Re: reaganomics--elementary question
In a message dated 12/5/02 12:55:20 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Me again, Did "Reaganomics" essentially hinge on the Laffer Curve (i.e. the elasticity of tax receipts w/ respect to tax rate [?]), and its implications regarding tax revenue? Or was there alot more to it than that? Sorry about clogging your boxes--I'll mellow out for a while, -jsh >> For what it's worth, I think that opponents of Reagan either among the Democrats or among their many allies in the news media invented the expression as a term of derision. To the degree that anyone who supported Reagan used it, it generally referred to the whole panoply of Reagan economic policies--large, across-the-board cuts in marginal personal income tax rates, increase in the unified transfer tax (gift and estate tax) exemption, various changes in corporate income taxes, veto protection against Congress' efforts to stop for Volcker's efforts to reign in growth of the money supply, attempts to reduce the projected growth rates in non-defense discretionary spending and balance the budget, degregulation, etc. Many Republicans who came into the Reagan administration, in particular those moderates who came in through George Bush the Elder, did not believe in supply-side tax cuts at all, and some non-supply-side conservatives allegedly wanted larger deficits as an excuse for curbing the growth of federal spending. Frankly I don't see too much use for the term other than as a derogatory one, and think that discussing specific policies and they effectiveness bears more fruit than discussing "Reaganonmics" generally. David Levenstam
Re: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
In a message dated 12/5/02 12:56:04 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "'Actually it would be interesting to hear someone delinate a clear distinction between taxation on money and taxation in kind.'...I'm inclined to think there is no clear distinction,which is why I asked the original author of the comment (js I believe) to provide one." I don't think it was me, I think it was in response to something I wrote. Aren't payments in kind worth less than payments in cash, when the value is a significant portion of one's income, because they impose the consumption decision (for lack of a better term) on the individual? I thought I remember learning how that was modeled, but it was a while ago. If that is true, then maybe taxes in kind may be analogous? Just a guess. >> Well I think it depends on the person and the time you're asking. Right now while I'm being paid and under the stress of impending finals and final papers, if some attractive woman voluntarily offered me payment in kind :) I'd accept that over the equivalent in cash (which I understand in the DC area can come to hundreds of dollars per hour). If you ask me in the summer when I'm not stressed from classes (though I suspect I'll be stressed from studying for prelims) and I have less money to spend, I'll probably prefer the cash. David
reaganomics--elementary question
Me again, Did "Reaganomics" essentially hinge on the Laffer Curve (i.e. the elasticity of tax receipts w/ respect to tax rate [?]), and its implications regarding tax revenue? Or was there alot more to it than that? Sorry about clogging your boxes--I'll mellow out for a while, -jsh __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
Median voter thm. Elementary question
Howdy, I've never really studied the Median Voter Theorem. Recently I read where someone claimed that the U.S. political system was designed to keep the two parties nearly identical by keeping other parties out. I assumed that the reason they Dems & Reps seem so close may be because of the MVT--they want the middle guy's vote. So then I thought, suppose a third party were let into the race, does the MVT still hold w/ for 3 or more candidates? Does it weaken as more candidates are added, or do they all bunch toward the center for for any n>2, where n is the number of candidates? Does anybody know of a good discussion of it online? -jsh __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
Re: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "'Actually it would be interesting to hear someone delinate a clear distinction between taxation on money and taxation in kind.'...I'm inclined to think there is no clear distinction,which is why I asked the original author of the comment (js I believe) to provide one." I don't think it was me, I think it was in response to something I wrote. Aren't payments in kind worth less than payments in cash, when the value is a significant portion of one's income, because they impose the consumption decision (for lack of a better term) on the individual? I thought I remember learning how that was modeled, but it was a while ago. If that is true, then maybe taxes in kind may be analogous? Just a guess. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
