The SunBreak » economics

Yoram Bauman on Cartoon Economics, Climate Change & Krugman

Michael van Baker — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:58:05 +0000

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Volume Two: Macroeconomics, is now on bookstore shelves, and Bauman and illustrator Grady Klein have once again succeeded in telling economics stories in entertaining and informative ways, even if it's not laugh-a-panel stuff. It's just that cartoons turn out to be a great way of showing you economic activity without the obscurantist jargon.

Seattle Bubble Commenters Explain the State’s Budget for You

Michael van Baker — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:53:04 +0000

Seattle Bubble readers are sharp cookies. The very first commenter zeroes in on the difference between the state's past obligations and current spending: "Like most states and cities, the increase is from pensions (retired state employees living longer, with bigger pensions), and from health care costs for both current and retired employees and medicaid recipients outstripping inflation by a large margin. $2 billion removed from what’s left after these and other mandatory spending hits the remaining programs very hard."

Bill Gates Considers the Nuclear Options

Michael van Baker — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:03:06 +0000

Gates' advice for governments? You're under-funding investment in pure energy research by a factor of three or more. This wouldn't require a gigantic tax on the energy sector, just a few percent, and certainly a lower number than a carbon tax would likely impose. Energy innovation is unlike other areas because of its lengthy time-to-market--if you try to offer incentives on the scale of other industries, you'll fail.

A Dancer Weighs Her Options in Swimming the List

Michael van Baker — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:44:57 +0000

It's a brief show, running just 50 minutes, and just for this weekend (through September 25; tickets: $12), but I have a feeling that anyone who sees Swimming the List, from the Susie Lee Ensemble, will be mulling it over for a long while. Prosaic daily demands give way to a sensual, sublime illustration of a dancer's luminescent life, carved out at great cost--and the cry for payment presses more and more strongly.

Op-Ed: Economists Count the Ways Paid Sick Leave Makes Sense

Guest Contributor — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:57:55 +0000

"An Open Letter to the Seattle City Council: Soon you will have the opportunity to pass a bill that will help protect and promote the health of Seattle’s workers and businesses. As economists, we urge you to pass the paid sick days ordinance, City Council Bill 117216, to ensure that workers can take time off to recover from their own illness, to care for a sick family member or to seek medical care."

Ask an Economist: What’s the Deal with College Tuition?

Michael van Baker — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:00:23 +0000

I've written before about what I think could be called, fairly, the runaway costs of higher education. But what, I wondered, does an economics professor think of this trend? On the one hand, viewed with an economist's famously dispassionate eye, perhaps we're simply seeing the true value of higher education set. On the other, as a professor of economics, there would be some skin in the game. Is this what's best for students? For society?