Featured
- 7 days
Trending
1 Congestion Pricing in Manhattan: About to Arrive?
Timothy Taylor2 Some Economics of Tipping
Timothy Taylor3 The Reality Behind GDP Growth, Inflation, and Fiscal Policy
Daniel Lacalle4 How Fast Are Americans Drawing Down Their Pandemic Savings?
Timothy Taylor5 Iceland Welcomes Danone's Formula Price Cut, Advocates Broader Support for Families
Riddhi Doshi
Search
Most Read
- 3 years
Climate Summit 2021: President Joe Biden Announces the United States Will Aim to Cut Carbon Emissions by as Much as 52% by 2030
- 6 years
Economics of World War I
- 5 years
"You Cannot Convict Your Opponent of Error; You Can Only Convince Him Of It"
- 5 months
“Academic” Freedom Has an Adjective in Front of the Noun
- 2 years
“Economics is the Social Science of Love”
- 5 months
“Spend Now, Deal with The Consequences Later” Is the Worst Policy
- 4 years
100 Million Traffic Stops: Evidence on Racial Discrimination
- 4 years
1957: When Machines that Think, Learn, and Create Arrived
- 7 months
2023’s Most Popular Bitcoin Alternatives
- 1 year
4 Ways to Keep Food Prices Low Amid Inflation & Cost of Living Crisis
- 11 months
5 Things The Government Can Do To Boost Innovation
- 6 years
8 Downside Risks to Indian Economy in 2018
- 3 years
A “Medicare Funding Warning” from the Trustees
- 6 years
A Bee Industry Update: Colony Collapse Disorder and Almond Pollination
- 4 years
A Bounce Is Not A Recovery
More in Global Economy
Black-White Income and Wealth Gaps
Black-white gaps in income and in wealth have been fearsomely persistent over time. Here, I'll mention some main themes from two studies, one focused on income differentials and one on wealth differentials.
- 8
Nudge Policies
A considerable body of evidence suggests that people's decisions are affected by how a choice is presented, or what the default option looks like. There's a reason that grocery stores put some products at eye-level and some near the floor, or why the staples like milk and eggs are often far from the door (so you have to walk through the store to grab them), or why the checkout counters have nearby racks of candy. There's a reason that gas stations sometimes advertise that gas is 5 cents a gallon less if you pay cash, but never advertise that gas is 5 cents more per gallon if you don't pay cash. There's a reason that many people have their employer automatically deduct money from paychecks for their retirement accounts, rather than trying to make their own monthly or annual payments to that same account.
- 3
Homeownership Rates: Some International Comparisons
High-income countries vary considerably in the share of households that own their own homes, The US rate of homeownership was about average by international standards 20-25 years ago, but now is below the average. Here are some facts from Laurie S. Goodman and Christopher Mayer, "Homeownership and the American Dream" in the Winter 2018 issue of Journal of Economic Perspectives (32:1, pp. 31-58).
- 7
The Problem of College Completion Rates
There's one event that very often turns college enrollment into a poor financial decision with a negative payoff: not completing a degree. Then that happens, the student has spent both money and some years of time in a program that not only offers little financial payoff, but may also leave them saddled with student loans to repay for years to come. More broadly, society's investment in higher education isn't paying off. Two DC think-tanks, ThirdWay and the American Enterprise Institute, have published a set of five readable papers on the subject:
- 4
US Homeownership Patterns
Homeownership rates in the US rebounded a bit in 2017, but remain near historically low levels. This is a source of concern for a number of reasons: homeownership is a savings vehicle that has worked for a number of households over time; being a homeowner encourages people to look after and contribute to their neighborhoods; and homeownership is part of that loose vision of the good life sometimes called the "American dream." I'll draw on evidence presented in The State of the Nation's Housing 2018, the 30th version of an report produced annually by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. For those who want an overview of US housing markets, including issues of rental markets and low-income affordability, it's a good place to start. Here, I'll focus on homeownership patterns.
- 6
The Medical Bankruptcies Debate
The debate over the extent to which uninsured medical costs lead to personal bankruptcies is interesting for a couple of reasons. In terms of social science, it shows the difference between a naive reading of survey data and an actual research design. In terms of politics, it shows the allure of a more glamorous and striking claim, even when incorrect, over a similar claim that is less flashy but actually true.
- 8
Brainstorming Anti-Poverty Programs
There are legitimate concerns about how the poverty line is set. It was set back in the early 1960s and adjusted for inflation since then, but without regard for other changes in the economy.
- 5
Follow us
On social Media
Download our app
Download our app for iPhone and Android
BBN Times connects decision makers to you. Experts in their fields, worth listening to, are the ones who write our articles. We believe these are the real commentators of the future. We quickly and accurately deliver serious information around the world. BBN Times provides its readers human expertise to find trusted answers by providing a platform and a voice to anyone willing to know more about the latest trends. Stay tuned, the revolution has begun.