Re: University overhead
How sticky is the price for university overhead? Fabio On Wed, 4 Dec 2002, Rodney F Weiher wrote: > As a purchaser of university research, we often bargain with the PI on > overhead, who in turn must bargain with their administration. > > Rodney Weiher > > fabio guillermo rojas wrote: > > > Do universities compete over the overhead they charge? For example, when > > wooing senior faculty, is it ever the case that universities offer lower > > overhead for big projects? > > > > Fabio > > > > for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 12:32:46 -0600 (CST) > Received: (from daemon@localhost) > by midway.uchicago.edu (8.12.5/8.12.5) id gB4GJvCl007013 > for [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 10:19:57 -0600 (CST) > Received: from julesburg.uits.indiana.edu (julesburg.uits.indiana.edu [129.79.1.75]) > by midway.uchicago.edu (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id gB4GJu5C006992 > for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 10:19:57 -0600 (CST) > Received: from logchain.uits.indiana.edu (logchain.uits.indiana.edu [129.79.1.77]) > by julesburg.uits.indiana.edu (8.12.1/8.12.1/IUPO) with ESMTP id gB4GJro7014681 > for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 11:19:53 -0500 (EST) > Received: from indiana.edu (jimerso.soc.indiana.edu [129.79.103.5]) > by logchain.uits.indiana.edu (8.12.1/8.12.1/IUPO) with ESMTP id gB4GJtZq015788 > for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 4 Dec 2002 11:19:55 -0500 (EST) > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 11:19:56 -0500 > X-PH: V4.4 (uchicago), $Revision: 1.60 $@midway > From: Brian Steensland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 >Netscape/7.0 > X-Accept-Language: en-us, en > MIME-Version: 1.0 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Indiana > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Status: O > X-Status: > > Hi Fabio-- > > If you still have questions about the Indiana department or Bloomington, > I'll be around all afternoon today if it would still be helpful for you > to talk to people here. > > Regards, > Brian >
Re: Dubyanomics
In a message dated 12/4/02 7:17:57 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << I remember when VP Quayle uttered (or was said to have uttered) the line, "the best educated Americans in the world." In fact, the line is shown half-way down this Quayle blooper page: http://www.psiaz.com/quayle.htm So unless lightning has struck twice, so to speak, I have my doubts about the complete authenticity of these wonderful quotes. Carl >> And I recall that one alleged Dan Quayle quotation I passed along to friends turned out to have been said by Al Glore. David
Re: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
In a message dated 12/4/02 1:14:42 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Actually it would be interesting to hear someone delinate a clear > distinction between taxation on money and taxation in kind. There is no clear distinction. Money is a medium, and the underlying reality is goods exchanging for other goods. If you have a ticket for a show which costs $5 plus $1 in tax, the tax is not really on the ticket, but on the show. Fred Foldvary >> I'm inclined to think there is no clear distinction, which is why I asked the original author of the comment (js I believe) to provide one. Still I must admit that there does seem to be, on some emotional level, a difference among having one's goods confiscated, being forced to perform manual labor or other services not of a sexual nature, and being forced to perform sexual services. Without being able to draw any clean lines of distinction myself, I just not that the second seems more invasive than the first, and the third more in vasive than the second. David
Re: Dubyanomics
Title: Re: Dubyanomics I remember when VP Quayle uttered (or was said to have uttered) the line, "the best educated Americans in the world." In fact, the line is shown half-way down this Quayle blooper page: http://www.psiaz.com/quayle.htm So unless lightning has struck twice, so to speak, I have my doubts about the complete authenticity of these wonderful quotes. Carl DUBYA BELIEVES IMPROVING EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT FOR OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH: "We're going to have the best educated American people in the world."
Mach. quote--off topic??
