Labor

September 15, 2015

Why Doing Good is Not Always Easy

By recognizing the tradeoffs of recycling, preserving endangered species and improving world health, doing good could become more productive.

September 14, 2015

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.

September 13, 2015

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.

September 10, 2015

What the Ability to Delay Gratification Says About You

Looking at delayed gratification through Walter Mischel's marshmallow test and other studies, researchers can better grasp who will save for retirement.

September 1, 2015

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.

August 30, 2015

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.

August 19, 2015

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.

August 13, 2015

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.

August 2, 2015

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.

July 30, 2015

Why Major League Baseball Has a C+ Gender Grade

Because the presence of women in Major League Baseball (MLB) management positions is very small, they have diminished their talented human capital supply.

July 28, 2015

How Much Your Sleep Costs You

Personal income relates to how long we sleep. Less sleep can diminish the productivity that brings a higher wage. But also, less sleep means more work time.

July 24, 2015

The Real Eurozone Problem

Although people in the eurozone want a single currency and their leaders want unity, monetary union problems create political distrust and disunity.