In 1912, Italian statistician Corrado Gini introduced a concept (which came to take his name) called the Gini Coefficient. The coefficient, which is a measure of statistical dispersion, is used primarily to measure the level of economic inequality, such as income, wealth, and consumption inequality. This coefficient is calculated by subtracting from cumulative income in … Continue reading It’s Time To Turn the Tide in Inequality
I recently thought of a new way to measure the burden of the national debt, though I'm sure I'm not the first. When we measure the national debt, we typically take either gross federal debt, or federal debt held by the public as a share of gross domestic product. When we do that, we come … Continue reading Putting the National Debt Into Perspective
Introduced as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Social Security redefined the role of the government in American life in an almost revolutionary way, similar to the widespread adoption of public education. Despite it's out-sized impact, Old Age and Survivors Insurance (what most people refer to when they speak of Social Security) continues to be … Continue reading Investigating Social Security Privatization
I was thinking about the stock market and how decade after decade it's able to deliver high rates of return and ended up formulating a primitive hypothesis based on the data I gathered. Corporate stock capitalization is cumulative sum of net stock flow, so stock market growth should be determined by the source of net … Continue reading Capital Accumulation and Rates of Return
The pace of economic progress in America has been just shy of miserable over these past few years. Sure, the stock market is booming, unemployment (until COVID) had reached a half-century low, and most Americans were satisfied with the state of the economy and their personal financial and material well being. None of this is … Continue reading We Can’t Quite Call Sluggish Growth Endemic
In early January 2003, a interesting bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee: H.R.269 Simplified USA Tax Act of 2003. This bill, sponsored by then-Representative of Pennsylvania Phil English, would, among other things, replace the federal income, estate, and gift taxes with a "progressive consumption tax." In the other words, a tax … Continue reading Discussing the Progressive Consumption Tax
Progressives and social democrats in America have espoused the virtues of comprehensive social insurance, universal healthcare, universal college, universal housing, among other things. I believe generally liberals and socialist have two different core reasons for their support of public programs like these, and I'd like to discuss my views and approach to public policy with … Continue reading Social Capital and Public Policy
I'm going to get straight to the point. How much would it cost for the state of California to fund a "Medicare-for-All" single-payer healthcare system? Well, the short answer is that in 2019 it would've cost approximately $240 billion, or about 7.5% of gross state product. But Please don't close out just yet! You should … Continue reading How Much Would It Cost for California To Adopt a Single-Payer Health Care System?
In the year of the apocalypse 2020, a year fraught with pandemic, war, and economic recession, governments of the world have stepped up their game with respect to 'printing money.' In the month of March, the M2 money stock grew by $1.1 trillion, more than it grew throughout the entirety of 2019. This phenomenon can … Continue reading Inflation and Debt Monetization
Many people are accustomed to the idea that banks magically print money and cause inflation. People wonder, "Hey, why can't I do that?" Well, the answer is you can't because nobody can, not even commercial banks. In a fractional reserve banking system like the one we have, commercial banks can only lend an amount equal … Continue reading Fractional Reserve Banking 101
