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Jason Welker

Economics of Disasters « Foundation for Teaching Economics - 4 views

www.fte.org/...disasterslessons

economics natural disaster

shared by Jason Welker on 15 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • disasters
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations. Program Topics Introduction Addendum to Introduction Lesson 1: Are Disasters Good for the Economy? Lesson 2: When Disaster Strikes, What Can Markets Do? Lesson 3: When Disaster Strikes, What Can Government Do? Lesson 4: When Disaster Strikes, What Can We Do? Lesson 5: Are Disasters “A Disaster” for Lesson Planning? Activities
  • This set of lessons looks at a variety of natural disasters – from the Black Death of the Middle Ages to Hurricane Katrina in our too-recent memory, to fears of avian flu pandemics that haunt the future – through the lens of economic analysis. The contexts were chosen to facilitate the teaching of economic reasoning principles not only in economics courses, but also in history and the other social studies disciplines. Each lesson addresses a question that reflects people’s compassionate reaction to news of disaster and develops one or two key tools of economic analysis in answering that question. Case studies of past disasters provide real-world illustrations.
  • Jason Welker on 15 Mar 11
     
    Lesson plans for the Economics classroom for teaching the effects of natural disasters
Duncan Innes

BBC News - Could debt relief solve Europe's problems? - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...business-18785856

bbc news debt relief europe problems HIPC poverty reduction euro

shared by Duncan Innes on 16 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Duncan Innes on 16 Jul 12
     
    Should Europe follow africa
Duncan Innes

BBC News - Britain outside Europe - a bright future? - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/uk-20715622

bbc news britain outside europe future video

shared by Duncan Innes on 06 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Duncan Innes on 06 Mar 14
     
    Arguments in favour of leaving the EU
Jason Welker

400 Richest Americans Got Richer This Year, As Most Americans' Net Worth Tanked: Forbes - 3 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...ichest-americans_n_736182.html

income distribution

shared by Jason Welker on 24 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • The richest Americans got even richer this year, according to the new Forbes 400 list, even as the country's total net worth tanked during the second quarter. The top 400, all of whom are worth at least $1 billion, saw their combined wealth increase 8 percent this year, to the dizzying total of $1.37 trillion, according to analysis from CNN.
  • This means the 400 richest people in America account for about 2.6 percent of the nation's private wealth
  • Jason Welker on 24 Sep 10
     
    What's happening to income distribution in America during the recession? 
Jason Welker

CARPE DIEM: U.S. Share of World GDP Remarkably Constant - 5 views

mjperry.blogspot.com/...e-of-world-gdp-remarkably.html

shared by Jason Welker on 25 Nov 09 - Cached
gene hayward liked it
  • The chart above shows the annual shares of real world GDP for four geographical regions (European Union 15, Asia/Oceania, Latin America and the combined share of Africa and the Middle East) compared to the U.S. share of world GDP between 1969 and 2009 (data here). What might be surprising is that the U.S. share of world GDP has been relatively constant for the last 40 years, and is actually slightly higher in 2009 (26.7%) that it was in 1975 (26.3%). It's also interesting that the EU15's share of world GDP has declined from about 36% of world output in 1969 to only 27% in 2009. Further, despite having a large share of the world's oil reserves, the Middle East's share of global output has increased from only 2.23% in 1969 to 3.16% in 2009 (graph shows Middle East combined with Africa).
  • Bottom Line: World GDP (real) doubled between 1969 and 1990, and has increased by another 60% since then, so that world output in 2009 is more than three times greater than in 1969. We might mistakenly assume that the significant economic growth over the last 40 years in China, India and Brazil has somehow come "at the expense of economic growth in the U.S." (based on the "fixed pie fallacy") but the data suggest otherwise. Because of advances in technology, innovation, and significant improvements in U.S. productivity, America's share of total world output has remained remarkably constant at a little more than 25%, despite the significant increases in output around the world, especially in Asia.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 25 Nov 09
       
      A good conversation starter for an AP Macro class!
  • Somewhat surprisingly, the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has some great international historical macroeconomic datasets. According to its website:
  • gene hayward on 25 Nov 09
     
    I find it amazing (and troubling) that Latin America and Africa have made no appreciable gains in 40 years. They are rich in human capital and other productive resources....as a side note, I noticed in one of the comments on the blog you found this graphic there was some conversation about the CPI and that it was reconfigured in the 1990's(?) and that with the new method inflation is underestimated, therefore RGDP must be overstated...I have to admit ignorance on this issue...Are you familiar with it? Any commments as to the validity of the underestimation of inflation? Thanks!!
  • Jason Welker on 26 Nov 09
     
    Gene, I'm not sure we should be so troubled by the flat trend lines for Latin America and Africa. Keep in mind, this is not GDP, this is share of world's GDP. Unlike total output, which is NOT a zero sum concept, share of total output IS a zero-sum concept. A gain made by one part of the world is only possible by a loss made in another part of the world. The decline of the EU 15's share of world GDP does not mean that the EU 15 experienced a decline in output. In fact, the EU 15 have grown steadily over the last 40 years. Their downward sloping curve indicates that they have grown more slowly than the rest of the world, that's all. So the flat lines for Africa and Latin America in fact indicate that those two regions have grown more rapidly than Europe. Although it doesn't look like it on this graph, the "poor south" is actually catching up with the "rich north" as average growth in Europe lags behind that in the south. It's a bit misleading to interpret the graph in this way, but the gains in Asia have in a way come at the expense of gains in Europe, but only in that they now have a larger share of a MUCH larger pie! All regions have grown, and Latin America and Africa have grown AS quickly as the US, and MORE quickly than Europe. Good news!
  • gene hayward on 26 Nov 09
     
