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

Why Economists Are Bad At Economics

by Sandwichman Why Economists Are Bad At Economics If you want an informed, thoughtful analysis of the effects of robotization on productivity, investment, employment and wages, ask an art school professor. Jason E. Smith’s two-part series, “Nowhere to Go: Automation, Then and Now,” (part one and part two) at Brooklyn Rail cuts through all the […]

The Murder Rate – A Regression with Many Variables

In this post, I want to look at the murder rate, by state. I ran a regression with the state murder rate for 2015 as the dependent variable, and literally threw the kitchen sink at it: demographics, weaponry, income, education, population density, etc. Basically, if its something some reasonable percentage of the population believes matters, […]

How Between-Firm Inequality Drives Economic and Social Inequality

Conversable Economist takes an interesting look at inequality: (worth a look…hat tip Spencer England) How Between-Firm Inequality Drives Economic and Social Inequality “The real engine fueling rising income inequality is `firm inequality’: In an increasingly winner-take-all or at least winner-take-most economy, the best-educated and most-skilled employees cluster inside the most successful companies, their incomes rising […]