LeBron points us to David Yves' 2012 paper on quality of life in America. Tyler is interested in whether big cities are bad places to live (I read Yves as saying yes, unless they are on the ocean), but I am interested in how the piece illustrates my current situation.
Oklahoma City is ranked 137 (out of 276), right in the middle of the pack. Santa Fe is 6th.
6th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However, my best employment bet in Santa Fe looks to be either community college instructor or free-lance woodworker, while Mrs. Angus and I have amazingly great jobs at OU. We also have season tickets for the Thunder.
People, we badly need one of those Elon Musk tunnels between Santa Fe and Norman.
(*FYCI Dallas is ranked 206!)
Showing posts with label always look for the union label. Show all posts
Showing posts with label always look for the union label. Show all posts
Friday, August 15, 2014
Monday, December 16, 2013
Confusion About Union Fusion
So, a vote at NYU. Grad students fight their oppressors.
Except....grad students actually do very little of the grading. VERY. LITTLE. of the grading, in most undergraduate classes. It's just a myth.
Grad students are getting paid to learn. And they are getting paid a lot. Very few work ten hours a week on class stuff for undergrads, at least at Duke.
Don't get me wrong, I value my TAs very much. And this semester I had four, and they graded all the papers for my classes.
But I graded the midterms and finals. My TAs didn't. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to do all that. So for the last three days I have been grading 700 essay questions for exams from 300 students. If the TAs were cut I would cut the papers, and the class would suffer. The students get a lot from having smart TAs work with them on the papers. But I would do all the grading of exams either way.
Except....grad students actually do very little of the grading. VERY. LITTLE. of the grading, in most undergraduate classes. It's just a myth.
Grad students are getting paid to learn. And they are getting paid a lot. Very few work ten hours a week on class stuff for undergrads, at least at Duke.
Don't get me wrong, I value my TAs very much. And this semester I had four, and they graded all the papers for my classes.
But I graded the midterms and finals. My TAs didn't. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to do all that. So for the last three days I have been grading 700 essay questions for exams from 300 students. If the TAs were cut I would cut the papers, and the class would suffer. The students get a lot from having smart TAs work with them on the papers. But I would do all the grading of exams either way.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Banning Competition
Hayek had this right, and people forget how often the point is illustrated by those we call "conservatives":
There is some justification at least in the taunt that many of the pretending defenders of “free enterprise” are in fact defenders of privileges and advocates of government activity in their favor rather than opponents of all privileges. In principle the industrial protectionism and government-supported cartels and agricultural policies of the conservative groups are not different from the proposals for a more far-reaching direction of economic life sponsored by the socialists. - F.A. Hayek, page 107 , Individualism and Economic Order
A beautiful example, just beautiful: good ol' North Carolina may outlaw car companies that try to sell cars directly to customers. The whole "support your local (car) dealer" thing is interesting. But this takes it to a whole new level. Russ and I talked about some of these issues a while back.
Nod to Marc B, who is going to lose his lefty label if he's not careful.
UPDATE: Marc B., demonstrating he has gone round the bend, sends this photo:
Dr. Evil exists. In the heart of every Democrat and Republican ever elected anywhere to any legislature. It just makes so much sense, doesn't it? Charging all those low prices for high quality stuff? It's MEAN, that's what it is. And it must be stopped, before it costs us more jobs.
There is some justification at least in the taunt that many of the pretending defenders of “free enterprise” are in fact defenders of privileges and advocates of government activity in their favor rather than opponents of all privileges. In principle the industrial protectionism and government-supported cartels and agricultural policies of the conservative groups are not different from the proposals for a more far-reaching direction of economic life sponsored by the socialists. - F.A. Hayek, page 107 , Individualism and Economic Order
A beautiful example, just beautiful: good ol' North Carolina may outlaw car companies that try to sell cars directly to customers. The whole "support your local (car) dealer" thing is interesting. But this takes it to a whole new level. Russ and I talked about some of these issues a while back.
Nod to Marc B, who is going to lose his lefty label if he's not careful.
UPDATE: Marc B., demonstrating he has gone round the bend, sends this photo:
Dr. Evil exists. In the heart of every Democrat and Republican ever elected anywhere to any legislature. It just makes so much sense, doesn't it? Charging all those low prices for high quality stuff? It's MEAN, that's what it is. And it must be stopped, before it costs us more jobs.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
hang up the phone, Calderon
People, I never realized all the dimensions in which Felipe Calderon has been a bad president for Mexico.
This recent article in the Washington Post reveals another; He sold his soul to Elba Esther Gordillo, condemning Mexican public schools to another sexenio of misery.
The article details the misery,
"The country is a member of the Group of 20 and boasts of the world’s 14th-largest economy, but only a quarter of its children graduate from high school. Sixth-graders in Mexico get 562 hours of “instructional learning” a year. In South Korea, it’s 1,195 hours...
Yet Mexico’s lame performance is not about money. A generous 20 percent of the country’s budget goes to education, about $30 billion a year. More than 90 percent goes to salaries — negotiated by the teachers union, which dictates policy.
