New post at Policy Shop. Excerpt: A less notable excuse has been that our unemployment woes are structural—the skills employees have are not the skills employers want—and therefore economic stimulus wont do much to solve our unemployment problem. The STEM myth has been a major element of this structural unemployment theory, at least when it… Continue reading Policy Shop: The STEM Myth
Author: Matt Bruenig
Student debt and the macroeconomy
Mike Konczal is out with a post today about the macroeconomic effects of student debt, a post he briefly foreshadowed in our comment blood bath a couple of days ago about an unrelated matter. In the post, Konczal relies on a recent New York Fed report about the borrowing habits (specifically around car loans and… Continue reading Student debt and the macroeconomy
Who does US austerity benefit?
A classic way to figure out why something is happening politically is to follow the money. It does not always work (ideas do matter), but it is at least a good starting point. Here is a survey of people who have been said to benefit from austerity, and my analysis (usually confusion) as to how… Continue reading Who does US austerity benefit?
How badly do 4-year public and private schools skew rich?
The National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey has a breakdown of what types of students make up each kind of postsecondary school. I have been interested for some time in the breakdown of undergraduates by household income, and it provides those numbers (p. 72 of the pdf). There is a lot in the survey and I… Continue reading How badly do 4-year public and private schools skew rich?
More interesting tumblr arguments
I was intrigued by how well my Fascinating tumblr arguments post did traffic-wise. Apparently I am not alone in finding it interesting. Here I detail another engaging argument I’ve tried to keep track of on tumblr, this one about the appropriate status of transwomen within feminism. At the heart of the dispute is this question:… Continue reading More interesting tumblr arguments