Weakonomi¢s » links

Weak Links: My Heroes, The Nerds At The St Louis Fed

The Weakonomist — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:31:11 +0000

Interview of my heroes: A lot of my posts feature economic data. A lot of that data comes from the St Louis Federal Reserve. This is an interview of the guys taht pull together the data and built a great tool for analyzing it. I am a HUGE fan.

60 Minutes report on toxic sugar: Sugar may be a lot worse for you than thought. In my opinion, the key with sugar is trying to eat things with unprocessed sweeteners, or don’t have sugar added to it. Good video.

Gross National Happiness (Washington Post): Who says GDP is the best way to measure the health of a country? Why not just measure happiness? This could happen in the future.

Conservatives Don’t Trust Science Anymore Via @drcrosson: Global warming and evolution have put strains on the views of many conservatives. Expect to see this more as science threatens business models or religious views.

Education and Economic Prosperity: Is there something to be learned from 14th century Europe about innovation today? An interesting look that points out that a good education system brings about economic prosperity. Many believe that prosperity comes first. Policy implications?

Confirmation Bias Shapes Everything, Including How We See Income Inequality: I talk a lot about how we tend to present statistics that favor our view of the world. This is a good chart that shows the various ways you can look at income inequality. Surprise! You can make it say what you want.

Foxconn workers want longer hours: Who knew?

Where do you go when you drop out of the labor force? Good article talking about what happens to people when the leave work and stop looking for new work.

Attractive people have it better at work: This would explain why everything works so well for yours truly. Related.

Hotdog Heroes: How normal people, and people like you and me see the world. Illustrated with hotdogs.

Divorce-proof your marriage: With statistics.

Five Lessons From Growing Up Rich: It’s not always easy being a wealthy child. The life lessons sure are different.

The science behind farts: An interesting story with even more interesting research.

Finally I entered the Carnival of Personal Finance for a 3rd time and for the 3rd time was an editor’s choice. Like we needed the validation.

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Weak Links: Less Roads, Less Traffic?

weakonom — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:21:09 +0000

Why I gave up my six-figure salary and quit Bay Street: Bay Street is in Toronto and is Canada’s version of Wall Street. You can’t expect much a difference between the two countries, but this author provides a well written explanation of his time in finance and why he, and others, left.

Remove the highways, fix the traffic problem: One of the most interesting reads in 2012 so far. John Norquist championed the destruction of some highways in Milwaukee while the mayor and actually saw an improvement in traffic. New Urbanism is the name of the idea and it calls for better city planning that reduces congestion. The best way to sum it up is that by proper planning of roads, people won’t have an incentive to live far out of town and commute in for things they need. If you work in the city, live in the city. We are likely to see this in some form or another in increasingly greater amounts all over the country as the cost of commuting continues to rise. Most traffic issues are “solved” by adding supply to support the increased demand. What would happy to demand if supply was taken away? I’d like to see how they would do DC though.

Castro might have known Kennedy was going to get shot: Conspiracy theorists rejoice. A great conspiracy about Fidel Castro knowing JFK was going to get shot. The only downside is if this story is true, most of the cover-up conspiracies likely wouldn’t be.

Generally speaking, everything makes you fat: Extensive article showing that calories alone can’t account for the reason everyone is so fat. It’s the quality of what is put into our body. The whole article reads like an endorsement for organic food, and it will give the overweight among us an excuse for not jogging tomorrow. Mommy’s eating when she was pregnant made me fat.

Men, just thinking about talking to women makes you dumber: This would explain while I fumble through my words every time I need to talk to my wife about something. Points scored for The Weakonomist (if The Sheconomist is reading)!

Number cruncher’s life in charts: I didn’t build this, but I feel a good connection to the charts. Especially aligning the supposed same data from different sources.

Are you a ginger? You can take the pain: Red heads feel less pain than everyone else. Are they more genetically advanced? Will they rule the world? Thank a ginger today.

Divorce: the downside to living longer: Til death do us part used to mean 60 years. Now 90 isn’t crazy. The rate of divorce of people over 50 has doubled over the last 20 years. When the kids are gone, it usually meant you were about to die. Now it means you have to decide if you want to spend another 50 years with the other parent. Many are thinking, not. Via @pkedrosky

More People Interested in Part-Time Retirement: Count me as one of them. Weakonomics started because at the time I was bored working just 40 hours a week. I work more now, but I can’t imagine full blown retirement. Not yet at least.

Tricks retailers use to carve out extra profits: Candy bars have been shrinking, but the prices for them haven’t. That’s good for bellies, and retailers. This is just one of a number of ways retailers are playing games with price tags these days.

