Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

The Bottom 10 Performing Immigrant Groups in the US – Lessons Learned

In my last post, I looked at the top ten immigrant groups by country of origin to the US, ranked by their per capita income in the US. In this post, I want to look at the bottom ten countries. Here’s some information on those countries (data sources mentioned at the bottom of the post): […]

The Top 10 Performing Immigrant Groups in the US – Lessons Learned

by Mike Kimel The Top 10 Performing Immigrant Groups in the US – Lessons Learned First, I’d like to apologize. An earlier version of this post was taken down because I sent it with the wrong table. This version has the correct table, and I added a bit of verbage as well. In my last […]

Economic Outcomes of Immigrants v. Their Stay at Home Counterparts: What the Data Shows

by Mike Kimel Economic Outcomes of Immigrants v. Their Stay at Home Counterparts: What the Data Shows In this post, I will test whether people from countries with relatively poor economies also tend to do poorly when they relocate to the United States. As an example, GDP per capita for Haiti is much lower than […]

How Does Diversity Affect Economic Growth?  A Look at Data on Immigration, Tax Rates and Real GDP per Capita

Authored by Mike Kimel In this post, I will explain the annualized growth rate in real GDP per capita using tax rates and the percentage of the population that is foreign born using data for the United States.  The data shows the following: A. the tax rate that maximizes economic growth is higher than you […]

On the Malleability of Cultural Traits – a Look at Irish-British and German-Americans

Authored by Mike Kimel The way the immigration process was structured from 1921 to 1965, 70% of immigrants to the US came from Britain, Germany and Ireland.  In a recent post I noted that the proportion of great writers to scientists in Ireland tended to be a lot higher than for Britain and Germany.  I […]

The British, the Germans and the Irish: A Look at How Traditions Survive Emigration

by Mike Kimel The British, the Germans and the Irish: A Look at How Traditions Survive Emigration Between 1921 and the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act, about 70% of those admitted into the US came from the UK, Ireland, and Germany. In a roundabout way, I want to discuss what that has meant for […]

 “Wrestling With Racism – Are These Questions Racist?”

Authored by Mike Kimel Here’s a story widely reported in England from earlier this year: A black former soldier is suing the Ministry of Defence after he was injured when his hands were exposed to temperatures of -30C during training. Abdoulie Bojang, 30, is suing for £200,000 after he suffered career-ending injuries when he was […]

Punctuality Today v. GDP per Capita Tomorrow; A Look at a Few Countries

Authored by Mike Kimel In this post, I want to demonstrate the importance of a specific cultural trait, namely punctuality, on the economy.  The difficulty, of course, is coming up with a good measure of punctuality, and in particular, one that isn’t regularly gamed. Digging around, I found a paper entitled The Pace of Life […]