Everyday Economics - Suggest a New Topic
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1207 results found
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Why hasn't gobs more money past the 2009 recovery ignited high inflation?
What would Milton Friedman say about the comparatively low levels of inflation from 2009 to 2016 despite Fed printing presses running in overdrive?
1 vote -
7 votes
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Is income inequality in this country bad?
If so, should government get involved in equalizing income?
4 votes -
How can we best take advantage of charitable dollars and development money from rich countries?
I love the work of GiveWell in attempting to rigorously evaluate charities to help donors pick the most evidence-supported charitable organizations. However, this assumes that donors will give a set amount of money and are just looking for a recipient. In practice, I think donors are more likely to give to some groups that tug at the heart strings, that are related to current news, etc. Some charities won't be supported by rich governments for ideological reasons. So besides using metrics like lives saved per dollar, how can we maximize donations from rich countries and ensure that they do the…
1 vote -
Coping With Tech Driven Housing Booms / Rent Control
Different kinds of rent controls - hard caps, regulated increases, tenancy decontrol, different approaches to charging "fair rents" and problems with linking to CPI.
What should/could be done to cope in a housing boom? E.g. San Francisco, New York and so forth.
1 vote -
Trade and Prosperity
Should we be worried that technology is destroying jobs?
4 votes -
Is there a general rule as to when a government SHOULD intervene in an economy?
Is there a general rule as to when a government SHOULD intervene in an economy?
1 vote -
Did colonization help colonizing nations?
It's clear that some groups benefited (many producers got cheaper inputs/resources than otherwise), but did nations as a whole benefit (at the expense of the colony)?
1 vote -
Are monopolies based on free trade bad for consumers?
Ive been looking into Rockefellers life and what he did with standard oil. His process of helping the Railroads, Barrel makers, pipelines and shippers lead to drastically lower prices for Karosene. So what i want to know is are monopolies really bad for consumers if the marked is open and free? Or, is the label of a monopoly a boogie man used by the government to limit real competition?
9 votes -
Who pays company tax and how much higher would wages be without it?
Do corporations pay tax? Do they pay enough? Who actually pays? How much higher would wages be if corporations were not taxed? What does the latest research have to say?
1 voteHi,
Thanks for the suggestion. Take a look at the tax videos from Principles and see if that gives you what you’re looking for. It doesn’t answer all of your questions but I think you will find it helpful. Start here: http://mruniversity.com/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics/taxes-subsidies-definition-tax-wedge -
Will robots replace humans in most jobs and what will that do to our society?
See this popular video by CGP Grey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU16 votes -
What happens to investments when a currency collapses?
Say the US dollar collapses. There is massive runaway inflation. My mortgage is still $xxx,xxxx. What does my employer pay me? How? Can I pay off my house now worth a couple ounces of gold converted to inflated US dollars? Did the bank just lose huge on their bet with me and millions of other homes for which they loaned money? What other factors should I consider?
3 votes -
Why Are Negative Interest Rates A Bad Thing?
While nobody wants skyrocketing inflation, Economists seem to agree that mild inflation is acceptable. However, there also seems to be a near universal belief that even mild deflation is a horrible phenomenon. I can't grasp why this is the case, other than the psychological effects of "self-fulfilling prophecy". If dollars are worth slightly more today then they are a month from now, won't that trigger demand/consumption? Won't that increased demand reduce unemployment and increase businesses spending/short-term investment? Please help me understand where I have gone wrong.
3 votes -
Did slavery help finance the Industrial Revolution in England?
Eric Williams's book Capitalism and Slavery puts forward the notion that the profits from slavery helped finance the Industrial Revolution. What do modern historians and economists think of this proposition?
1 vote -
How do we reconcile Ice-Age psychology (e.g. envy and spite to control IPD) with rational economics?
In small groups, where cooperation was the iterated prisoners' dilemma, it was quite rational to act irrationally, declining unequal sharing for example. See the allocate / veto game, where disgust at "unfairness" makes one side turn down free money.
Those instincts run deep. They drive the politics of envy and tribal resentment.
But to prosper we must embrace rational economics, and learn to live with unequally-rich, as superior to equally poor.2 votes -
What is money? Do I care?
I've always thought money is a squirrely thing. It transfers value but doesn't have any inherent value itself. How should we think about money, trade, and prosperity?
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1 vote
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Does saving money hurt others?
Are those who hoard money depriving others, making others lives less prosperous?
5 votes -
4 votes
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Rent Seeking
I am an instructor at a community college. I will be talking about rent seeking tomorrow. I would love to have a video to share like the ones you are doing on other topics.
2 votes
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