Once again, I entered a post into the Carnival of Personal Finance. Once again, I was editor’s choice. Click through to see what it was.

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Weak Links: How Doctors Die

The Weakonomist — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:24:49 +0000

In the blogosphere there are tons of link roundups out there. But there’s only one that irregularly and is handpicked by me. Enjoy the best of the web from the last couple of months:

Doctors die differently: This was perhaps one of the most thought-provoking articles I’ve read in the last year. A significant portion of health care spending is geared towards prolonging life for someone on the decline. In many cases a patient’s quality of life suffers greatly as a result. Think of someone undergoing chemotherapy and still succumbing to cancer. It seems many doctors would elect to pass on the chemo if the survival rates are low. They don’t want to be resuscitated, put on ventilators, or suffer through huge expenses just to survive a couple of months longer in possibly great pain. In other words, they aren’t dying the same way many of us will. We don’t think about how we want to die and so loved ones usually default to life preservation at all costs. Is that the right way? To be honest I haven’t thought about it either, but I’m starting to.

How much student loan debt to people really have? NY Times Economix takes a look at who the 1% are with student loan debt. Most people aren’t suffering under a huge debt burden. But a vocal minority can be loudly heard. Still, debt or not, we’re still suffering from an imbalance of jobs to pay for the debts out there. For my thoughts on student loans and the suggested reforms so far see here.

Dylan Ratigan’s take on the mortgage settlement: Essentially, it’s not going to help the housing market. Only one thing will.

For the last three years, the policy has been to impose a political solution to a math problem. It hasn’t worked. America simply has too much mortgage debt to pay back. Serious economic thinkers across the spectrum, from Democrat Alan Blinder to Republican Martin Feldstein to New York Fed President William Dudley, believe that there is only one solution — writing down the enormous creaking mound of debt. This solution is currently off the table, because writing down these unsustainable debts could cost our fragile banks enormous sums of money and possibly lead to a restructuring of one or more of our major banks

Ratigan also notes that 50% of homeowners with mortgages are underwater. Thankfully that is an incorrect statistic and it’s less than 25%. Beyond that, a worthwhile read.

How good are football expert at predicting the playoffs? If they were good, this wouldn’t be an interesting article. There’s always next year guys.

When we’re losing we do better: If your team is down by 1 at half-time you should be in good spirits. They win 8% more often than the team with a 1 point lead. Eventually though this goes away, every two points of lead increases the odds of winning but about 7%. But what makes sports so interesting to many people is the thrill of a comeback and witnessing odds-defying performances.

Audits of rich people increasing: This was a widely reported story a month ago but it didn’t get that much traction beyond initial coverage. I’d like to see a chart showing audit trends of different income classes breaking out which party has the most power.

Why Your Meteorologist has a Shot at the Nobel in Economics: Nail, head.

“What I found then was another example of a very complex, interacting system. It [meteorology] had a big advantage over economics because the fundamental theory was very well understood.”

Why swearing helps with pain: Like any drug, just don’t use it too much or the effects might stop working.

Tornadoes only work on business days: Tornadoes are much more common during the week and research shows a connection with pollution.

Beeronomics: The study of all things beer and brewing. From price differences all over the world to how production is integral to a society. The argument for this emerging field is simple, they’ve already been doing it with wine and more people drink beer.

Carnival of Personal Finance #347, The Giants Edition: To better spread the good word of how great Weakonomics I’m participating in a Carnival of Personal Finance. Check it out for the best personal finance artciles in the blogosphere. Naturally of course, I was editor’s choice.

Image: The National Guard

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The Best of 2011 List

The Weakonomist — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:55:02 +0000

This blog lacks the editorial patience to determine what the best posts of the year were. However, we do have enough time to pull together a big list of other publisher’s best of 2011. Many of them are lists within lists:

Lifehacker Best of 2011

Main Street most popular stories of 2011

Top political scandals of the year (from ABC News) – And the wiener is….

2011 review of life science (from New Scientist)

CBS News review of 2011 including: notable deaths, best quotes, and of course news.

Sports news of the year from USA Today – Sports are usually boring, but this year had all the drama of an Oscar film.

2011 in nine charts, Economist style

Health news of the year from CNN – AIDs, cancer, and concussions.

The Atlantic’s super site of 2011s including:

Yahoo’s year in review including:

Harvard Business Review’s top posts of the year

2011 year in financial blogging (not personal finance) from The Reformed Broker

Tech’s biggest misfires of 2011 from Engadget

And last but not least. In fact, it should be first and most: Dave Barry’s year in review. Always a great laugh.

Happy New Year and if you’ve got other lists throw them in the comments.

