The Wall Street Journal has an article today about the rising student debt burdens of the well-off. In the article, the WSJ details findings from the newest Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. Among households in the 80th-95th income percentile — the WSJ’s definition of “upper-middle-income households” — 25.6 percent had student loan debt in… Continue reading Student debt disproportionately burdens the well-off
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s take on microfoundations
A macroeconomic theory is said to be microfounded if it can be reduced to the actions of individual economic agents (that being what microeconomics focuses on). A short while ago, the topic of microfoundations ripped through the economics blogging community. Most of the heavy hitters in the community weighed in on whether microfoundations really matters… Continue reading Kwame Anthony Appiah’s take on microfoundations
The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and the Judy Miller Problem
The Romney camp and its academic lackeys released a new white paper detailing some of Romney’s economic ideas and policies. In one part of the report, we are treated to an academic effort to codify the otherwise hand-waiving hysteria about economic uncertainty. The GOP uses the idea of economic uncertainty to get out of recognizing… Continue reading The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and the Judy Miller Problem
The tricky causation of single mother poverty and inequality
In my previous post, I argued that the wage gap — the difference in income between similarly situated men and women — is more important an issue than generally regarded. In addition to its sexist nature, the wage gap significantly contributes to poverty. On the most extreme end, the incidence of poverty among single mothers… Continue reading The tricky causation of single mother poverty and inequality
The gender pay gap really does matter
Feminism has evolved significantly in the last few decades. Gone are the milquetoast second-wave emphases on liberal equality. The newest approach focuses on the overlapping oppression suffered by all sorts of identity groups. As part of this shift, certain issues have been discarded, and others de-emphasized. For instance, the rather white upper-class concerns about the… Continue reading The gender pay gap really does matter