Dean Baker's Blog, page 313

The New York Times Didn't Hear About the Euro Zone Crisis

It's apparently difficult for the New York Times to get very basic economic information, or at least to remember it. That is the implication of an article that discusses the benefits that joining the euro offers to Lithuania and other non-euro zone EU countries.

The article pointed out that tying a country's currency to the euro eliminates its ability to improve its competitiveness by lowering the value of its currency. It then points out:

"Lithuania has tied its currency, the litas, to the...

Why Do the Media Give So Much More Attention to Jobs We Lose Due to Environmental Restrictions Than Jobs We Lose Because of the Trade Deficit?

It was hard to miss all the news stories the last few days about the jobs that will likely be lost in coal mining areas due to efforts to curtail carbon emissions. And these are stories that should be pursued. Most coal miners will never have another job that pays anywhere near as well if they lose their job in the industry.

Nonetheless a sense of scale would be appropriate. There are a bit less than 80,000 coal mining jobs in the whole country. They will not all go away and the regulations p...

Euro Zone Already Suffers from Dreaded Low Inflation

The NYT persists in pushing the bizarre notion that something horrible happens to economies when the inflation rate crosses zero and turns negative. Today it gave us an article with the headline of an article, "Euro Zone Edges Closer to Dreaded Deflation."

The story is that inflation in the year ending in April was just 0.5 percent, as compared to 0.7 percent for the year ending in April. It tells readers:

"Many economists say that inflation is already well below the danger zone for tipping i...

NPR Hypes the Job Loss Story on Restricting Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Like building a new airport, restricting carbon dioxide emissions will cost jobs. (If it's not obvious that building a new airport will cost jobs, then you better study more economics. The new airport will pull business away from other forms of transportation and other airports. That will cause people to lose jobs. On net, there will likely be job gains, but there will definitely be people who lose their job as a result of the new airport who either don't get another job or at least another j...

How Does the NYT Know What Republican Governors Really Believe About the World?

An NYT article on President Obama's plan to have the Environmental Protection Agency impose restrictions on the emission of carbon dioxide told readers:

"Many Republican governors, in particular, are ideologically opposed to the prospect of enacting cap-and-trade programs."

How would the NYT know Republican' governors ideological beliefs and why would they think it is the basis for their actions? Politicians are not elected for their political philosophy, they are elected because they get the...

If Kentucky Is a Coal Mining State Is It Also a Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction State?

The reason for asking is that a New York Times article on reactions to President Obama's plan to have the Environmental Protection Agency restrict carbon emissions referred to Kentucky as a "coal state." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Kentucky has 11,600 people employed in the coal mining industry. With total employment of 1,846,000, coal mining jobs account for just over 0.6 percent of total employment in the state.

By comparison, BLS reports that Kentucky has 12,400 empl...

Income Growth is Not Quite What Robert Samuelson Implies

Robert Samuelson is correct to point out that income inequality in the United States at present is not anything like what it was back in the 1920s because of the social welfare state. We have programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps that are a substantial source of income and security for the middle class and poor. So conservatives are correct to point out that inequality is not nearly as bad today as it was in the 1920s due to these programs.

However his column is s...

Do Small Countries Really Spend 0.4 Percent of GDP Changing Currency?

That's what the NYT told readers in an article reporting on the debate over Scottish independence. The article referred to a study by a Scottish engineering company, the Weir Group, that Scotland would incur $840 million in transactions costs if it were to adopt its own currency. This would be the equivalent of roughly $65 billion a year in the United States. Since many countries that have smaller economies than Scotland have their own currencies, it is difficult to believe they incur these s...

George Will Still Can't Get Access to Government Data

George Will is again making misleading statements on economic issues because of his inability to get access to government data. In today's column he is touting the economic record of the North Carolina, which he attributes to the state's conservative policies.

He told readers:

"The state has added more than 200,000 jobs in three years. Unemployment has fallen from 10.4 percent in January 2011, then eighth-highest in the nation, to 6.2 percent, one of the largest improvements among the states...

Do Fugitives Answer Government Surveys?

Tyler Cowen had an interesting column discussing a book by Alice Goffman that described the life of people trying to evade the law. Cowen points out that fugitive status undermines family relations and can make normal work impossible.

The discussion is interesting and the book sounds well worth reading, but as an economist nerd type it is difficult not to ask a seemingly obvious question; do these people answer government surveys? Of course fugitives almost certainly do not answer the door f...