As a visitor to Guatemala, I’ve often heard cautions from Guatemalans to be extra careful crossing the road because cars have the right of way and might run me over. Although cars give very little regard to pedestrian safety, there…
Blog Archives
Trickle-up economics
Supply-side economics is often derided as trickle-down economics. It is the idea that we should reduce taxes on the wealthy who will then use their increased disposable income to grow the economy so fast that it will benefit everyone. That…
Posted in Medianism, Public Finance
The ethics behind Trump’s main money man
Jane Mayer at the New Yorker has a profile of Robert Mercer, the reclusive Billionaire who probably invested more money in getting Trump elected than any other American (and we don’t know how much Putin spent). He not only directly…
Will individuals or their employers own their genetic code?
A property right is the right to exclude others’ access to something. It is the right to infringe on others’ freedom. These rights are socially determined and vary greatly across different societies. For example, do you think you should own…
Posted in Health, Public Finance
Money can’t buy you love, but can it buy you life?
Raj Chetty et al. published a study of the correlation of class and life expectancy that got a lot of press, but I hadn’t actually looked at the original publication until this week. Here is the correlation between life expectancy…
The fracking belt?
Last December, the Census Bureau released official maps showing median income growth by county since the Great Recession began in 2007. Too bad we don’t have data for 2016 yet. It might be interesting to use it to analyze voting…
The end of the efficiency-equity curve
Updated January 15, 2024 In rich nations, inequality dramatically dropped during the first decades of the 20th century and although inequality has been creeping up again over the past half century (especially in the US) it has remained lower than…
Medianism 