“It was — and sadly still is — a very corrupt system,” said Carlos Ornelos, a specialist in education at the Autonomous Metropolitan University who was one of the first, in the 1990s, to expose the practice of teachers buying and selling their jobs. An elementary school teaching post, a tenured position for life, still sells for as much as $20,000 in the resort city of Cancun, and a post in a rural village can be had for $2,000, Ornelas said."
Yikes!
This recent article in the Washington Post reveals another; He sold his soul to Elba Esther Gordillo, condemning Mexican public schools to another sexenio of misery.
The article details the misery,
"The country is a member of the Group of 20 and boasts of the world’s 14th-largest economy, but only a quarter of its children graduate from high school. Sixth-graders in Mexico get 562 hours of “instructional learning” a year. In South Korea, it’s 1,195 hours...
Yet Mexico’s lame performance is not about money. A generous 20 percent of the country’s budget goes to education, about $30 billion a year. More than 90 percent goes to salaries — negotiated by the teachers union, which dictates policy.
“It was — and sadly still is — a very corrupt system,” said Carlos Ornelos, a specialist in education at the Autonomous Metropolitan University who was one of the first, in the 1990s, to expose the practice of teachers buying and selling their jobs. An elementary school teaching post, a tenured position for life, still sells for as much as $20,000 in the resort city of Cancun, and a post in a rural village can be had for $2,000, Ornelas said."
Yikes!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Ur Union of Unemployed
Ur Union of Unemployed: Ucubed.
Gotta be a hoax, right? RIGHT?
You lost your job. You're not alone. 31 million Americans face the same challenges. You want your job back. You want your life back. But you can't do it alone. Neither can anyone else. You all need each other. That's what UCubed is here to do: Help you and 31 million other unemployed Americans organize, work together and get back to work. Let UCubed help you connect. Form a cube, and multiply your political and economic power by 6. Then by 36. Eventually, by 31 million. Take Control.
The "Ur" instead of "Your" thing is disturbing. Unless they mean "Ur," which would actually be pretty cool: a combining form meaning “earliest, original,” used in words denoting the primal stage of a historical or cultural entity or phenomenon: ur-civilization; urtext.
Gotta be a hoax, right? RIGHT?
You lost your job. You're not alone. 31 million Americans face the same challenges. You want your job back. You want your life back. But you can't do it alone. Neither can anyone else. You all need each other. That's what UCubed is here to do: Help you and 31 million other unemployed Americans organize, work together and get back to work. Let UCubed help you connect. Form a cube, and multiply your political and economic power by 6. Then by 36. Eventually, by 31 million. Take Control.
The "Ur" instead of "Your" thing is disturbing. Unless they mean "Ur," which would actually be pretty cool: a combining form meaning “earliest, original,” used in words denoting the primal stage of a historical or cultural entity or phenomenon: ur-civilization; urtext.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
They're not your father's manufacturing jobs
Here's an awesome anti-Yglesias screed where the author states the following:
I support high employment in manufacturing. The reason is that I believe that people are paid more if they work in manufacturing than if they work in other sectors.
And the following:
People get something for nothing if they switch from employment in services to employment in manufacturing -- well the data show they lose big if they move the other way.
This guy is saying that there are, in his words, "labor market rents" in the manufacturing sector.
I think what the recent evidence shows though is that there WERE labor market rents in the manufacturing sector.
These rents came from the power of unions. But (1) they weren't a free lunch, as they were partly paid for by higher prices to consumers. (2) These rents are, to a large extent, gone. Virtually every story I've seen about new manufacturing jobs talks about the two-tiered wage schemes where the incumbent workers earn the higher wages and better benefits and the new workers get significantly lower hourly wages and weaker benefits.
Globalization is bringing this about and it's not going to go away. "Labor market rents" to unskilled (and indeed many skilled workers) are not sustainable as more and more countries join the global system.
I see little benefit in glamorizing and subsidizing manufacturing jobs in a specific way, as they are more and more $15/hour positions with limited upsides.
Of course, I don't even agree with the general notion that the government should be actively planning where its citizens will work.
I do see a role for subsidizing basic research. I have views about subsidizing the acquiring of skills, but my position in academia probably makes them suspect so I'll just leave that alone.
I support high employment in manufacturing. The reason is that I believe that people are paid more if they work in manufacturing than if they work in other sectors.
And the following:
People get something for nothing if they switch from employment in services to employment in manufacturing -- well the data show they lose big if they move the other way.
This guy is saying that there are, in his words, "labor market rents" in the manufacturing sector.
I think what the recent evidence shows though is that there WERE labor market rents in the manufacturing sector.
These rents came from the power of unions. But (1) they weren't a free lunch, as they were partly paid for by higher prices to consumers. (2) These rents are, to a large extent, gone. Virtually every story I've seen about new manufacturing jobs talks about the two-tiered wage schemes where the incumbent workers earn the higher wages and better benefits and the new workers get significantly lower hourly wages and weaker benefits.
Globalization is bringing this about and it's not going to go away. "Labor market rents" to unskilled (and indeed many skilled workers) are not sustainable as more and more countries join the global system.
