Monday, April 30, 2018

Wrap Up for April 2018

Given recent discussions re price level targeting, how might this approach have fared if it were utilized in 2008?

When scale no longer matters

Work, broadly interpreted

If arguments re rents are correct, there is "nothing intrinsic to capitalism" in today's inequality.

Jordan Greenhall explores some root issues with social media.

From a McKinsey interview with Andrew McAfee:
I think worrying about alleged permanent monopolies in the technology industry is to profoundly ignore the  lessons of history.
Indeed, one of history's lessons in this regard, are the railroad monopolies of an earlier era in America. Even as many became determined to "do something" about such monopolies, the railroad companies which had brought such progress to the nation, were nonetheless eclipsed in mid twentieth century by automobiles, trucks, and airplanes.

"...family-oriented units are in fact overrepresented in the housing stock."

Trying to tax one kind of income is likely to fail.

Recent mergers are particularly affecting primary care.

Hopefully I'll live long enough to see these developments improve building and infrastructure technology.

There's a good reason why today's trend growth rate is slower.

Roads changed life as we knew it in the 20th century.

Recall that if future work only compensates around 25% at core level with full benefits, that more college education than what is already occurring, may not be the answer. The U.S. diverged from other advanced nations in terms of labour force participation, after 2000.

Even though manufacture is no longer the sole way forward for advanced nations, we need a better understanding how services can contribute to wealth creation and long term growth.

"...over the last 40 years, several social, political and economic forces have hit America's heartland especially hard"

Concerns regarding government budgetary debt loads could return within the next five years...

Some states are experiencing more growth in low income occupational licensing, than others.

When comparing states and/or nations, differences in inequality are particularly differences in productivity.  "It's not the result of what share of the pie goes to capital and what size of the pie goes to labor. It is differences in the size of the pie."I would add that in advanced nations, the pie can be compressed in ways difficult to observe because of quality or input demands in relation to output.

Tuition costs rise, as "enrollment levels are flat or declining"

By the 2000s, his causes had already become less relevant to many citizens.
The 2008 financial crisis...made mincemeat of the supply-side optimism that had been Ryan's credo, and which increasingly lost ground to a more zero-sum politics pitting makers against takers...
Sometimes you learn more about economic circumstance in casual conversation, than in conferences designed for that purpose.

The non rival nature of IP could generate economic dynamism, if we would only let it...

A simple chart which shows how productivity has been lost.

"There is a very important and neglected aspect of healthcare, which is to make it practical, understandable, and workable for real people."

"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants"
Diane Coyle's essay in "The Prospect" is particularly good. And Roger Farmer writes:
Homoeconomicus brought understanding that was central to the neoclassical project. But his introduction to economics came at the cost of splitting economics off from sociology which retained the idea that our preferences are formed through social interaction.
The problem for the latter, is that group preferences have been approached in ways that make it difficult for the individual to negotiate for personal preferences with others in our non tradable sector settings. I'm convinced that the designation of time as an economic unit, could help solve this problem.

Colleges are beginning to blend the physical and the digital.

"AI lowers the cost of knowledge by orders of magnitude." Humanity "disrupted", or humanity "enhanced"?

Rising debt levels are beginning to impact long term growth potential.

"Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2018 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined."

"Compared with the previous peak in 2009, the world is now 12 percent of GDP deeper in debt."

How much do noncompete agreements affect declining start up rates?

The globalization trilemma outcome appears quite different today, than what seemed likely at the turn of the century.

Opportunity Zones: What choices have states made so far?

Where does AI currently hold the most potential?

It helps to reinforce what people are already doing right.

The trend lines tell the story...

"Marriage and social connections may prove even more valuable than education."

An exploration of places where American still holds promise.

From Brookings:
"How artificial intelligence is transforming the world"

Even though - as a former bookseller - I wasn't happy about book sales shifting to online settings, there was no denying how the overall marketplace became better represented, once aggregate supply came into sharper focus.

"The rise of the self-employed presents an intellectual challenge as much as a practical one."

From page 6:
"In our model, education policies that focus on test scores tend to increase cognitive human capital, but create dis-incentives against non-cognitive human capital and may decrease its quantity in the aggregate economy." The authors refer to "non-cognitive human capital" essentially as leadership, co-operation, and communication abilities.

"Funding for residency training has been frozen since 1997..."

Americans are hoarding money in their checking accounts - and that could be a problem
"The average consumer checking balance has increased in 23 of the past 30 quarters."

"Liberating a project from budgetary and public debt constraints can work wonders."

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