Most Americans think that our healthcare system is worth spending a lot of money, but there is some research that indicates that it doesn’t make people healthier! For example, Ross Douthat criticized Republicans for not repealing Obamacare because he doesn’t…
Yearly Archives: 2018
Great article about replacing GDP
David Leonhardt has a great new article about measuring economic progress. This graph shows the main problem with GDP. It has become completely divorced from the reality for 90% of Americans: By The New York Times | Source: Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel…
Posted in MELI & Econ Stats
How to avoid getting murdered by your coworkers
Homicide is the third leading cause of workplace death after vehicular accidents and falls according to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Homicide is shown in the green bar below which also includes a small number…
Posted in Labor, Managerial Micro
How democracy dies
Hungry? Photo by James Lee Freedom House’s most recent survey of the state of democracy in the world says: Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017 as its basic tenets—including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights…
Posted in Pence2018, Public Finance
Fact checking Vox’s new product placement series. (They blew it on Pedialyte.)
Vox.com has a new series called The Goods whose first article has the kind of journalistic quality (or lack thereof) you would expect in a series that seems to be purely about product placement. The article, by Kaitlyn Tiffany, is about…
Posted in Development, Health
Income growth for different age groups in America
The distribution of income deserves more attention. One reason why college seems less affordable is that average real wages for young people have fallen since the 1970s whereas tuition has risen. A lot. Of course, the average college student doesn’t…
Posted in MELI & Econ Stats
Homeownership rates and severity of financial crisis
The St. Louis Fed produced the above graph showing that nations with higher homeownership rates were hit harder by the 2007 financial crisis and are still dealing with greater aftereffects today. Nations with the most rental properties like Switzerland and…
Posted in Macro, Real Estate
Medianism 