Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
If you’re born into the poorest quintile, and don’t get a college degree, you have a 32% chance of making it into the middle class or above (top 3 quintiles). That rises to 62% if you get a college degree. Getting a college degree doubles your chance of having a successful life (if having a … Continue reading Education Is Destiny: Educated Poor Do As Well As The Lazy Rich
Economist Brad DeLong weighs in with a brilliantly clear explanation of the Geithner Plan. The most interesting part is where he compares the economics of the plan to the costs of hiring hedge fund managers on the standard 2% management fee/20% carry system. You should read the whole thing, but the first two paragraphs alone … Continue reading Brad DeLong Explains The Geithner Plan
Photo provided by JOE M500“Dear Global Economy, we thank thee for thy economies of scale, thy professional specialization, and thy international networks of trade under Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage, without which we would all starve to death while trying to assemble the ingredients for such a dinner as this. Amen.” Courtesy of the always … Continue reading The Economist’s Thanksgiving Prayer
The ruling Democrats have a choice: Rescue this economy to return it to market control. Or use this crisis to seize the commanding heights of the economy for the greater social good. Note: The latter has already been tried. The results are filed under “History, ash heap of.” —Charles Krauthammer
That’s what a recent study purports to show, at least according to attention-grabbing headlines in the mainstream media.Judge and UF colleague Beth Livingston analyzed information from interviews of nearly 8,000 individuals, ages 14 to 22, at the study’s start in 1979. Interviews also took place in 1982, 1987 and 2004. The participants were part of … Continue reading Do Sexists Earn More Money?
A quick roundup of some interesting posts:Megan McArdle of The Atlantic tears Obama a new one for pandering to the populists by criticizing the Bush administration for the credit crunch:What, specifically, should the Bush administration have done, Senator? Don’t tell me they should have beefed up SEC enforcement, since this is not a criminal problem … Continue reading Daily Political Roundup: Credit Crunch Pandering and Democratic Dumbassery
“We’ve had a number of recessions in this country; in fact, we had a Great Depression, we had world wars. And throughout, the genius of the American economy, our emphasis on a meritocracy and a market system and a rule of law has enabled generation after generation to live better than their parents did. And, … Continue reading Quote of the Day: Warren Buffett on American and Unleasing Human Potential
My old friend Bill Burnham has an outstanding post up explaining just how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended up in their current pickle. I highly recommend checking it out. “Fannie’s drive to lower underwriting standards had created a pool of mortgage debt with a much higher level of embedded moral hazard risk as well … Continue reading The Real Reason Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Are In Trouble
I’ve got a monster essay up at AskTheHarvardMBA.com: http://www.asktheharvardmba.com/2008/05/03/is-global-economics-a-zero-sum-game/ In it, I explain why global economics is not a zero-sum game, how cavemen can illustrate both the power of innovation and comparative advantage, and how competition from Japanese automakers is a huge net positive for America (though they did cause some collateral damage–to wit, the … Continue reading Cavemen and Autoworkers: Why Economics (and trade) are NOT a zero-sum game