Grading and Firing

Sunday Reading - 2/24

Mexican Economic Prowess

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-mexico-got-back-in-the-game.html

South Korea – In Search of a New Growth Model

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/reviving-economic-growth-in-south-korea-by-wonsik-choi-and-richard-dobbs

US Healthcare Debacle:

Time Magazine Cover Story on Exploding Cost of Medical Care

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/print/

Fixes for High Healthcare Costs

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/overcoming-obstacles-to-better-health-care.html

Dalrymple on the British Empire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/23/apologising-amritsar-teach-british-empire

Technology Unemployment

An interesting piece by Skidelsky:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-future-of-work-in-a-world-of-automation-by-robert-skidelsky

He notes:

“In the early nineteenth century, David Ricardo considered the possibility that machines would replace labor; Karl Marx followed him. Around the same time, the Luddites smashed the textile machinery that they saw as taking their jobs.

Then the fear of machines died away. New jobs – at higher wages, in easier conditions, and for more people – were soon created and readily found. But that does not mean that the initial fear was wrong. On the contrary, it must be right in the very long run: sooner or later, we will run out of jobs.”

A Great Profile of Stanley Fischer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/15/stan-fischer-saved-israels-economy-can-he-save-americas/

It is unlikely that Fischer will succeed Bernanke as the Fed chairman (Janet Yellen is the favorite). His contributions to the field of macroeconomics are, however, extraordinary.

Debate Regarding Minimum Wage Laws

The Debate Regarding Minimum Wages

As ever, proposals to change the minimum wage law are generating considerable debate. Here is a sampling of perspectives regarding the US federal minimum wage law:

Pro

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/the-case-for-a-higher-minimum-wage.html

Opposed

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324616604578302153328738108.html

Earlier piece related to the issue

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/along-the-minimum-wage-battle-front/

Interesting Items - Feb 13

David Brooks Makes Some Excellent Points Regarding the US Economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/opinion/brooks-carpe-diem-nation.html

Another Example of the Ineffectiveness of Government Subsidies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ig-grant-money-for-battery-company-not-been-managed-effectively/2013/02/13/b07c626a-75e3-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html

New Inventions Do Not Necessarily Improve Quality of Life

Shashi Tharoor eloquently articulates what some of us really feel:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/blocking-the-e-mail-tsunami-by-shashi-tharoor

“Indeed, there is an inverse relationship between the difficulty and expense of communication, on one hand, and the quality of what is communicated, on the other. When telegraph operators were paid by the word, and there was always the risk of garbled transmissions, messages were crisp, succinct, and to the point. When neither length nor complexity affects the cost of a message, however, the field is open for irrelevant and unnecessary communication.”

G7 Committed to Flexible Exchange Rates

Laughable

On US Education

On US Education

An extraordinary open letter

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/09/a-warning-to-college-profs-from-a-high-school-teacher/

Related piece:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_of_the_year/2010/01/teachers_should_be_seen_and_no.html

Interesting Sunday Reading

A Thoughtful Piece from Greg Mankiw:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/business/how-economics-has-benefited-from-immigration.html

Economics of Happiness

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/money-changes-everything.html

Analyst Ratings, Momentum Trading and Market Efficiency

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/business/following-a-herd-of-bulls-on-apples-stock.html

World’s Top Merchandise Goods Trader

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-09/china-passes-u-s-to-become-the-world-s-biggest-trading-nation.html