The Economist (Free subscription) | yesterday
Nothing highlights social chasms like recession THE New York Times has an excellent interactive graphic displaying unemployment rates and trends in America by age, race, and education level. Here's a question for you: what is the current unemployment rate among black men, aged 15 to 24, without a high school degree. The answer is below the fold.Like Alex Tabarrok, I am a white male,...
Wall Street Pit (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Thanks to Alex Tabarrok, The Economist’s Free Exchange blog, Ezra Klein, and Bruce Bartlett my last post on the history of U.S. nominal spending received a lot of attention. It also raised the important question of why we should care about nominal spending. Before I answer this question let...
Overcoming Bias (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
Popping into the office on a recent Saturday, I overheard Alex Tabarrok practicing a talk, with fascinating details on FDA history. From FDAReview.org: Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the FDA brought hundreds of court actions against nutrition manufacturers for making health-related claims for their products. Under threat of law, food manufacturers were even prevented from labeling [...]...
Macro and Other Market Musings (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Thanks to Alex Tabarrok , The Economist's Free Exchange blog , Ezra Klein , and Bruce Bartlett my last post on the history of U.S. nominal spending received a lot of attention. It also raised the important question of why we should care about nominal spending. Before I answer this question let me first define nominal spending: it is the current dollar value of total spending in an economy....
EconLog (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
Alex Tabarrok highlights a post by David Beckworth on the sharp decline in nominal spending in 2008-2009. Alex writes, We could use some inflation to get back on track. Nominal wages are simply not flexible enough to get the job done in short order I would caution that lower real wages are only part of the solution to the Recalculation problem. The process also will involve transitions...
The Economist (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
And why some inflation sure would be helpful ALEX TABARROK says that this chart, from David Beckworth, "sums up a lot of recent economic history".Mr Beckworth is suggesting that nominal spending be considered an indicator of the tightness, or looseness, of monetary policy. So for instance, the poor state of macroeconomic management in the 1970s is clear, and we also see that...
Madam Mayo (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowan and Alex Tabarrok)Nieman Story BoardLauren B. Davis: View from the Library WindowA Reader's Place (Rosalind Reisner)The Happiness Project (Gretchen Rubin)More anon.
The Economist (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Can we learn anything from Florida's public disaster insurance? ALEX TABARROK sees a parallel between a public option in health care markets and Florida's publicly-provided homeowner's insurance option. He links to this story, which reads: After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992 some Floridians were having difficulty purchasing homeowners’ insurance. (The reason: rates are regulated,...
Reason Magazine - Hit & Run (Free subscription) | 11/05/2009
What happened when Florida instituted a government-run insurance option in response to rising property insurance premiums? Alex Tabarrok points us to the following history lesson by the Independence Institute's Randall Holcombe : After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992 some Floridians were having difficulty purchasing homeowners’ insurance. (The reason: rates are regulated, and...
Outside the Beltway (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
... largely agree with them elected and to get those they deem persuadable to see their position. via Alex Tabarrok
Free Exchange (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
THAT is the name of an online quiz, located here , which tests whether you can name the correct famous economist corresponding to a brief clue. The quiz is timed. Alex Tabarrok got all of the answers in 49 seconds. It took me much longer because I failed to read the directions and answered with first and last names the first time through. Do not repeat my error. And do note, Hayek isn't...
