22 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking
Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, expressive voting, make-work bias, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
Millennial politics is simple, really. Young people support big government, unless it costs any more money. They’re for smaller government, unless budget cuts scratch a program they’ve heard of. They’d like Washington to fix everything, just so long as it doesn’t run anything.
Young people lean way left on issues like gay marriage, pot, and immigration. On abortion and gun control, they swim closer to the rest of the electorate.
But on economics, they’re all over the map. You get the sense, reading the Reason Foundation and Pew studies, that a savvy pollster could trick a young person into supporting basically any economic policy in the world with the right combination of triggers. Conservative and liberal partisans can cherry-pick this survey to paint Millennials as whatever ideology they want.
On spending:
Conservatives can say: 65 percent of Millennials would like to cut spending.
Liberals can say: 62 percent would like to spend more on infrastructure and jobs.
On taxes:
Conservatives can say: 58 percent of Millennials want to cut taxes overall.
Liberals can say: 66 percent want to raise taxes on the wealthy.
On government’s role in our lives:
Conservatives can say: 66 percent of Millennials say that “when something is funded by the government, it is usually inefficient and wasteful.”
Liberals can say: More than two-thirds think the government should guarantee food, shelter, and a living wage.
On government size:
Conservatives can say: 57 percent want smaller government with fewer services (if you mention the magic word “taxes”).
Liberals can say: 54 percent want larger government with more services (if you don’t mention “taxes”).
via Millennials’ Political Views Don’t Make Any Sense – The Atlantic and This poll proves that millennials have totally incoherent political views – Vox.
21 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, economic history, Gary Becker, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics, technological progress
Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, life expectancy, lost decades, New Zealand, The Great Enrichment
Figure 1: increase in real GDP and increase in real GDP plus life expectancy GDP increase equivalent, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and England & Wales, 1965 to 1995
Source: Becker, Gary S., Tomas J. Philipson, and Rodrigo R. Soares. The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality, NBER Working Paper No. 9765 (June 2003).
GDP per capita is usually used to proxy for the quality of life of individuals living in different countries. Becker and his co-authors computed a "full" growth rate that incorporates the gains in health and life expectancy.
Figure 1 shows that New Zealand was way behind the other countries in improvements in the quantity and quality of life between 1965 and 1995. This brings new meaning to the two decades of lost growth between 1973 and 1995. Canada should refer to 1965 to 1995 as its golden era.
21 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of love and marriage, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, child poverty, economics of families, family poverty, Ireland, labour force participation, single parents
Figure 1: child poverty rates in couple families by employment status, Anglo-Saxon countries, 2010
Source: OECD Family Database; Poverty thresholds are set at 50% of the median income of the entire population.
21 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, technological progress
Tags: 9/11, anti-vaccination movement, antiscience left, conspiracy theories, expressive voting, GMOs, inspiriting theorists, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, risk risk trade-offs, vaccines
20 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics
Tags: economics of fertility, economics of the family, single mothers, single parents
Figure 1: Proportion of births out of wedlock, 2011, Anglo-Saxon countries
Source: OECD family database; no data for Ireland.
20 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA
Tags: antiscience left, expressive voting, food labelling, GMOs, product labelling, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
20 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in economic growth, fiscal policy, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics
Tags: endogenous growth theory, EU, Eurosclerosis, laffer curve, optimal tax theory, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and the labour supply
20 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, child poverty, economics of the family, family poverty, female labour force participation rates, Ireland, maternal labour supply, single mothers, single parents
Figure 1: Child poverty rate by employment status of single parent, Anglo-Saxon countries, 2010
Source: OECD Family Database; Poverty thresholds are set at 50% of the median income of the entire population.
19 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of media and culture, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Tags: Ben Elton, expressive voting, Green Left, Leftover Left, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge
19 Jun 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied price theory, economics of crime, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA
Tags: game theory, gun control, John Lott, mass public shootings, offsetting behaviour, read killers, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge, unintended consequences
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