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1500 questions
38
votes
5 answers
Did real incomes drop significantly since the 1950s?
From what I heard, in 1950s America, you didn't have to go to college to support a large family and a stay-at-home wife. People could buy houses easily, drove giant cars and didn't worry about gas prices.
Did real incomes drop significantly since…
MWB
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38
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3 answers
Is a universal basic income possible in the United States?
Is a universal basic income or unconditional demogrant possible in the United States? (For the sake of specificity I have focused the question on the US, though the question is certainly interesting in all settings.)
It seems that without some…
jmbejara
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37
votes
6 answers
If someone goes for a haircut, does it increase GDP?
If I go for a haircut, am I causing the GDP to rise because consumption is rising?
ROHAN PAUL
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37
votes
10 answers
Why do we need to "get the economy moving again"?
Sorry I have no background in economics but as a computer programmer, I specialise in building models out of simple math and logic, so I hope we can speak the same language without having to get into too much economic jargon.
Consider the following…
Andy
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35
votes
9 answers
Are there any non-paywalled reputable economics journals?
I'm contributing to another open-source economics project, and was looking to compile a list of primary sources for modern developments in the field.
Basically something to help bridge the (occasionally decades long) time lag between what's taught…
Jason Nichols
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33
votes
3 answers
Why aren't house prices included in CPI?
Swedens central bank recently lowered their prime rate to -0.25% from -0.10% in an effort to avoid deflation.
At the same time, house and apartment prices are higher than ever, up 11% last 12 months, and up hundreds of percents the last 5-10 years.…
Mårten
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33
votes
6 answers
What benefits do governments receive from not eliminating debt?
Most major economies have substantial government debt; for example among the OECD countries the lowest debt rate is Estonia with around 6% of GDP. Now we may be in a global recession at the moment, but even during the more prosperous times of the…
curiousdannii
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33
votes
6 answers
Why do celebrities get high wages?
In the youtube video Why We Look down on Low Wage Earners the author argued: "economics states that wages are determined [...] by the number of people willing and being able to do a given job that others won't do." (video at 1:00). While this…
Stephan Kulla
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32
votes
8 answers
If no one knew about inflation, would inflation take place?
I’m not an economist and would like some insight into this thought experiment. If people, the news, social media, etc. suddenly stopped talking about inflation, would inflation still take place? Inflation is a money supply issue(?) so, if no one…
GMoss
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32
votes
2 answers
How can I obtain Leontief and Cobb-Douglas production function from CES function?
In most Microeconomics textbooks it is mentioned that the Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function,
$$Q=\gamma[a K^{-\rho} +(1-a) L^{-\rho} ]^{-\frac{1}{\rho}}$$
(where the elasticity of substitution is $\sigma = \frac…
Huseyin
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32
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3 answers
What has caused the recent 25% unemployment rate in Spain?
The unemployment rate in Spain has recently been fluctuating around 25%.
What has caused this?
Gergely
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31
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4 answers
Are there historical cases of country A printing the currency of country B for the main purpose of economic warfare?
I recently read in a news article that a large amount of Libyan banknotes printed in Russia were seized in Malta following an order coming from the USA. Both Russia and the USA have geostrategic interests in this part of the world so I assume this…
Genorme
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31
votes
3 answers
How to intuitively understand the 'Intuitive criterion'?
The intuitive criterion by Cho and Kreps is a refinement to minimise the set of perfect Bayesian equilibria in signalling games. What would a simple and intuitive example to explain this criterion be? Assume any undergrad student should be easily…
Bravo
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31
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4 answers
From an economics perspective, what are the ramifications of a currency with fixed money supply?
I'm thinking specifically of bitcoins.
What are the pros and cons of having a fixed number of coins, as opposed to more "normal" currencies? Would the currency have no inflation?
Jason Nichols
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31
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10 answers
A law against selling any house cheaper than it was bought for, what consequences would that have?
I'm looking for a more general and principled answer and use Scandinavia today only as a sketchy example of the kind of scenario I'm asking about.
I live in Scandinavia where house prices has had an uninterrupted bubble boom during a quarter of a…
LocalFluff
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