Source: Three centuries of macroeconomic data | Bank of England Table A28.
British unemployment rate since 1855
20 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, unemployment Tags: British economy, British history, search and matching
An adult start of a criminal career is uncommon
18 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, occupational choice Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
But @EleanorAingeRoy child poverty has not changed much in 20 years
16 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, urban economics, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty, housing affordability, RMA
Today in the Guardian writing on trends in family poverty New Zealand, Eleanor Roy said that
The fact that twice as many children now live below the poverty line than did in 1984 has become New Zealand’s most shameful statistic.
Roy goes back to the 1980s as her base because child poverty has not gone up or down by that much since that sharp rise in the late 1980s.
Child poverty among single-parent households has doubled since 1990 and tripled since 1988. Poverty in families with two parents present is not much higher now than it was in 1988.
Source: Bryan Perry, Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2014 – Ministry of Social Development, Wellington (August 2015), Table H.4.
Child poverty rates among single-parent families that live with other adults is one-quarter that of single-parent families who live alone. The reasons behind that should be explored more by those concerned with child poverty.
Source: Bryan Perry, Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2013 – Ministry of Social Development, Wellington (2014), Tables F.6 and F.7.
The evidence is overwhelming that the main driver of the increases in the child poverty since the 1980s is rising housing costs.
In the longer run, after housing costs child poverty rates in 2013 were close to double what they were in the late 1980s mainly because housing costs in 2013 were much higher relative to income than they were in the late 1980s.
– Bryan Perry, 2014 Household Incomes Report – Key Findings. Ministry of Social Development (July 2014).
Any policy to reduce child poverty must increase the supply of houses by reducing regulatory restrictions on the supply of land.
Rather than blame the callousness of government in accepting higher rates of child poverty, Roy should blame its inability to take on the restrictions on land supply in the Resource Management Act that drive up housing costs for the poor. Increased child poverty in New Zealand is a by-product of housing unaffordability.
% employees working more than 50 hours per week, 2014 OECD area
15 Aug 2016 6 Comments
in labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, public economics Tags: hours worked, taxation and labour supply
Not coincidentally, countries with high marginal income tax rates have low levels of long hours worked per week.
Data extracted on 14 Aug 2016 01:52 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat; Data does not include the self-employed.
Occupations of the Top 0.1% in the USA
12 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, labour economics, politics - USA
Johan Norberg – Nordic Gender Equality
10 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics, gender, labour economics Tags: gender wage gap, glass ceiling, Norway, Sweden
World Cup pay gap: Here’s why it’s justified
06 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, gender, labour economics, sports economics Tags: gender wage gap, superstar wages
The ‘hollowing’ of the American middle class
04 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: child poverty, family poverty, technology diffusion, The Great Enrichment
The present rate of technology adoption is nearly a vertical line —@blackrock https://t.co/3oS3YAI4ld—
Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) January 22, 2016
College and post-graduate wage premium in the English speaking countries, France, S. Korea, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden
31 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, College premium, Denmark, education premium, Finland, France, graduate premium, Ireland, Korea, Norway, post-graduate premium, Sweden
Source: Education at a Glance 2015, section 6.
Brad de Long on Marx and adapting to The Great Enrichment
30 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, poverty and inequality
Source: Brad de Long, The Fall of the Soviet Union
Time spent in paid and unpaid work across the OECD by gender
30 Jul 2016 1 Comment
in economics of love and marriage, gender, labour economics, labour supply Tags: asymmetric marriage premium, female labour force participation, household production, marital division of labour
Political leanings of American professors @robhosking
29 Jul 2016 2 Comments
in economics of education, labour economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: academic bias
Sociologists are rather level-headed compared to that hotbed of political bias, which is American history professors. Hardly any of them see themselves as a Republican. I must take back a few nasty things I said about political bias and sociologists.
Source: THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS OF AMERICAN PROFESSORS Neil Gross and Solon Simmons, Working Paper, September 24, 2007
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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