Bad Reporting On Latest Sveriges Riksbank Prize In Memory Of Nobel
Bad Reporting On Latest Sveriges Riksbank Prize In Memory Of Nobel
So the recipients are half of it to David Card for his 1994 study with the late Alan Krueger, who committed suicide not too long ago, on minimum wages, and how raising them might actually sometimes increase employment. The other half was split between Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens for developing econometric techniques for studying natural experiments, such as differences in differences, with a 1992 paper on compulsory education by them cited. Card and Krueger also used this.
Anyway, I learned of the award on the radio this morning at 9 AM, CBS News, not a cockamamie outfit usually. The report stated (roughly) “Three American labor economists received the Nobel Prize for studies of immigration and its effects.” That was it, their names were not provided. As it is, Card has done some such studies, and when I began guessing who it might be, his name was on my list. But the others were David Autor and George Borjas, even though the latter’s studies on the subject disagree with the former’s such studies. But the committee has given contradictory awards before, e.g. Mydal and Hayek, not to mention Fama and Shiller. So, it was not out of the question.
But clearly, they were way off on several counts. I know immigration is a hot issue, so any mention of that in the awards apparently got the attention, even though, heck, the minimum wage is also a pretty big and current issue. What can I say, but more evidence of the further decline in the quality of media in general, not just the increasing insanity happening on a lot of social media. When the regular media cannot get simple things right, what hope is there for social media?
Barkley Rosser
I heard about it on NPR. They did a better job, albeit from a low bar.
FWIW: If minimum wage raises are bad for labor, then, any wage raise must be bad for labor. Saith my favorite Nobel candidate: James Riddle Hoffa. 🙂
As a side note, one was born in the US, one in Canada, one in the Netherlands and although all work in the US now, here in Canada we are taking full credit for David Card!
And the one born in the US (Angrist) happens to be a dual citizen in US and Israel.