Economics

Arithmetically Correct Lie

April 19, 2012 Data

Last week, Mitt Romney repeatedly said that women have lost 92.3% (note the precision of the “.3”) of the jobs since Obama became President. The arithmetic is correct. But there’s no need to be polite and call it “misleading.” It’s a lie, a deliberate attempt to mislead. How ironic for a guy who made so […]

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The Patient is Recovering, but not Recovered

April 13, 2012 Economics

The Census data regarding state tax collections are now in for 2011. Here’s the report from Governing Magazine and here’s a summary quote: Total tax collections jumped in all 50 states last fiscal year, with oil-rich areas pocketing significant additional revenues. State financial data released today by the Census Bureau shows governments collected $763.7 billion […]

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From Sustainability to Resilience?

April 2, 2012 Economics

Ali Hibbs points us to Is it Too Late for Sustainable Development? On March 2, 1972, a team of experts from MIT presented a groundbreaking report called The Limits to Growth to scientists, journalists and others assembled at the Smithsonian Castle. Released days later in book form, the study was one of the first to […]

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Wyckoff Heights, New York State, the PPACA, and the Supreme Court: What’s the Connection?

March 26, 2012 Economics

Yesterday in Once Again, Why Universal Coverge, I re-wrote what I written in 2005 and in other terms, even earlier: Because we take the half-step of expecting the healthcare system to provide care to all, but don’t go all the way, we have instead a hidden and half-baked system. The lack of universal coverage provides […]

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Significant Decline in Employment Based Health Benefits Resulted from the Great Recession

March 21, 2012 Economics

Employment based health benefits have been declining steadily, but significantly for a long time. But the recent “Great Recession” accelerated that decline much more than my pessimistic self anticipated. From the National Institute for Health Care Reform (a non-profit established by the International Union, UAW; Chrysler Group LLC; Ford Motor Company; and General Motors): Between […]

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New Health Plan Deliberately Excludes High Cost Hospitals & Other Providers

March 21, 2012 Economics

By Robert Weisman from the Boston Globe: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is teaming up with more than 50 hospitals and 16,500 doctors across the state to offer Massachusetts employers and their workers a 10 percent savings on health insurance by forming what they call a “focused network’’ of medical care groups that excludes Partners HealthCare […]

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Inflation Adjusted Earnings Declined in February

March 16, 2012 Earnings

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning: REAL EARNINGS FEBRUARY 2012 All employees Real average hourly earnings for all employees fell 0.3 percent from January 2012 to February 2012, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. A 0.1 percent increase in the average hourly earnings was more than offset by a […]

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Bits & Pieces

March 16, 2012 Economics

Today’s Grab Bag More “Winner Take All” Economics Sports star economics comes to the law profession. Dewey & LeBoeuf, the result of a 2007 merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Star economics was the subject of Robert Frank’s 1995 book, the Winner Take All Society. Frank’s argument was that partly because […]

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Moneyball: Maybe it’s the Geek in Me. Maybe Because it Saved Me.

February 25, 2012 Data

Tomorrow night’s the Oscar awards ceremony and I have a favorite. We’re movie goers and usually analyze them pretty carefully. Well, even if I didn’t think it was a good movie, Moneyball would be my sentimental favorite. Fortunately, it is a good movie. But I owe them. Here’s why. Michael Lewis has been a favorite […]

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A More Accurate & Richer Way to Think about Economic Growth, Budgets, & Other Forecasts

February 9, 2012 Economics

In the past four years, Nate Silver has done more than anyone else I can think of to bring the world of probability and statistics to the realms of politics. Oh, everyone reads polls, but Silver introduced a wider audience to many subtleties and to how to combine multiple polls into richer and more reliable […]

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