Introduction Among the things that irk me these days are these yuppie urban planning folk. It's not to say they don't have fair and reasoned points at times, but the more radical of them espouse the economic and environmental benefits of 'abolishing' the suburb and the automobile. I find such a position incorrect and worth … Continue reading Automobiles Are Superior To Public Transit and It’s Not Even Close
One of the most contentious but also consequential debates in economic policy is on whether or not to raise, maintain, or lower the minimum wage, and by how much. There are a great many arguments that circulate about the minimum wage and its effects on the economy, but few that are backed by meaningful data … Continue reading American Economy, Meet Minimum Wage
A rallying call for many in the progressive left, Medicare For All was effectively introduced and championed by Senators Bernie Sanders in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries. Advocates, of which there are many, claim that Medicare For All would bring the United States in line with the rest of the world, promising … Continue reading Why ‘Medicare For All’ is the Right Approach
There's a minor debate always ongoing about how we ought to tax income from capital gains, which is at present taxed separately from ordinary income, at preferential rates. There have been many proposals, such as eliminating the preferential rates or taxing gains on a mark-to-market basis, which is tricky since share prices tend to fluctuate … Continue reading Retrospectively Calculated Capital Gains Tax
Like a great many landmines left by the failures of our political establishment over recent years, there is a disaster lurking down the path, soon to be under our feet. The name of this landmine is the national debt. While it's true that historically the national debt has hardly ever been a serious issue for … Continue reading The Risk of Debt Singularity
In the 1960's, a period of rapid economic growth, falling unemployment, and accelerating inflation, liberals and progressive set out to make improvements in the social safety net, installing some lasting and well known programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Various other things were achieved in that period, including acts which advanced the causes of environmental … Continue reading The Minskyite Employer of Last Resort
Kitchin cycle. Juglar cycle. Kondratiev wave. Boom-bust. A whole bunch of malarkey. I don’t think recessions are nowadays really the result of ‘cycles,’ which is a term that sort of implies they are part of some natural order of things, like moon phases or the seasons. I think recessions are like ice ages. They are … Continue reading The Evolution of the Business Cycle
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
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