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Weak Links: From Cocaine to Wall Street to Sperm

The Weakonomist — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:27:27 +0000

How Much of a $100k Salary is Taxed Around the World: You could move to Europe and pay more taxes, or go to Russia and pay less. Or, America, you can maybe not complain so much. (Economist)

How the Plummeting Price of Cocaine Fueled the Nationwide Drop in Violent Crime: Need I say more? (The Atlantic)

Why our brains make us laugh: Interestingly, humor is a reward system in our heads. We are rewarded for finding errors in logic and data. This is what makes jokes funny too. Thankfully, this research does not ruin humor. (Boston Globe)

Should you be able to get rich in charity? Basic economics says yes. So long as you add more value than you are paid, you should be able to get rich. A guy at HBR has the stones to say it out loud. Not sure if I agree yet, but the argument is compelling (Harvard Business Review).

Black Market Sperm: Sperm is actually expensive, and anything that’s expensive that can be readily replicated will be offered on the cheap in a black market. (Freakonomics)

Time to start negotiating with dentists?: A study shows a wide variation in the fees dentists charge for various procedures. Be extra cautious if you go to a dentist you may not be comfortable with. In my wife’s case, they recommended a number of fillings that turned out to not be necessary when she checked with her childhood dentist. (NY Times Bucks Blog)

Wall Streeters now working as cabbies: Some keep resumes in the front seat, others are just trying to pay some bills. Lately Wall Street has been cutting jobs. Keep in mind that getting to the 1%, or even the 10%, is not a permanent thing for many. (NY Times)

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Turkey Day Links

The Weakonomist — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:59:33 +0000

Good for reading while your spouse preps the food, and impressing people at the dinner table with your useless knowledge.

The economics of turkey: Do turkey prices go up around Thanksgiving? Or do they fall? If they fall, why would they fall when everyone buys turkey at the same time? How much turkey can you afford with your disposable income? What kind of turkeys do the 1% buy? All that and more.

How to keep the stress out of meal prep: Research shows about 3/4 of people stress about Thanksgiving, and one of the biggest reasons is for food prep. Research shows how to outsource labor to your guests, and why the host should focus on just a couple of core dishes. (Via CNBC)

Can’t blame the turkey on your afternoon laziness: No it’s not the tryptophan, it’s not even the turkey. But there is a benefit to serving coffee after the meal.

A collection of Turkey Day links from Lifehacker: How to carve the turkey, leftovers recipes, and even some tips to fix grandma’s computer.

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Weak Links: Yes The Downgrade Was Weeks Ago But This Is Still Funny

The Weakonomist — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:06:16 +0000

Do you remember Robert Reich? You probably don’t but he was the Secretary of Labor under Clinton and a well-known political economist. Apparently he’s got a sense of humor about his profession as here he is explaining what happens to the US if our debt continues to get downgraded. (Via Gizmodo)

Here are some other stories I’ve been itching to share lately but just haven’t gotten around to writing about:

The Mathematics of Basketball – Yes I know football just started but basketball isn’t too far off either. If you’re really nerdy or just a big basketball fan this is a great article that breaks down the strategies of basketball in terms of math and statistics. So much of the game can be broken down into when you should actually take the shot.

The Etrade Baby Gets Smoked – I don’t do much with brokerages, but I’ve always like the Etrade commericals with the talking baby. My buddy Josh at Reformed Broker came across this little gem of a video that shows what’s more likely to happen to folks that trade all the time than the success the baby tends to have in the commercials.

You can’t get a mortgage because interest rates are too low – It’s a good thing the Fed is going to continue to drive down mortgage rates.

Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers – The most definitive look yet at a what will be a controversial topic for the next year.

Your Law Firm Does Not Have Your Incentives – I know I know, this is the most surprising news of the last decade. Law firms have every reason to screw you, lie to you, and overall just try to squeeze as much money as they can out of you without regard for customer service. Why? Because it’s hard to tell if a lawyer really did a good job or not.

Got something that should be in my semi-random link roundups? Send it in!

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Weakend: Plutus Awards Are Back

The Weakonomist — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:12:56 +0000

Loyal readers will remember last year when I was nominated for a Plutus Award. These awards are for bloggers to be recognized for their contributions in personal finance related fields. There’s a specific section for small and part-time bloggers such as myself. Last year I won the award for best Economics blog and I’ve been nominated for the same award again. Like last year, I don’t want you to vote for me, but I’m not going to beg you not to vote. Instead I’ll ask you to vote by explaining my competition a bit.

I’m in the category of losers that write about economics. Here are the other losers:

Darwin’s Money
Pop Economics
Studenomics
Zero Hedge

The first three are very much like me in that the authors are largely small fries and we hardly ever even end up linked to by the big dogs. Zero Hedge is in a class all its own. It is much larger and is regularly linked to from big websites. But let me give you a brief description of each.

