economics Archives - Page 6 of 50 - Stable Genius Liberal

Paul Krugman:Trump Is Right on Economics

all indications are that Mr. Bush’s attacks on Mr. Trump are falling flat, because the Republican base doesn’t actually share the Republican establishment’s economic delusions. (via Trump Is Right on Economics – The New York Times) When Trump came out for raising income taxes on the rich, like him for saving social security and for… Continue reading Paul Krugman:Trump Is Right on Economics

Krugman on Gravity and Trade

that the volume of trade between Kanesh and various trading partners seems to fit a gravity equation: trade between any two regional economies is roughly proportional to the product of their GDPs and inversely related to distance. Neat. But what does the seemingly universal applicability of the gravity equation tell us? It’s the law! (via… Continue reading Krugman on Gravity and Trade

The automation myth: Robots aren’t taking your jobs— and that’s the problem

Despite the cliché that technology today is progressing faster than ever, the per-worker output of the American economy actually increased at its fastest-ever rate in the quarter century between 1948 and 1973. (via The automation myth: Robots aren’t taking your jobs— and that’s the problem – Vox)

Obama’s economics team is taking on one of America’s most underrated economic problems

Regulating entry into certain kinds of professions on the grounds of health and safety makes sense, but once a process is set up to exclude people from doing a job, incumbent practitioners have a strong economic incentive to use the licensing board as a means to eliminate competition.

This was tried by Jerry Brown (I think) and the attack ads making health and safety started before the ink was dry on the bill’s first draft.

New York wage board approves $15 minimum wage for fast food workers: The plan makes no sense.

Economists often judge the appropriateness of a minimum wage by comparing it with the local median wage—the theory being that, in cities with higher pay across the board, a higher minimum will be less of a burden….In New York City, $15 in 2018 would still amount to more than 60 percent of the metro area’s… Continue reading New York wage board approves $15 minimum wage for fast food workers: The plan makes no sense.

Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money – Quartz

When basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative; when you know you have a safety net, you are more willing to take risks. “Many other researchers have replicated the finding that entrepreneurship is more about cash than dash,” University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald tells Quartz. “Genes probably matter, as in most things… Continue reading Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money – Quartz

Slavery’s Long Shadow

the political scientist Larry Bartels, analyzed the move of the white working class away from Democrats, a move made famous in Thomas Frank’s “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” Mr. Frank argued that working-class whites were being induced to vote against their own interests by the right’s exploitation of cultural issues. But Mr. Bartels showed that… Continue reading Slavery’s Long Shadow

Libertarian Economists Should’ve Loved Silk Road—Here’s Why They Didn’t

Silk Road has been called an economic experiment gone wrong. And if you look at Ulbricht’s trial, it’s clear that many things went wrong. Even the most idealistic supporters of Silk Road couldn’t ignore that it turned Ulbricht into a kingpin who acted violently toward those who he thought might compromise the anonymity of the marketplace.

Libertarian experiments keep turning out exactly how liberals say they will turn out.

Tax cuts for middle, lower income Americans boost economy while tax breaks for the rich do little to help

Not a slam dunk but this reinforces other studies showing little to no growth due to capital gain tax cuts.

You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.

It looks like the gold bubble is over and the price will be back to the pre-crisis trend line about the same time that the economy, unemployment and other metrics reach the pre-crisis trend lines. So it’s time to dust off the greatest.quote.about.gold.EVER.

Today the world’s gold stock is about 170,000 metric tons. If all of this gold were melded together, it would form a cube of about 68 feet per side. (Picture it fitting comfortably within a baseball infield.) At $1,750 per ounce — gold’s price as I write this — its value would be about $9.6 trillion. Call this cube pile A.

Let’s now create a pile B costing an equal amount. For that, we could buy all U.S. cropland (400 million acres with output of about $200 billion annually), plus 16 Exxon Mobils (the world’s most profitable company, one earning more than $40 billion annually). After these purchases, we would have about $1 trillion left over for walking-around money (no sense feeling strapped after this buying binge). Can you imagine an investor with $9.6 trillion selecting pile A over pile B?

Beyond the staggering valuation given the existing stock of gold, current prices make today’s annual production of gold command about $160 billion. Buyers — whether jewelry and industrial users, frightened individuals, or speculators — must continually absorb this additional supply to merely maintain an equilibrium at present prices.

A century from now the 400 million acres of farmland will have produced staggering amounts of corn, wheat, cotton, and other crops — and will continue to produce that valuable bounty, whatever the currency may be. Exxon Mobil XOM -1.37% will probably have delivered trillions of dollars in dividends to its owners and will also hold assets worth many more trillions (and, remember, you get 16 Exxons). The 170,000 tons of gold will be unchanged in size and still incapable of producing anything. You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.