The federal government has just set the record for the longest period of time without an increase in the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. The minimum wage has now been ignored for over a decade and Kevin Drum…
Blog Archives
Is reading the most efficient way to consume information?
There are bad incentives for journalists to appeal to the irrational knee-jerk emotions and unfortunately what sells is negativity in news particularly in TV news which prioritizes emotional interviews and vivid images of disasters over less sensationalist issues that are…
Posted in Culture, Personal (not econ)
What immigration crisis?
The Pew Research Center reports data that unauthorized immigrants in the US are at the lowest level in a decade of gradual declines. Meanwhile, more and more Americans are favoring more legal immigration, so Americans aren’t suddenly becoming more nativist. …
Posted in Globalization & International, Labor
If you pay them, they will come.
Most immigrants to the United States come because of higher wages. If you look at any two countries in the world, the net migration almost always flows from low-wage nations to high wage nations because the biggest draw for migrants…
Posted in Globalization & International, Labor
Capital in the 21st century
Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster bestselling economics 816-page brick is about capital which he defines broadly as all sorts of wealth. Wealth is anything that earns money for its owner and it is extremely unequally distributed. The richest 1% own almost half…
Posted in Inequality
International comparison of the income tax rate on the wealthy
Thomas Piketty posted the top income tax rate in five of the richest big countries over the past 115 years. Most Americans don’t realize that the top tax rate in the US is considerably lower now than it was for…
Posted in Public Finance
The politics of global warming
Here are three views of the Chicago skyline. The top photo is a rare day with high air pollution in the 1990s, but that was a typical scene in the 1970s and the third is how Chicago looks today: All…
Posted in Environment, Globalization & International
