EconLog Archive
Labor Market
The Economics of Paid Parental Leave
On her website, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calls for “up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and medical leave” for an employee to “care for a new child or a seriously-ill family member.” She claimed, in her acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination, that this would benefit women with children. The good .. MORE
Uncategorized
Community Response to Crises
Frank Conway interviewed me over at Economic Rockstar about my work on community responses to Hurricane Katrina and historical natural disasters like the Chicago Fire of 1871. We discuss some of the literature on why states often fail to provide effective relief efforts, some of the bias in federal responses, and how some communities are .. MORE
Behavioral Economics
Animal Farm in Reverse
Orwell’s Animal Farm parodies Soviet propaganda: On Sunday mornings Squealer, holding down a long strip of paper with his trotter, would read out to them lists of figures proving that the production of every class of foodstuff had increased by two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent, or five hundred per cent, as the .. MORE
Fiscal Policy
Monetary offset: Why is it so difficult to understand?
In this post I’m going to ask for your advice. I’d like to know why the public, and even the more sophisticated pundits, have so much trouble understanding monetary offset. Stephen Kirchner sent me a Bloomberg piece discussing the sudden interest in fiscal stimulus: Monetary policy has done the heavy lifting to date, boosting asset .. MORE
Finance
The Nationalization of U.S. Mortgages
First, banks have partially withdrawn from the mortgage game after facing swathes of new rules and $110 billion of fines for misconduct. They still own mortgage-backed bonds and they still make home loans to wealthy folk, which they keep on their balance-sheets. But with the exception of Wells Fargo they are less keen on writing .. MORE
Economics and Culture
Italy’s cultural voucher for 18 year olds
Tyler Cowen links to this piece by Cara Giaimo on an initiative of the Italian government: a € 500 euro bonus that youngsters can cash in as they turn 18. If I read him correctly, Tyler is moderately positive on the idea. I suppose we may agree that this is a relatively harmless kind of .. MORE
Economics of Education
Closing Comments on Captain Fantastic
[Warning: More spoilers!] Two further comments on Captain Fantastic: 1. I know of no other movie that so powerfully captures the fun of large families. Homeschooling one kid off the grid would feel lonely and dull for parent and child alike. Homeschooling two kids off the grid sound livelier, but still comes off as “trying .. MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Limbaugh Comes Around on Immigration Policy
I was driving home from a hiking trip on Friday and tuned into Rush Limbaugh’s show for longer than I usually do. (My morning commute is 11 minutes.) He raised an issue I heard him raise a few months ago, but I thought then that he wasn’t serious. However, I heard him say it again .. MORE
Taxation
Henderson on VAT on The Financial Exchange (WRKO Boston)
I was on WRKO radio in Boston this morning discussing the VAT. Here’s the link.
Economic and Political Philosophy
Commentary on Captain Fantastic
[Warning: Packed with Captain Fantastic spoilers!] Few movies speak to me more personally than Captain Fantastic. It’s not just a movie about homeschooling; it’s a movie about natalist homeschoolers living in a nearly-airtight Bubble. And psychologically, the movie’s patriarch eerily resembles me. Captain Fantastic raises his six kids with kindness, respect, and the power of ideas, .. MORE
Uncategorized
Sunday Reading
On Gary’s goofs, smugglers solve alleged public good problem, FDA-caused massive deaths, and reparations from descendants of slave owners. These are some of the most interesting things I found on the web this morning. 1. Robert Murphy on Gary Johnson’s incoherent answers to some questions. Bob’s bottom line: Johnson fires from the hip on his .. MORE
Macroeconomics
The Monster in the Mirror
I seem to vaguely recall a horror story where the protagonist searches everywhere for the monster, and at the end sees himself in the mirror, realizing that he is the monster. If there is no such story, there should be. I was reminded of this when reading an article about Janet Yellen’s recent speech at .. MORE
Macroeconomics
Low interest rates: They are not easy money, and they’re here to stay
In recent months the rest of the world has finally begun to accept the market monetarist view that interest rates are likely to stay low indefinitely. But there’s still a lot of confusion as to the reasons why. The Financial Times has a long article on the topic; here are a few excerpts: “The emergency .. MORE
Macroeconomics
NGDP targeting in Australia?
There is a sudden interest in NGDP targeting in Australia. Here’s Greg Jericho, in the Guardian: For the most part economic debate can revolve around the margins, with few bold ideas promulgated. This week however, Senator Nick Xenophon proposed a major shakeup to the way economic policy is run. He is proposing the Reserve Bank .. MORE
Behavioral Economics
Neurotic Politics
Neuroticism – the tendency to experience negative emotions like anger, fear, and sadness – is a pillar of the Five Factor Model of personality. Human beings routinely attribute their emotions to external circumstances. For proximate causes, they’re often right. The underlying reality, though, is that some people – the highly neurotic – naturally focus on .. MORE
Behavioral Economics
Metzger on Headline Dismay Minimization
Interesting reaction to Tuesday’s post from my friend Perry Metzger. Perry, with his permission: My biggie is the number of people who die from medical errors and bad hygiene in hospitals. It’s thousands a day globally. Unlike the global murder problem, this one is probably quite straightforwardly fixed by improving process. My #2 is the .. MORE
Economic Education
#TWET…Slavery & Racism
Incentives matter, sure. But isn’t there a limit to what institutional analysis can (and ought) explain? That’s what lingering in my mind after listening to this week’s EconTalk episode with everybody’s favorite guest, Mike Munger of Duke University. How and why did the attitudes of white Southerners change over time in the pre-Civil War era? .. MORE
Economic Education
The Fall 2016 Public Choice Center Seminar Series
This academic year, I’m in charge of the Public Choice Center Seminar series. Seminars are normally on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:15 PM, and are open to the public. Since I am not a fan of actually-existing seminars, I’m experimenting with a new format, which I will strictly enforce: 1. Split the talk into two parts. Part .. MORE
Economics of Health Care
The Twenty-Niners
“We’re Hiring Economics Writers,” says the headline of a post at the web site FiveThirtyEight. Good for them. Then they write: This is a part-time staff position (up to 29 hours per week) and does not offer benefits. Any idea why they chose 29 hours? Answer: Obamacare. Here’s how a video at Prager University puts .. MORE
Macroeconomics
Tyler Cowen on NGDP targeting
Here’s Tyler Cowen: The thing is this: whether rationally or not, the American public hates higher rates of price inflation. Perhaps they mis-sample or mis-estimate prices, or perhaps the higher prices really do erode their real wages in a way they can’t get back through a new labor market bargain. So a higher price inflation .. MORE
Austrian Economics
Equilibrium and Foresight
A recent piece by Raphaële Chappe discusses the uses and limitations of general equilibrium theorizing. The post is a long-read, but Chappe briefly summarizes the point when she writes: …the theory lacks explanatory relevance, providing instead a language through which one can say both too much and too little. The theory’s abundance of riches within .. MORE