Hey, Since Brian isn't here to keep us in line, I decided to change the subject heading to make it easy to identify and delete if one so chooses. --- Akilesh Ayyar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "Hi there. I'm not sure where the Machiavelli quote comes from, but are you sure he wasn't arguing, by a kind of appeal to majority opinion, that there is no debt to people who have done no wrong?" Good question. I almost panicked when I read it. I'm reading it from Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Discourses" translated by Leslie J. Walker, Penguin Classics 1983. Page 154. Let me reproduce the paragraph: "In addition to the difficulty already mentioned [in a state going from servitude to freedom] there is yet another. It is that the government of a state which has become free evokes factions which are hostile, not factions which are friendly. To such hostile factions will belong all those who held preferment under the tyrannical government and grew fat on the riches of its prince, since, now that they are deprived of these emoluments, they cannot live contented, but are compelled, each of them, to try to restore the tyranny in order to regain their authority. Nor, as I have said, will such a government acquire supporters who are friendly, because a self-governing state assigns honours and reward only for honest and determinate reasons, and, apart from this, rewards and honours no one; and when one acquires honours or advantages which appear to have been deserved, one does not acknowledge any obligation towards those responsible for the remuneration. Furthermore, that common advantage which results from a self-governing state is not recognized by anybody so long as it is possessed - the possibility of enjoying what one has, freely and without incurring suspicion for instance, the assurance that one's wife and children will be respected, the absence of fear for oneself - for no one admits that he incurs an obligation to another merely because that other has done him no wrong."(Any typos are my own.) Since he asserts the existence of a common advantage and that no one recognizes it, I think I did the passage justice. Would you agree? I certainly don't want to do violence to an author's work. I've heard that Walker's translation isn't the best, but I've not encountered any others. Best regards, jsh __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
Re: Bottle Deposits
In a message dated 12/4/02 9:29:43 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << > john hull wrote: > > I could have sworn that there was a one cent deposit > > in California. Maybe I'm mistaken. > > I think it's a nickel - but either way, > there's no obvious way to recover it. > Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/ The deposit varies, which is why the amount is not inscribed on bottles, only "CA redemption" or similar. There is a way to recover the deposits - bring the bottles to a collection center, such as at many Safeway supermarkets. Most people don't want to bother, which is why there is a booming industry in bottle collection by "street people". A couple of guys come by my street every week looking in garbage cans for bottles. The collection center gives the recycler a receipt, which can then be used at Safeway for purchases. Fred Foldvary >> When I lived in Denver I noticed there was a similar industry in various recycleables, including newspapers, plastic jugs, and glass bottles, I believe. I'm not sure that any of them came with government-manadated recycling payments, but then I'm not sure that they didn't. :) David
Re: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Actually it would be interesting to hear someone delinate a clear > distinction between taxation on money and taxation in kind. There is no clear distinction. Money is a medium, and the underlying reality is goods exchanging for other goods. If you have a ticket for a show which costs $5 plus $1 in tax, the tax is not really on the ticket, but on the show. Fred Foldvary = [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: University overhead
As a purchaser of university research, we often bargain with the PI on overhead, who in turn must bargain with their administration. Rodney Weiher fabio guillermo rojas wrote: > Do universities compete over the overhead they charge? For example, when > wooing senior faculty, is it ever the case that universities offer lower > overhead for big projects? > > Fabio
Re: Bottle Deposits
> john hull wrote: > > I could have sworn that there was a one cent deposit > > in California. Maybe I'm mistaken. > > I think it's a nickel - but either way, > there's no obvious way to recover it. > Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/ The deposit varies, which is why the amount is not inscribed on bottles, only "CA redemption" or similar. There is a way to recover the deposits - bring the bottles to a collection center, such as at many Safeway supermarkets. Most people don't want to bother, which is why there is a booming industry in bottle collection by "street people". A couple of guys come by my street every week looking in garbage cans for bottles. The collection center gives the recycler a receipt, which can then be used at Safeway for purchases. Fred Foldvary = [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dubyanomics