Darwin’s Money is a guy I follow on Twitter regularly because he’s just brilliant. The blog covers everything from stocks to real estate investing and economics. There are plenty of opinions expressed, as is the point of most blogs. Our topics don’t overlap all that much so I always appreciate his posts since we usually see different areas of the finance/economics world as important. His site is also a lot more well organized and easier to read than mine.

Pop Economics was an awesome blog with great images when it first launched. But (to give you an idea of the competition we’re in), it hasn’t been updated since April. When he writes it’s good, but it’s hard to write regularly. Well thought out posts that cover topics with precise strokes that get you thinking about stuff you don’t normally think about. Maybe this nomination will bring him back to write more often.

Studenomics (no relation) is fairly self explanatory with the title. It’s targeted towards people in their 20s. They may still be students or launching their careers or getting married. It’s very much personal finance oriented but MD does a good job of showing how economics impacts someone’s day to day lives. A different market than me but an important one nonetheless. Plus, I love the blog’s title.

Zero Hedge is the closest blog to a pure play on economics with a flare for Wall Street. The language can be crude but I regularly read Tyler Durden (the pseudonym for the author) because he will say what no one else will. He isn’t PC, and he’s not afraid of anything. His blog is large enough that he can do it full time and post a lot. I’d love to do that but as of right now I love my day job.

So all the nominees are clearly very different. There really aren’t that many small time economics blogs out there so we’re pretty much the prettiest pigs at your local fairgrounds.

But someone nominated me which means someone actually likes what I’m doing here. To be honest, it’s damned hard to write 6 days a week; even when I don’t edit, plan, or really think about what I’m writing. It’s meant to be terrible and published from the seat of my coffee stained pants. Weakonomics is not large, and likely will never be without active attempts to grow it. But I won this award last year and I’m nominated again this year. For you readers, I am thankful, and it’s all I need to keep writing.

But vote for the blog that is truly the best. There is nothing that I excel at so I don’t deserve to win this year. Head over to the voting site and pick your favorites in tons of different categories (nominees here). Maybe you’ll discover some new blogs too.

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Three Headlines From Yesterday That Make Me Hate The News

The Weakonomist — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:02:15 +0000

The 24 hour news cycle on TV was once considered the worst thing to ever happen to news. But I would argue that the presence of too many news websites and blogs has ruined journalism even more. Still, here’s a collection from both that just makes just makes me sick.

Apple touches top spot by capitalisation: So for a while now Apple has been playing catch up to Exxon in becoming the world’s most valuable company. For just a few moments yesterday Apple did pass Exxon, but then Exxon took it back. People pretend this is significant since a tech company would now be the top dog amongst industry. But we’ve known for a few decades now tech is a big deal. This is just one tiny step up a staircase we’ve been climbing longer than I’ve been breathing. What kills me the most was I can’t even call this a meaningless step. If the Celtics were beating the Lakers in the 3rd quarter and lost in the 4th does it matter? This was a story about something that could almost have been a story but wasn’t.

Gold Advances to Record on Slowdown Concern: So gold prices are at all time highs, what else is new. But Whenever gold goes up, headlines just tie to the underlying economic headlines. Gold goes up because of a slowdown, a recovery, inflation… The truth is no one ever knows exactly why anything goes up or down in value because investors buy and sell for different reasons. But it’s worse with gold, because it’s more or less done nothing but climb recently, there is no direct underlying explanation other than fear of the future.

Fed extends uncertainty until 2013: Wrong, they did the exact opposite. But that wouldn’t get you to click and watch their pre-roll.

I had one more from John King or someone on his show acting like we should have a right to see the names of the Navy SEALs we lost recently, but I couldn’t find evidence of it. If anyone has this, please send it to me or drop it in the comments.

These are just a sampling of the terrible headlines we read every day. But something else gets to me too. Every media outlet from newspapers to crappy news networks on satellite TV makes a point to tell you they not only do the news, but also opinion. Few bother to try and differentiate between the two. And even the laziest of the media know you can blur the lines further by reporting on people’s opinions. Do that and you can cover hot topics with opposing opinions under the facade of “news”. Weakonomics publishes once a day because you shouldn’t have to get bombarded with everyone else trying to get clicks by one more no talent schmuck. Be wary of headlines, even my own sometimes.

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Weakend: Debt Deal Comic Links

The Weakonomist — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:30:46 +0000

The best comics:

The one using pictures of politicians

A collection of cartoons about us from around the world

A slideshow from MSNBC

And here’s a huge repository of political cartoons: PoliticalCartoons.com

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