    Thanks for the reply and the analysis...I did not occur to me to think of it in those terms...I am better off for asking the question!!! :)
Kathryn Peyton

The modern investor - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2011030504925.html

shared by Kathryn Peyton on 05 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • Kathryn Peyton on 05 Jul 11
     
    The Modern Investor, WaPo feature story on new investment strategies, how the market has changed
Aaron Palm

Businesses scared off by California go global - Sacramento Business, Housing Market New... - 0 views

www.sacbee.com/...-scared-off-by-california.html

scared off businesses regulation CA environmental unemployment

shared by Aaron Palm on 04 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Aaron Palm on 04 Apr 10
     
    Entrepreuneur moving business out of CA to China over gov regulation
Aaron Palm

David Ranson: The Revenue Limits of Tax and Spend - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...4608104575217870728420184.html

revenue limits tax spend hauser's law

shared by Aaron Palm on 19 May 10 - Cached
  • President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a deficit that starts at 10.3% of GDP in 2010. It is projected to narrow as the economy recovers but will still be 5.6% in 2020. As a result the net national debt (debt held by the public) will more than double to 90% by 2020 from 40% in 2008.
  • They do not include deficit spending resulting from the new health-insurance legislation. The revenue numbers rely on increased tax rates beginning next year resulting from the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts. And, as usual, they ignore the unfunded liabilities of social insurance programs,
  • "Hauser's Law," as I call this formula, reveals a kind of capacity ceiling for federal tax receipts at about 19% of GDP.
  • Aaron Palm on 19 May 10
     
    We can never collect more than 20% tax rate
Kristen McDaniel

Checks and Imbalances - 0 views

www.tc.columbia.edu/...article.htm

Economics resources

shared by Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11 - No Cached
  • Kristen McDaniel on 13 May 11
     
    Dr. Anand Marri from Columbia Teacher's College has a project funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and has worked with doctoral students to write 25 lessons on economics, with 25 more on the way. Website link is included in the article.
Jason Welker

LRB · John Gray · We simply do not know! - 0 views

www.lrb.co.uk/...we-simply-do-not-know

Keynes rational behavior free markets markets macroeconomics animal spirits fiscal policy efficiency

shared by Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09 - Cached
  • The last two years, in which capitalism has suffered one of its periodic shocks, have given John Maynard Keynes a new lease of life. Events have demonstrated the limits of the theory that economies can be relied on to be stable if they are lightly regulated and otherwise left to themselves. There is now much talk of the paradox of thrift, whereby the rational choices of individuals can prove collectively ruinous, and of the need for government to counteract the inherently anarchic tendencies of markets. Keynes has been revived because he understood that markets are very often irrational. Unfortunately, few of those who urge that we go back to him seem to have understood why he believed this.
  • Apart from a brief postscript to one of the chapters and a few remarks in the preface, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller’s Animal Spirits was written before the current crisis. Yet, based on research undertaken over many years, it can be read as prefiguring the current disillusionment with economics. The trouble with prevailing theories, in Akerlof and Shiller’s view, is that they assume human beings are more rational than they actually are. ‘This book, which draws on an emerging field called behavioural economics, describes how the economy really works,’ they claim. ‘It accounts for how it works when people really are human, that is, possessed of all-too-human animal spirits.’
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      I took my students to hear George Akerlof speak in Zurich recently. His presentation of "Animal Spirits" was excellent and shed considerable light on the Macroeconomics we teach in AP and IB Economics classes.
  • ‘Just as Adam Smith’s invisible hand is the keynote of classical economics,’ they write, ‘Keynes’s animal spirits are the keynote to a different view of the economy – a view that explains the underlying instabilities of capitalism.’ Here they are endorsing the caricature of Smith propagated by neoliberal ideologues anxious to confer a distinguished patrimony on an illegitimate intellectual offspring.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      Modern day free market advocates have hijacked Adam Smith's "invisible hand"...
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Shackle took Keynes’s argument a step further, and showed that no economic policy can ensure economic stability indefinitely. ‘Keynesian’ policies are no exception to this rule. Deficit financing and monetary expansion may have worked well in the conditions that existed after the Second World War. It is not clear that they will be so effective today, when globalisation has brought a freedom of capital movements that did not exist then.
    • Jason Welker
      Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
       
      Is old fashioned Keynesian fiscal stimulus enough to solve today's economic challenges?
  • Economics and politics are not separate branches of human activity, and economic life cannot be studied independently of social divisions and political conflicts among populations, along with their cultures and religions.
  • Jason Welker on 14 Nov 09
     
    AP Macro and IB teachers should read this review of George Akerlof and Robert Schiller's book "Animal Spirits". There are some great points in this piece that can be brought into the AP or IB classroom with regards to the assumption of rational behavior and more importantly the Keynesian/Classical debate on Macroeconomic policy issues.
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