Labor

May 6, 2014

The Rotten Kid Theorem and Other Gary Becker Ideas

Gary Becker image courtesy of University of Chicago. All too often, if you say you are looking at the economics of the family, people assume you […]

May 4, 2014

Surprising Hand-To-Mouth Households

Close to one third of all households (38 million) in the US live hand-to-mouth. Like me, perhaps you have always assumed that a hand-to-mouth (HtM) household […]

May 1, 2014

How To Divide the Rent, a Cake and a Country

Assume for a moment that you have just rented a 4th floor walk-up apartment for $3000 with 2 friends. One bedroom is mid-sized and near a […]

April 28, 2014

Why Do We Need More King Peggys?

Our Monday Gender Issue: Having a woman as the king of an African fishing village can make a big difference. During 2008, a secretary who works […]

April 20, 2014

Which Countries Want You to Have a Baby?

It is a recipe for demographic disaster when you have too many old people and not enough babies. The problem is the size of the working […]

April 18, 2014

China’s Demographic Flipflop

The wait list for the most popular retirement home in China has topped 10,000. With 1100 available beds and just 11 beds emptying annually, it could […]

April 16, 2014

How To Cope With (Water) Stress

Being water stressed means you are unusually vulnerable to a water shortage. Sort of like a household where one emergency can push it over the edge because it […]

April 14, 2014

Gender Issues: What If We No Longer Said “He” and “She”?

Our Monday Gender Issue: In the February 10th issue of the New Yorker, I read “Pronoun Envy” by Anne Carson. Here is the beginning: Pronoun Envy […]

April 13, 2014

One Reason That Quitting is Good

I have read that Fed Chair Janet Yellen is particularly interested in JOLTS. Representing Job Openings and Labor market Turnover Survey, JOLTS data tell an interesting […]

April 11, 2014

Should Detroit Sell Its Art?

During 2009, a still life painted by Henri Matisse was sold at a Christie’s auction for $46 million. The Detroit Institute of Arts owns Poppies, also a […]

April 10, 2014

Why Would the Nigerian GDP Double Overnight?

We might have to say BRINC rather than BRICS. As a developing nation with the highest GDP in Africa, South Africa has been the “S” in […]