Late last week The Treasury released a new 40 page report on “The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections” (productivity forecasts and projections that is, rather than any possible fiscal implications – the latter will, I guess, be articulated in the Budget documents). In short, if (as it has) productivity growth has slowed down […]
The Treasury and productivity
The Treasury and productivity
10 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
Dishonest Pimping for a Global Wealth-Tax Cartel
07 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, wealth tax
Everything you need to know about wealth taxation can be summarized in two sentences. The biggest problem with most tax systems is the pervasive tax bias against income that is saved and invested, which discourages the accumulation of capital that helps to finance future growth. Wealth taxes would dramatically increase the tax bias against saving […]
Dishonest Pimping for a Global Wealth-Tax Cartel
The Peltzman Effect at Sea
04 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, Economics of international refugee law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: economics of migration, offsetting behavior, unintended consequences
Deiana, Maheshr,and Mastrobuoniand have recently published an analysis of the effects of Search and Rescue operations on migration from Africa to Europe.Nearly half a century ago, Sam Peltzman showed that, because mandatory seat-belts made driving safer, drivers tended to drive more recklessly, partially offsetting the increased safety. Similar effects occurred in the search and rescue…
The Peltzman Effect at Sea
Some Economics of Tipping
01 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply Tags: asymmetric information, moral hazard, tipping
Why leave a tip? You have already received whatever food or service you are going to receive. Maybe if you are a very regular customer, tipping could lead to better service in the future. But most people who leave tips do so even if they are stopping off at, say, a restaurant in a city…
Some Economics of Tipping
Hiring discrimination sentences to ponder
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of education, economics of information, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, implicit bias, racial discrimination, sex discrimination
Several common measures — like employing a chief diversity officer, offering diversity training or having a diverse board — were not correlated with decreased discrimination in entry-level hiring, the researchers found. But one thing strongly predicted less discrimination: a centralized H.R. operation. The researchers recorded the voice mail messages that the fake applicants received. When a company’s […]
Hiring discrimination sentences to ponder
“The Simple Macroeconomics of AI”
21 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality Tags: artificial intelligence
That is the new Daron Acemoglu paper, and he is skeptical about its overall economic effects. Here is part of the abstract: Using existing estimates on exposure to AI and productivity improvements at the task level, these macroeconomic effects appear nontrivial but modest—no more than a 0.71% increase in total factor productivity over 10 years.…
“The Simple Macroeconomics of AI”
Agent-principal conflicts
18 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of information, economics of media and culture, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics Tags: agency costs, asymmetric information, moral hazard, screening
Diverse MBA teams perform worse
14 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, entrepreneurship, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
From “Diversity and Performance in Entrepreneurial Teams” (SSRN): Among the randomly-assigned teams [of MBA students], greater diversity along the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity significantly reduced performance. However, the negative effect of this diversity is alleviated … [when teams can choose their teammates]…teams with more female members perform substantially better when their faculty section leader was also…
Diverse MBA teams perform worse
Handbag authenticators (creative destruction and how the economy just keeps creating new types of occupations & professions)
10 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of information, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: consumer fraud, creative destruction
I’ve posted about many new jobs like this. See related posts below. Also, this post is based on yesterday’s post You Spent $6,000 on a Secondhand Chanel Bag. Now Find Out if It Is Real. It had excerpts from an article by Chavie Lieber of The WSJ. Here are excerpts related to today’s post:”Many secondhand luxury shoppers…
Handbag authenticators (creative destruction and how the economy just keeps creating new types of occupations & professions)
A Conversation with Gary Becker
10 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, behavioural economics, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, Gary Becker, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality
Harris’ Major Malfunction
09 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture, health economics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: behavioural genetics
Judith Harris’ The Nurture Assumption was a huge influence on me, and the top inspiration for my Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. Her book’s first main lesson is that family resemblance, defined in the broadest possible way to include physical, psychological, and social outcomes, is mostly driven by genetics rather than upbringing. Her book’s…
Harris’ Major Malfunction
Stopping people dying on the job – Brooke van Velden on workplace safety…
07 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health and safety, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - New Zealand
Cuba Libre
05 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, growth disasters, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Cuba
Martin Gurri has a very good, deep-dive on the current situation in Cuba. The wreckage of the Cuban economy really can’t be exaggerated. The perpetual blackouts are an apt symbol of a country that is headed for the dark ages. For the first time since the revolution, Cuba is begging the United Nations for food aid. Nearly […]
Cuba Libre
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
04 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, unemployment, unions Tags: racial discrimination
A quarter century ago, economist Price Fishback published “Operations of ‘Unfettered’ Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century” 1,762 more words
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
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