Economic History

September 14, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at September 14, 2015
Categories

Part 2: How the Middle Income Trap Could Catch China

While some high middle income economies have slowed down and then accelerated again, using World Bank criteria, China's economic growth is tough to predict.

Do you like it?
Read more
September 13, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at September 13, 2015
Categories

Part 1: The Trap That China Wants to Avoid

Currently slowing down, China's economic growth might be challenged by the middle income trap that has caught Brazil but not Taiwan or Malaysia.

Do you like it?
Read more
September 1, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at September 1, 2015
Categories

What Our Food Says About Us

Because middling food like hamburgers is consumed by most people in the affluent West, what we eat does not necessarily reflect inequality or social status.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 30, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 30, 2015
Categories

Why a Life Needs a Price Tag

Although it seems callous, for safety regulation like speed limits and for victims' compensation like 9/11 we need to quantify the value of a life.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 24, 2015
CEO performance and golf
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 24, 2015
Categories

How Your Lawn is About More Than Grass

Nothing but grass, lawns began as conspicuous consumption from the English and French aristocracy and now are a middle class manicured status symbol.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 21, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 21, 2015
Categories

Some High Speed Trading History

Depending on how fast news travels, high speed trading can be done through homing pigeons or computers but both have created information asymmetry.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 19, 2015
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 19, 2015
Categories

How to Find More of the American Dream

Recognizing that neighborhoods with better schools and other shared characteristics affect income mobility, anti-poverty policy can become more effective.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 13, 2015
weekly roundup and female life expectancy and state fiscal policy
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 13, 2015
Categories

The Values That Make Us Spend More

For major OECD countries and the U.S., the source and destination for healthcare spending reflect national values about limited government.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 12, 2015
Weekly Economic New Roundup and tall building construction
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 12, 2015
Categories

How to Deal With Skyscraper Shadows

Whenever a new skyscraper is built, we can ask whether its shadow violates our property rights when it eliminates the sunlight in a city's parks.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 3, 2015
Everyday economics and the cost of roundabouts
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 3, 2015
Categories

The Reason We Should Drive Around in Circles

As we improve our transportation infrastructure, the roundabout has become increasingly attractive because of safety, ease and cost.

Do you like it?
Read more
August 2, 2015
Sanitation gap and human capital
Published by Elaine Schwartz at August 2, 2015
Categories

The World’s Sanitation Gap

A production possibilities graph can display the land, labor and capital underutilization that inadequate sanitation creates and indicate a constrained GDP.

Do you like it?
Read more
July 29, 2015
weekly economic news roundup and gasoline prices
Published by Elaine Schwartz at July 29, 2015
Categories

Paying More at the Gas Pump

Because of a low gasoline tax, the Highway Trust Fund does not have enough money to maintain the transportation infrastructure of highways and mass transit.

Do you like it?
Read more