George Packer is an accomplished writer covering national and international politics. This is his first book, published in 1988. It’s about his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo from 1982-1984. It’s a nation of seven million very poor people. When Packer was there, the country was transitioning from a republic with temporary military… [Read More]
Blog
The 2014 Blogathon is getting started
For the last several years, Michelle Rafter of WordCount has organized a blogathon. This year, she can’t take it on, so the good folks at Freelance Success are doing it instead. Here’s how it works. First, you sign up! When you do that, you commit to putting one post per day on your blog for… [Read More]
Purdue University’s Art and Economics website
This post is as much for my future reference as to share ideas with you. Some economics professors at Purdue University have developed presentations on art and economics, finding artworks that can be used to illustrate or discuss different aspects of business and finance. Although many of the images are under copyright, you can use… [Read More]
Life in Chiberia
We sometimes forget how big a role the weather plays in the economy. Robert Gordon has argued that air conditioning has had a greater economic effect than the Internet; air conditioning made such major cities as Atlanta and Houston habitable during the summer, while the Internet just took away the margin of retail bookstores. GDP… [Read More]
Housing sputters, or does it?
Homeownership is a big part of U.S. culture, and yet, the rate of homeownership is falling. For the first quarter of 2014, the U.S. Census department reported that 64.8% of homes in the U.S. are occupied by their owners, the lowest rate since 1995. If traditional patterns still hold, then this is a sign of… [Read More]
