grounds, the assumption that taking a dollar from the rich and giving it to the poor would […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price Controls, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 26th, 2016
Not really in the mood to write about this – we live in a world of economic creationists. Nonethless, among the zillions of excellent logical questions one might ask proponents about it, only to be dodged, Jason Brennan (of Why Not Capitalism fame) asks this: If you believe employers owe employees a living wage, do […]
Posted in Environment, Flotsam and Jetsam, Property Rights on Apr 25th, 2016
Not much to round-up today (well, actually, I am not in a position to round-up much), and some is sobering. Try this one: “We find that poor economic conditions do not drive participation in ISIS. ” Paper here. Read the abstract, intro and conclusion, you will be depressed. I think Trumpists will use this one fiercely […]
Posted in Politics on Apr 20th, 2016
Hillary in a landslide. Republican House Democratic Senate.
Posted in Disingenuous, labor markets, Politics, Price Controls, Taxation, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 5th, 2016
So, New York State (who is that, exactly?) passes an historic increase in the minimum wage. It argues, implicitly, that raising costs to $15 per hour will benefit workers and not have the adverse consequences economists warn about. Of course, there are myriad adverse consequences, not just unemployment, so keep your eye on the ball. […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price Controls on Mar 1st, 2016
Seen at my local public library: Now we can self check-out library books. And seen in Sweden, now you can shop entirely with no people: