TIM HARFORD , who writes the Financial Times‘s “Undercover Economist” column, has appeared on our blog many times . This guest post is part of a series adapted from his new book The U...
https://freakonomics.com/2014/01/are-recessions-like-prison-camps-or-baby-sitting-co-ops/
Friday’s labor-force data brought liberal outcries, and a comment from BEN BERNANKE, that the drop in labor-force participation indicates unemployment is really much higher, and the economy i...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/11/a-silver-lining-to-unemployment/
How do economic conditions affect the incidence of child abuse? While researchers have found that poverty and child abuse are linked, there's been no evidence that downturns increase abuse. A...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/05/does-child-abuse-rise-during-a-recession/
Our latest podcast, "Crowded at the Top," presents a surprising explanation for why the U.S. unemployment rate is still relatively high . (You can download/subscribe at iTunes , get the RSS fee...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/05/its-crowded-at-the-top-a-new-marketplace-podcast/
In Foreign Affairs, RAGHURAM RAJAN (who's appeared on this blog before) writes about the causes and lessons of the Great Recession: > In fact, today’s economic troubles are not sim...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/05/raghuram-rajan-on-the-recession/
More evidence of the relationship between the housing market and the overall economy: > Construction makes up less than 5 percent of employment but accounts > for more than 40 p...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/01/astounding-fact-of-the-day/
A new working paper (full version here ) by ALAN L. GUSTMAN , THOMAS L. STEINMEIER , and NAHID TABATABAI examines the impact the Great Recession has had on the wealth and income of Baby Boomers...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/12/the-slightly-bright-side-for-boomers-in-the-recession/
Productivity, that is. One factor was the trimming of deadwood; the other seems to be old-fashioned harder work. From a new working paper by CASEY MULLIGAN (emphasis added): > During the re...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/11/at-least-one-labor-measure-was-up-during-the-recession/
A new blog post from WILLIAM H. FREY , senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, takes a look at the migration patterns of American youth, and the cities that attract the "cool" crowd. In the ...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/11/changing-youth-migration-patterns-so-long-new-york-hello-portland/
There's an argument going around right now that forgiving the country's student loan debt would have a stimulative effect on the economy. This online petition by Signon.org, an offshoot of Moveo...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/09/forgive-student-loans-worst-idea-ever/
Last month, we wrote about data pulled from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), examining how Americans spend their lost work hours during the recession. While 32% of foregone work hours were ...
Even after a decent jobs report earlier this month, unemployment is still over 9%. The underemployment rate? That's 16%, and includes part-time workers who'd rather be full-time, plus people who...
Let's face it: things aren't great right now. The economy is on its back. Our political system is a mess. The South is stuck in a record-breaking drought. And TIGER WOODS has apparently forgotten...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/08/the-end-is-nigh-lets-all-move-to-barter-village/
So by now you're hopefully aware that the stock market completely bombed today. As I type, the Dow is down more than 500 points, its worst day since December 2008. (Official day's tally is -512.7...
We all have our favorite business cycle indicators. I have a new one. Last week I was at the (superb!) NBER Summer Institute . And for the first time in 15 years of attending this conference, the...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/08/a-new-indication-of-a-double-dip/
The FBI recently announced that the number of violent crimes fell 5.5 percent in 2010, with property crimes falling 2.8 percent. This extends the dramatic reduction in crime that began in the 19...
It was like the 1990s all over again when the FBI released the latest crime statistics last week. Violent crime fell by five percent; property crime fell three percent. Those are the sorts of cri...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/05/experts-continue-to-express-amazement-at-declining-crime/
This morning the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its latest estimates of GDP. And there’s bad news, hidden in the details. Most analysts are focused on the fact that GDP growth in t...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/05/the-new-gdp-data-is-bad-the-hidden-data-behind-it-is-worse/
What happens when you match two guitar-playing economics students and a deep recession? Recession Sessions , an entire album of economics-themed songs by RYAN STOTLAND and KYLE THOMPSON-WESTRA, a...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/05/music-of-the-great-recession/
Sales of eco-friendly household cleaning products have tanked thanks to the recession. Turns out our green conspicuous consumption habits only reach so far. The post Because the Consumption of ...