When we think about the study of economics, we usually think of the mathematical models we were taught in high school and college. The entire corpus of economic studies has been founded on the notion of people as predictable, “rational” actors. Neuroeconomics, a relatively new field that is acquiring more and more intellectual currency, closely studies human behavior and its influences, based largely on stunning advances made in neuroscience over the past few years. (Post by Lauren Bailey)
Amid all of the talk about unemployment duration and the unemployment rate is a little known ratio, touched upon in this Wall Street Journal editorial. You’re curious, however – because the unemployment rate calculation has been messed around with quite a bit, how does it line up with the ratio? Lucky for you, I’ve got a graph here.
The incidence of a tax (who truly pays for it) is very significant in welfare analysis. Cameron Daniels analyzes this concept using the real life example of gas prices.
I recently posted on the ‘Bush Tax Cuts’, however, as Dr. Mark Perry points out, another way of looking at the Bush tax law is the ‘Bush tax hike’! Compared to the top marginal rate under Bush I and Reagan, the Bush II tax ‘cuts’ had a higher marginal tax rate on the highest bracket. In fact, as one of Dr. Perry’s commentators points out, the 2011 retirement of the Bush tax law could be considered another ‘Bush Tax Hike’ – as President Bush was the one who put an expiration date on the law.
How about this title in the Wall Street Journal? “Credit Cards Take From Poor, Give to the Rich” is the name, in reference to a Boston Federal Reserve Bank report on credit card reward programs. The paper says just that: credit card rewards programs and merchant fees for credit card usage are increasing the overall cost of goods for check and cash customers.
… is higher than credit card debt in our country (hat tip: Wall Street Journal). How can this be?, you may ask, when the number of news stories on credit cards seem to vastly outweigh the corresponding reports on student loans. Well, yes, credit card stories seem to outnumber student loan stories by a ratio of about 15 to 1, according to StudentLoanJustice.org. How did this happen?
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The “VAT”, the so-called value-added tax, has received some attention here before at Don’t Quit Your Day Job. Unfortunately for everyone, it probably will receive a bunch more in the future. Fresh off Paul Volker’s comments to the New York Historical Society putting the VAT in play, the United States could be getting a VAT of its own. As pointed out in this very good article at Super-Economy, the US is the only county in the OECD that doesn’t have a Value-Added Tax.
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Recently we’ve been giving you lots of information on that most popular of topics- the income tax! We here at DQYDJ see no need to tone down our articles on taxes at this point… something about this date (maybe it has something to do with the April 15 tax deadline?) makes tax articles popular. Anyway, thanks to the Tax Foundation, we have an interesting measurement of tax – the number of days you have to work to be free and clear of the burden of tax, otherwise known as Tax Freedom Day!
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From the always-interesting website Political Calculations comes this gem of an article… The Calvalcade of Risk 102. Let me explain… Ironman hosted the carnival, but also embedded into it a useful calculator for determining whether or not an individual should drop health insurance as a result of the new health care law. The somewhat predictable result? If you’re younger and generally healthy, you could be better off dropping health insurance. Check it out yourself!
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How often do you see articles from the Associated Press which talk about tax inequalities from the ‘other’ direction… namely the number of people who don’t pay any income taxes. In fact, you may be surprised to find out that nearly half of American households don’t have to pay a single cent in Federal Income taxes. A full 47% of households will pay no 2009 income tax.
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From the offbeat category comes this awesome data set found through the National Journal. Scarborough USA, a joint undertaking of market research companies Nielsen and Arbitron surveyed 218,000 people between August 2008 and September 2009 to try to figure out the political leanings of sports viewers. Surveyors tried to figure out both how viewers self-identified politically, and also their likelihood to vote. This data has been published, and here is is (on ManyEyes!) for you to play with!
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CNN recently weighed in with a helpful article for you tax-procrastinators out there. Did you know that in many cases, the IRS doesn’t mind if you file your taxes late? Yes, you guessed it… file late if you are owed money by the Government… most likely you won’t be penalized!
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You already screen out embarrassing photos from you Facebook profile. Do you soon have to start screening out your credit-unworthy friends? That’s the gist of an article that appeared in PC World: those you associate with online may be reflected in the credit offers you receive when you apply for credit.
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How has the recession been affecting the job market? A new report from the research firm Towers Watson says that workers are tending to stick with the same employer as long as possible in the midst of the current recession (US Workers were surveyed in November and December). The number of workers in the survey who say they want to work for a single company or two or three companies is an impressive 79%.
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