Re: [PEN-L] Query: Automobile commuting miles

You might be able to derive an estimate from the American Community Survey. Go to census.gov, click on American Community Survey, go to detailed tables for 2005. Among the tables are a long series of tables on commuting time, miles traveled, mode of transportation, etc, for the US and all 50 state

Re: [PEN-L] Question on mortgage refinancing in the US

True. Most mortgages can be prepaid by refinancing with the existing lender with no penalty. Virtually all have no prepayment penalty under any circumstances after 1-3 years. New loans do entail closing costs however, usually about $1500 - $2000. But these costs can be rolled into the new loa

Re: [PEN-L] wages and related

There's a book by Randy Albelda and Robert Drago that does exactly that at the introductory level. I can't recall the title. Ellen Frank -Original Message- From: PEN-L list on behalf of Jon Baranov Sent: Mon 8/21/2006 9:37 PM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: [PEN-L] wages and related

Re: [PEN-L] econometrics and autism

What an embarassment economics is. In real science, accuracy matters, but in economics you can just spin theories, devise imprecise statistical tests, get published, get tenure. This article makes me cringe with shame at the profession I'm associated with. Ellen Frank -Original Message--

Re: [PEN-L] Libraries in a Corporatized University

What's wrong with libraries becoming more welcoming and less intimidating to students? And what's wrong with treating students as customers when their parents are shelling out $45K per year? Ellen -Original Message- From: PEN-L list on behalf of Michael Perelman Sent: Mon 10/23/2006 6:2

[PEN-L] help with teaching materials

I am looking for good teaching materials/syllabae for an intermediate microeconomics course and a money and financial markets course. Am particularly interested in "heterodox" and alternative approaches. Thanks Ellen Frank

Re: [PEN-L] help with teaching materials

Thanks for this. I'm hoping to find an intermediate text that covers some of the stuff on experimental economics, transaction costs models, that sort of thing. Ellen -Original Message- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gassler Robert Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 2:15

Re: [PEN-L] query: Inc. vs. LLC

You can find the definitions in any intro business text. My recollection is that an LLC is a type of pass-through entity, like an S-Corp. You can't have more than some maximum number of shareholders, no public trading, etc and the profits are reported as personal income of the shareholders rather

Re: [PEN-L] Toll roads

There was talk several years ago in MA about "privatizing" some of the state highways. At the time, a lawyer friend told me highway privatization would never work, because the liability/ litigation problems for investors would be a nightmare. I suspect what is happening in Texas is public freeway

Re: [PEN-L] Toll roads

Well then this is of course a regressive shift, from tolls to taxes (but are Texan taxes progressive?) I wouldn't entirely agree with Daniel that it's akin to paying twice, since roads need maintanance as well as construction. There is a progressive state fiscal group in Texas -- can't remember th

[PEN-L] Radical Economics

I write a Q&A column for Dollars and Sense Magazine and the Q for the up-coming issue is ths: what's the difference between a radical and liberal economist (or a progressive vs liberal)? Naturally I have my own thoughts on this, but I'd love to hear what pen-lers have to say. Ellen Frank

Re: [PEN-L] Global Warming

My husband says the Bushites are waiting for global warming to raise sea levels and drown most of the blue states. Ellen Frank From: PEN-L list on behalf of Devine, James There's a Charlie Sheen movie where global warming hits the arctic hard and fast -- and it turns out that space aliens hav

Re: [PEN-L] nausea

Michael wrote: I don't live in a swing state, but as the night wore on the thought of four more years made me feel ill. I don't actually. I don't know if a party with a genuinely "progressive" agenda could win an election in the US, but we'll never find out with the current leadership of the Dem

[PEN-L] Pen-l

Gee, what with this election and all, I was feeling talkative and actually sent a couple of messages to pen-l (actually read some with Re in their subject line, a thing I almost never do). Then I was quickly reminded of why I avoid pen-l, one nasty catfight after another. One of the reasons I ke

