Labor

March 21, 2014

The One Big Reason We Can’t Really Cut the Federal Deficit

It is tough to be a deficit hawk.   Rather than our typical spike in wartime spending, we have a peacetime deficit. (Please note that the federal […]

March 16, 2014

What We Sacrifice for Pothole Patches

With 150,000 more potholes than last year and $12 for each temporary patch, Chicago has spent close to $3 million on pothole repair and the end […]

March 13, 2014

More Expensive Ice Cream?

Milk prices are going up. And yet, in the US, we are drinking less milk. According to Corey Geiger, managing editor of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine, one reason is […]

March 11, 2014

Venezuela Has Cheap Gas But No Cars

At the official exchange rate, Venezuelans pay 5 cents a gallon for premium gasoline while the real price is closer to one half penny a gallon. The […]

March 10, 2014

One Reason That We Need Gender Equity in TV and Film

Our Monday Gender Issue: Citing “gender inertia,” San Diego University professor Martha Lauzen said that: “If you have all white males working behind the scenes in […]

March 5, 2014

Is the Price of Protecting Pandas Too High?

By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School This summer, I had an incredible opportunity to travel through China including a stop to […]

February 27, 2014

B(T)FF… Best Trading Friends Forever

We can say that Mexico believes her top trading partner is the United States because the value of her exports to the US (2013: $370,826,831) added to the […]

February 26, 2014

Tall and Short Populations

Princeton economist Angus Deaton estimates that it will take 500 years for Indian women to reach the height of English women. In The Great Escape, Dr. […]

February 23, 2014

The Plight of the Night Owl

I must start with my bias. I am a night owl. So too were Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin, James Joyce and Glenn Gould. In one […]

February 16, 2014

What Can We Learn From Downton Abbey Economics?

Downton Abbey can tell us a lot about the British economy…but not everything. We know the aristocracy is struggling. Many of the 700 families who had […]

February 13, 2014

Problems With Grade Deflation

The number of hours we study is down and our grades are up. Between 1961 and 2003, full time college students diminished their study time from […]

February 12, 2014

The Cost of Conservation

By Madeleine Vance, guest blogger and student at Kent Place School. Saving water is supposed to allow us to cut down costs. For the drought-stricken city […]