Our president's economic policy--in his own words. DUBYA EXPLAINS WHY THE FRENCH ECONOMY LAGS BEHIND OURS: "The French don't have a word for 'Entrepreneur.'" DUBYA EXPLAINS OUR TRADE DEFICIT: "The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country." DUBYA ASSESSES HIS PERFORMANCE AS OUR NATION'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments inthe future."DUBYA BELIEVES IMPROVING EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT FOR OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH: "We're going to have the best educated American people in the world." "Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach ourchildren.""Rarely is the question asked, "Is our children learning?" DUBYA EXPLAINS WHY WE SHOULD CONTINUE FUNDING THE SPACE PROGRAM: "For NASA, space is still a high priority." "It's time for the human race to enter the solar system." DUBYA WANTS TO EXPAND SMALL BUSINESS: "The role of government is to create an environment that encouragesHispanic-owned businesses, women-owned businesses and anybody-kind-of-owned businesses." DUBYA'S ANALYSIS OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET: "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." DUBYA REVEALS AMERICA'S COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: "I'm thrilled to be here in the bread basket of America because it givesme a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here inAmerica-we can feed ourselves." DUBYA'S VIEWS ON BIO-TECHNOLOGY: "It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind ofhuman cloning to come out of that chamber." DUBYA'S COST-EFFECTIVE PLAN TO REDUCE CRIME: "I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have guns." DUBYA'S PLAN TO BALANCE HOMELAND SECURITY NEEDS WITH BUDGET CONSTRAINTS: "I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood withme in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear statement ofpurpose: you disarm, or we will." DUBYA'S POLICY ON ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's theimpurities in our air and water that are doing it." (Don't worry. I'm sure he has lots of good advisors.)
physicists discover anti-bubble
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns3124 Statistical physics predicts stock market gloom 11:59 02 December 02 NewScientist.com news service A statistical physics model is predicting that the US stock market recovery suggested by recent rises will only last until spring next year, before tumbling yet further. Physicists Didier Sornette and Wei-Xing Zhou at the University of California in Los Angeles claim to have identified an "anti-bubble" in the Standard and Poor's 500 stock market index. Their model also describes a similar anti-bubble in the Japanese Nikkei index in the early 1990s, which preceded a decade of decline. However, Neil Shephard, an economist at the University of Oxford, UK, is sceptical. "Firstly, the track record of empirical prediction isn't very good and secondly, economic theory says it shouldn't work," he told New Scientist. This is because traders act on new information about the market by buying or selling shares, making it impossible to make a prediction without it affecting the outcome. But the physicists' predictions are in line with those of some others. Haydn Carrington, a dealer at spread betting firm City Index in London, also believes the US market is in a long decline, but that a short term rally is likely: "The Americans are optimistic about recovery, so that will probably happen." Herding behaviour Bubbles and anti-bubbles are traits of herding and imitative behaviour, Sornette says. Investors and traders constantly exchange opinions and information, generating a feedback loop that can drive the performance of the market. A bubble, or bull market, occurs when optimism spreads, pushing the market value artificially high. The bubble may then burst in a dramatic crash, but if not, a slow period of downwards adjustment will follow - a bear market, which Sornette calls the anti-bubble phase. An anti-bubble market has two key characteristics. The value slides inevitably downwards, but oscillates as it does so. The value of the S&P 500 has been riding this rollercoaster since August 2000. Sornette says that the "up" seen now is just one of the oscillations, and that hopes of a recovery will be dashed by a "down" in mid 2003. And the trough that it sinks into may be deeper than this year's low, he says. Failure mechanisms Related Stories Pound and euro behave as if they are the same currency 5 December 2001 For more related stories search the print edition Archive Weblinks Didier Sornette, UCLA City Index Quantitative Finance S&P 500 The model used to make this prediction describes "crowd" behaviour of the type Sornette expects from traders and investors. It consists of a set of three equations that describe feedback processes. He developed the equations when studying failure mechanisms in materials - the way that cracks develop and cause damage is similar to the way that information seeps through the market and changes opinion, he believes. The model requires the input of two constants: one quantifies the overall trend (down in an anti-bubble), the other the frequency of oscillation. He chose constants such that the model matched the S&P data from the past few years - and then extended the model to 2004. Journal reference: Quantitative Finance (vol 2, p 468) Jenny Hogan This story is from NewScientist.com's news service - for more exclusive news and expert analysis every week subscribe to New Scientist print edition.