[PEN-L] Health Economics Question

Well, one more try Today's WSJ has a piece on health savings accounts which states, repeating a claim made frequently about such accounts: "Implemented correctly, they hold out the possiblility of putting the brakes on health care costs by giving patients more of a stake in the experience of

Re: [PEN-L] Health Economics Question

Thanks, Paul. This is very helpful. The only empirical study of behavior and health costs that I am aware of is from a real-life experiment in which a Fortune 500 firm substantially increased co-pays for drugs and found that people with chronic conditions high cholesterol, blood pressure, diabete

Re: [PEN-L] Sam Smith on bad times

If the Republicans, with a mandate and control of all 3 branches of government, does half of what the right has been talking about for at least a decade -- privatizing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, eliminating taxes on corporations, replacing the income tax with a flat tax or VAT, cappi

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

From: PEN-L list on behalf of Joel Blau But just as a hard practical matter, since Bush's own commission on social security couldn't agree on a plan, where are they going to get to the $2 trillion in transition costs? I think the answer is that they don't plan to get it at all. They plan to cu

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

The idea that SS commits future generations to policy choices made today is simply false. Because SS is a transfer program, the transfers must be made in real time. Voters can always decide to stop funding SS. But they probably won't because the moral claim of the elderly is too compelling. Th

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

Clinton's absurd plan to commit future surpluses to the trust fund was unhelpful, because it was economically incoherent and contributed to popular misunderstanding of how the system worked. But it is unfair to say he proposed privatization. He suggested private accounts for low income workers w

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

The overwhelming majority of adults are unprepared for retirement, in fact. SS replaces only 1/3 of prior wages, yet most people havene't saved enough to cover the balance. a study by (I think) Bill Gale found that the stock crash in 2000 had little impact on savings adequacy for retiremen

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

An alternative to means testing is imposing a high marginal tax rate on SS earnings if total earnings exceed some specified amount - say 100K. Means-testing would greatly increase the administrative costs of SS (whihch is now admirably simple and cheap to run) and would encourage the kind of asset

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security

You are assuming that SS harms families. No evidence supports this. SS replaces only 1/3 of prior earnings on average and is often supplemented by hefp from children. Studies show that adult DAUGHTERS give up on average 20% of earnings to care for elders. The primarly locus for elder care is c

[PEN-L] www.fuckthesouth.com

Crazy, but cathartic. Ellen Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep. And now

Re: [PEN-L] Social Security research on effect of the income ceiling

Ann - See Diamond and Orszag, Saving Social Security which recommends this. One caveat though. SS does not currently have a deficit. The deficit (when outlays exceed payroll taxes) is projected to occur in 2017. So raising the cap above $87,000 would, at this point in time, simply add to the tru

Re: [PEN-L] Baumol's 'Disease'?

It's not so much that service industries resist technological change, as that technological changes in direct service industries increase outlays without raising productivity. Shifting from chalk-and-talk to powerpoint, for example, raises the fixed costs of education, but unless class sizes go u

[PEN-L] job opening

Job Opening Magazine Editor Dollars & Sense, the 30-year-old progressive economics publisher based in Boston, Mass., seeks a magazine co-editor. We publish an 8,000-circulation bimonthly magazine and nine book titles. Dollars & Sense Magazine has a national audience of activists, academics, union

Re: [PEN-L] Ellen Frank, radio tomorrow

Actually, it just got rescheduled for sometime next week. Not sure when yet. Ellen From: PEN-L list on behalf of Eugene Coyle Sent: Tue 8/16/2005 6:52 PM To: PEN-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU Subject: [PEN-L] Ellen Frank, radio tomorrow Ellen Frank will be on "Against th

[PEN-L] Contacting Michael Perelman

Michael - I have tried to contact you but my emails keep getting bounced back. Please let me know your personal email address. I know you gave it to me once, but I lost it. Ellen Frank [EMAIL PROTECTED]