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…
Blog Archives
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
The Barr Report isn’t at all like the Mueller Report which isn’t at all like the Starr Report
The Starr Report was the 445-page culmination of the so-called Whitewater investigation–a wide-ranging investigation of President Bill Clinton. It was immediately released in full to Congress and then released to the public two days later revealing the details of years…
Posted in Pence2018
Economics of global warming
Economists are not trained in climate science, so there is no reason to ask one of us about how much carbon dioxide will warm the planet, but economics is an important part of climate policy–this is our collective response to…
Posted in Environment, Globalization & International
Affirmative action for the rich
There are several ways that rich kids buy advantages for college. First is years of expensive high-quality education that begins in exclusive private preschools that cost more than full tuition at most private colleges. Then add in expensive summer camps…
Posted in Labor, Public Finance
The political economy of farm policy
Below is a map of farm subsidy payments. These are the addresses where farm “welfare” checks were sent and the bigger circles show addresses that got sent up to ¼ million dollars in 2007 alone. This map comes from an…
Posted in Globalization & International
How climate skeptics are distributed across America
The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies has data about public perceptions on the facts of global warming. As of 2018, almost twice as many Americans believe global warming is caused by humans as those who disagree (57% to…
Posted in Environment
