Explaining the plummeting gas prices

My latest Rappler article (after a 9-month hiatus) seems to be a hit!

Post by Rappler.

Harsh conditions in Apple's supply chain

A perfect illustration of the difficulties of transitioning from agriculture to industry/manufacturing.

Link fiesta (12.15.14)

1. OECD: inequality curbs growth. (here, here, here, here)
2. "Debate" among top econ journals seems to have peaked in the 1960s and have been falling ever since. (link)
3. Behavioral economics among development economists. (link)
4. Decomposing TFP into consumption TFP and investment TFP. (link)
5. It seems many economists don't clean up their code. (link)
6. A history of the error term in TS econometrics. (link)
7. Compilation of latest research on the minimum wage. (link)
8. Uber updates. (link)
9. On the limits of cross-country regressions. (link)
10. Oil prices as an indicator of global economic conditions. (link)
1. "...of the observed 45% decline in the price of oil, 19 percentage points– more than 2/5– might be reflecting new indications of weakness in the global economy."
2. The latest on US oil production. (link, link)

2014 Nobel lecture of Jean Tirole

Link fiesta (12.8.14)

1. Some claim that by end of 2014 China will be the largest economy in the world (i.e., in PPP terms). Time to rewrite the textbooks, yet again? (link)
2. Quick tips on making research presentations. (link)
3. "Christmas economics: a sleigh ride". (link)
4. New book on the economics of causality (brought to you by the authors of Mostly Harmless Econometrics). (link)
5. Amy Finkelstein's new book on moral hazard in the insurance industry. (link)
6. Ronald Coase's impact on economics. (link)
7. Creative destruction at work: how video stores survive in the age of Netflix. (link)
8. How technology can reduce income inequality in the future. (link)
9. The median household income in the US is declining, due to demographics changes and the decline in work hours per household. (link)
10. The US has surpassed Saudi's oil production in the past 22 months. (link)
11. The US divorce rate has also been declining. (link)
12. PhD comics: How profs spend their time.
13. Secular stagnation in the US. (link, link)
14. Because of competition from Uber, medallion prices in NYC are declining. (link)

I drafted this speech!

Sec. Balisacan's keynote message at the Angara Centre-Metrobank Fdn. Roundtable Discussion on the ASEAN Integration http://t.co/6MvYzlm2qi
— NEDA Central Office (@NEDAhq) December 5, 2014

Link fiesta (12.4.14)

1. World Bank on the economic impact of Ebola. (link)
1. Hans Rosling takes on Ebola in Liberia. (link)
2. Is blogging/tweeting about research papers worth it? (link)
3. Capuchin monkeys are not fooled by Veblen goods. (link)
4. How the West is winning the war against teen pregnancies: 
1. "...the declines are not due to teenagers having less sex. As in the US, the improvement appears to be related to more widespread use of contraceptives, which Ingham says is due to better sex education in schools". (link)
5. Sociologists vs. economists, redux: 
1. "Sociologists are fighting what they perceive to be an intellectual battle against economists over whose description of social phenomena - discrimination, family life, etc. etc. - is going to be accepted by society. And it is asymmetric warfare. Sociologists, by (sometimes) continuing to use the tools of literary "critical theory", have brought a nerf gun to a tank fight. We live in a quantitative, data-driven age..." (link)
6. Troubling graph of the day: a flattening of TFP or mismeasurement problems? (link)

Link fiesta (12.3.14)

1. Sexual divide in technological unemployment: "So, while men were increasing their leisure, women were increasing their market work. Combining men and women, you would not see a decline in market work." (link)
2. Behavioral political economy. (link)
3. Political economy of Bitcoin. (link)
4. The superiority of economists: "Taken together, these traits constitute what we call the superiority of economists, where economists’ objective supremacy is intimately linked with their subjective sense of authority and entitlement." (link)
1. Even more: "According to the authors, economists see themselves at the top of the social science disciplinary hierarchy given their view of other social science disciplines as having less powerful analytical tools, their role in public policy debate and discourse and the fact that they command some of the highest levels of compensation particularly in American arts and science faculties. Economics emphasizes quantitative reasoning (interpreted as a sign of higher intellectual capabilities), is male dominated and rather insular in its relationship with the other social sciences. Indeed, according to the authors, it is the rise of the field of finance and business school connections that are the main purveyors of ‘interdisciplinary’ references for economics." (link)
5. Economics of Seinfeld. (link)
6. Dr. Albert: The costs and benefits of Pantawid Pamilya. (Rappler)

UPSE 50th Anniversary Promo

One word: OMG.

Who pays for the US gov't?

Apparently the richest quintile. (Link.)