Economics

A refresher course in economics

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:56:51 -0400

As Vox points out, it appears the leaders of the Massachusetts government could use one:

Apparently the Law of Supply and Demand still comes as a bit of a shock to some. What, you mean you can't subsidize the cost of health care without increasing the demand for it?

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance. » read more »

Donating points

Wayne — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:13:06 -0400

Many credit/charge* cards accrue bonus points that can be exchanged for gifts, gift cards, cash, etc. Many of these cards also offer the chance to change these points in for a charitable contribution to any charity of your choice. Often, the exchange value for such contributions is better than the exchange value for cash or goods. » read more »

What costs more per year than the Iraq war?

Wayne — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:53:23 -0500

Illegal Aliens Cause Massive Cuts For US Seniors

December 4, 2007

http://rense.com/general79/sen...

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they
are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have
included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each
year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as
food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/20... » read more »

Fiat Currency

Wayne — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:44:44 -0500

Historically, and according to Natural Law or Austrian economics (take your pick), stuff's worth is assigned by the free market. A loaf of bread has a certain value "assigned" to it by the free market (the balance between supply and demand, at its simplest). Money is merely a means of quantifying that worth in a form that is convenient. It was convenient to choose precious metals as the means of storing and trading value. A loaf of bread might be worth a particular gold coin, for example. (The coin would likely be very small or have very little gold in it, in this example, since bread isn't worth much in the grand scheme of things.) It later became convenient to create pseudo-money, or a currency that had no inherent worth in itself but symbolized real value. Paper money fits this bill well. In the good ol' days, paper money could be traded at any time for an amount of gold, say (any agreeable commodity will do, really), that was imprinted on the money. For example, a hundred dollar note might be traded for an ounce of gold bullion (for all intents and purposes, pure gold). This relationship was fixed by definition. One ounce of gold was always "worth" a hundred dollars, because a hundred dollars was defined to be the same value as an ounce of gold. Such was the nature of the gold standard. » read more »

What kind of economist is Mankiw?

Wayne — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:06:21 -0500

Since Mankiw has been referenced a couple of times here (first here, then here), I thought I should investigate the guy's personal, economic beliefs. These should speak to his character, worldview, and frankly, credibility. (I'll overlook his position at Harvard, which already reveals more than he'd like.) » read more »

Greg Mankiw on Economic Idiological Differences between the Left and the Right

chrislee35 — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:16:14 -0500

* Elasticity of supply and demand; the losses associated with taxation
* Prevalence of externalities
* Power of monopolies
* Rationality of people
* Government inefficiency vs. marketplace power
* Distribution of income

Sourced from http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com...

I encourage everyone to see the original post for details.

Government employment

Wayne — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:28:53 -0500

300+ million people in the U.S.
150+ or 180+ million in the labor force.
~50 million receive Social Security.
30+ million SS recipients are retired, plus another 2.5+ million spouses of retirees.
20+ million directly employed by government (federal, state, local).
10+ million federal contractors and grantees (state and local are unknown).
5+ million on welfare.

This means over 28% of the population and over 37% of the labor force is on a government payroll. » read more »

The Economic Impact of Illegal Immigration on State/Local Budgets

chrislee35 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:50:53 -0500

Peter R. Orszag, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), has recently begun blogging. On the 6th, he summarized the results of a CBO study of the economic effects of "unauthorized" immigration [PDF]. I have not read the study as of yet to determine exactly what that means and how things where measured [1], but the overall findings is that it is slightly positive economically[2], although a hardship on on local and state government budgets[3]. » read more »

The Economic Impact of Freedom

chrislee35 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:06:49 -0500

I recently subscribed to professor of economics at Harvard University's, Greg Mankiw, blog at http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com... and he linked to a presentation available at http://shockingeconomics.com/. The presentation lists the comparisons of oil-rich countries' economies to that of the United States and offers an argument that America's devotion to freedom has caused it to be an economic powerhouse. Because of TuscanyCircle's (TC) focus on the concepts of freedom and how it is currently eroding, this should be of interest.

Falling Standard of Living

Wayne — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:21:18 -0400

From http://www.federalreserve.gov/... ...

Moreover, real earnings of the average worker have continued to rise.
...
The reason for this positive long-run trend in living standards appears to be that more fundamental economic forces are determining real incomes...the state of knowledge and skill of a population; the degree of control over indigenous natural resources; the quality of a country's legal system, particularly a strong commitment to a rule of law and protection of property rights; and yes, the extent of a country's openness to trade with the rest of the world. » read more »