Lindsay Mitchell writes- When National became government in 2008, Finance Minister Bill English’s determination to understand the extent of benefit-dependency led them to commission Taylor Fry to produce annual actuarial reports. These were duly published at the MSD website every year but ceased when the government changed in 2017. Now however, an Official Information request […]
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Labour hid developing welfare crisis
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Labour hid developing welfare crisis
08 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty
*The Case Against Education* Makes the WSJ
01 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of education, economics of information, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: screening, signaling
Douglas Belkin, who has an admirably adversarial publication record on higher ed, spotlights my The Case Against Education in his latest piece in The Wall Street Journal:One result of this transactional attitude has been a sharp increase in cheating. College is one of the few products whose consumers try to get as little out of…
*The Case Against Education* Makes the WSJ
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
17 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economic history, economics of information, economics of regulation, health and safety, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, occupational choice, occupational regulation, poverty and inequality, unemployment, unions
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” in the prestigious Journal of Economic Literature. Fishback’s article is packed with insight… and understatement. But let’s back up. Virtually every standard history textbook describes U.S. labor markets before…
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
The Right and Wrong Way to Reduce Poverty, Part II
16 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty
In Part I of this series, I explained that the War on Poverty, launched by Lyndon Johnson and expanded by other profligate presidents, has been bad news for both taxpayers and poor people. More specifically, I shared some academic research showing how it led to a big increase in dependency on government. Let’s expand on […]
The Right and Wrong Way to Reduce Poverty, Part II
Family leave and the gender wage gap
16 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: economics of fertility, family leave, gender wage gap, marriage and divorce, sex discrimination
The gender wage gap has been decreasing slowly and steadily over time. At least, that’s what I thought until I read this 2023 NBER Working Paper by Peter Blair (Harvard University) and Benjamin Posmanick (St. Bonaventure University). They present the following graph of the gender wage gap in the US (for White women, compared with White men,…
Family leave and the gender wage gap
Quotation of the Day…
01 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, behavioural economics, economic history, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: capitalism and freedom, evolutionary psychology, The Great Enrichment
Tweet… is from my emeritus Nobel-laureate colleague Vernon Smith‘s splendid speech “Human Betterment Through Globalization,” delivered in September 2005 at the Irvington-on-Hudson then-headquarters of the Foundation for Economic Education: The challenge is that we all function simultaneously in two overlapping worlds of exchange. First, we live in a world of personal, social exchange based on…
Quotation of the Day…
Claudia Goldin: “What’s ‘Greedy Work’ and Why Is It a Problem?” | People…
18 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economic history, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Is Discrimination Still Causing The Gender Pay Gap With Claudia Goldin
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Goldin Nobel
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
In a country supposedly infected by “white supremacy,” “white privilege” and “systemic racism” how did all of these non-white minority groups get to be SO successful in the US, outearning the typical White American household?
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: racial discrimination
2023 prize lecture in economic sciences | Claudia Goldin
10 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
08 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, economics of fertility, family poverty
Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. In 2019 the WEAG reported back with 42 recommendations including:Recommendation 11: Remove…
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
Comparing EU-to-US Output Per Hour
01 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic growth, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, occupational choice
The per capita GDP for the combined 27 countries of the European Union (EU-27) is about 72% of the US level. On the other side, the average worker in EU countries puts in far fewer hours on the job than do American workers. For example, OECD data says that the average US worker put in…
Comparing EU-to-US Output Per Hour
Effective marginal tax rates, and work incentives for older people
24 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, public economics
Tax rates matter for work incentives. When tax rates are high, there is less incentive for people to work. They may pass up additional work and choose leisure time instead. However, it isn’t just taxes that matter. It is the loss of other entitlements as well. All of these are bound up in what is…
Effective marginal tax rates, and work incentives for older people
AASLE 2021 Bob Gregory Lecture – Claudia Goldin
23 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, economics of education, economics of information, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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