US Department of Labor on Menstruation
The US Department of Labor claims menstruation affects half the U.S. workforce. This is wrong. In fact, menstruation only affects 34.2%. Continue Reading →
Category Archives: Goofs
After dustup at Reddit, looks like Kleiner Perkins was right about Ellen Pao Continue Reading →
Happy to be Wrong About TPA
Like every economist worthy of the name I favor free trade. But I also predicted that TPA would never make it to the Oval Office. I was wrong, but in this case I’m happy to be wrong about TPA. Mea culpa. Continue Reading →
KPCC and the Supermarket Guru Jointly Fail
It seems to me there is a simpler and more direct explanation: demand. Higher prices for any product reduce quantity demanded. And for a specific item such as beef, demand elasticity is likely to be fairly high. The reason firms are not raising retail prices is simple: it would not be profitable because they would lose more unit sales than they would gain from the higher price. Continue Reading →
The Problems at Staples Are Not Rising Online Sales
There are problems at Staples, but they begin with the online ordering system. Closing 225 stores does nothing to solve the real problem. I know it will be quite a while before I shop at Staples.com again. Continue Reading →
Yet Another Labor Force Participation Rate Error
In fact, retiring baby boomers is exactly the wrong explanation for the declining LFPR. The main source of the decline is among the 16-34 age group, but the 35-44 age group also shows a small decline. Continue Reading →
Free Lunch, Carbon Tax Edition
For the moment, I’ll ignore the redistribution problems with this plan. And I’ll even agree that cutting income taxes stimulates the economy. But what about the tax increase? If implemented as described, net tax revenue will be zero — and that is also exactly the size of the net tax cut. And a net tax cut of zero has zero impact on the economy, no matter what size tax multiplier you apply. Continue Reading →
What Is A “Rigid Market?”
The real problem in 1973 was the price controls on gasoline that kept the legal ceiling price below equilibrium. Quantity demanded exceeded quantity supplied and some form of non-price rationing was required. In this case, it was one of the most common forms, namely queues. Period. No economist worthy of the name doubts this. How Marketplace can get things this wrong is, well, a wonderment. Continue Reading →
There’s No Such Thing As a Free Lunch
I won’t comment on “nature knows best” except to say that Mr. Commoner apparently never encountered a rattlesnake, ebola, or an active volcano. He needed to get out more. Continue Reading →
Social Security Fail
Do I really have to wait until I’m 6,508 years old? Continue Reading →