I see little benefit in glamorizing and subsidizing manufacturing jobs in a specific way, as they are more and more $15/hour positions with limited upsides.
Of course, I don't even agree with the general notion that the government should be actively planning where its citizens will work.
I do see a role for subsidizing basic research. I have views about subsidizing the acquiring of skills, but my position in academia probably makes them suspect so I'll just leave that alone.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
All hail Frank Esser!
for managing to publish an article with the amazing title of "Nazis, Pollution, & No Sex" in the American Behavioral Scientist.
Kudos to you sir.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Libertarian View of Unions
Will Wilkinson has a nice post on *a* (I won't say *the*) libertarian view on unions.
Not sure why Will can't spell "labor," though. Or "favor."
Not sure why Will can't spell "labor," though. Or "favor."
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Advice to Grad students: get Hitched!
Interesting paper from Cornell. Here's the abstract:
Using data on 11,000 graduate students from 100 departments over a 20
year period, I test whether graduate student outcomes (graduation rates, time to degree, publication success, and initial job placement) differ based on a student’s gender and marital status. I find that married men have better outcomes across every measure than single men. Married women do no worse than single women on any measure and actually have more publishing success and complete their degree in less time. The outcomes of cohabiting students generally fall between those of single and married students.
Wow!
Using data on 11,000 graduate students from 100 departments over a 20
year period, I test whether graduate student outcomes (graduation rates, time to degree, publication success, and initial job placement) differ based on a student’s gender and marital status. I find that married men have better outcomes across every measure than single men. Married women do no worse than single women on any measure and actually have more publishing success and complete their degree in less time. The outcomes of cohabiting students generally fall between those of single and married students.
Wow!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Markets in everything: Canned goods edition
I can't decide which is funnier; "quality guaranteed" or "in tomato sauce"!
Thursday, November 04, 2010
The best column I've read this week
Jeffrey Goldberg chronicles his battles with the "dick-measuring device".
You really must read the whole thing, but here is a teaser:
"Yes, but starting tomorrow, we're going to start searching your crotchal area" -- this is the word he used, "crotchal" -- and you're not going to like it."
"What am I not going to like?" I asked.
"We have to search up your thighs and between your legs until we meet resistance," he explained.
"Resistance?" I asked.
"Your testicles," he explained.
'That's funny," I said, "because 'The Resistance' is the actual name I've given to my testicles."
Finally the TSA has done something useful; provided fodder for an awesome article.
You really must read the whole thing, but here is a teaser:
"Yes, but starting tomorrow, we're going to start searching your crotchal area" -- this is the word he used, "crotchal" -- and you're not going to like it."
"What am I not going to like?" I asked.
"We have to search up your thighs and between your legs until we meet resistance," he explained.
"Resistance?" I asked.
"Your testicles," he explained.
'That's funny," I said, "because 'The Resistance' is the actual name I've given to my testicles."
Finally the TSA has done something useful; provided fodder for an awesome article.
Big Doings
September and October were the highest traffic months in KPC history, so Mungo and I would like to thank the KPC nation for their patronage.
As you know we have a rotating tagline below our nameplate (currently contributed by Mr. F. Zappa), but now we want you to choose / create our new tagline!
That's right, it's our first ever "tag KPC" contest.*
Winner gets immortalized on our masthead along with an awesome, custom KPC gift card from Starbucks (really!). Send your entries via Twitter, Facebook, or email to Angus (my email is available through my Blogger profile page), and thanks again to all of you.
*KPC employees and relatives of employees are ineligible. The decision of the judges will be final. Void where prohibited.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Incentives in universities
Nick Rowe has a great post on the woes of the central planner in university settings.
You should definitely read the whole thing, but here's my favorite bit:
"It's not enough (in some cases) to put the carrot in front of the donkey. You have to point to the carrot, tell the donkey it is a carrot, and that he can eat it. And work out marginal revenue and marginal cost for the donkey too. And repeat this several times".
One interesting take on university incentives comes from the school where Mrs. Angus and I worked in Mexico City, CIDE.
Everyone started with the same (fairly low) base salary and the requirement to teach one class. There were then extra payments for teaching more classes (subject to demand). There were also payments based on one's overall academic reputation from SNI which came in three levels if you qualified. They also paid piecework on articles. A payment for each working paper and then an additional payment for publication on a scale related to the quality of the journal. Finally there were semi-annual productivity bonuses that could be as large as two months base salary.
I found this to be a great system. We got a ton of work done there.
You should definitely read the whole thing, but here's my favorite bit:
"It's not enough (in some cases) to put the carrot in front of the donkey. You have to point to the carrot, tell the donkey it is a carrot, and that he can eat it. And work out marginal revenue and marginal cost for the donkey too. And repeat this several times".
One interesting take on university incentives comes from the school where Mrs. Angus and I worked in Mexico City, CIDE.
Everyone started with the same (fairly low) base salary and the requirement to teach one class. There were then extra payments for teaching more classes (subject to demand). There were also payments based on one's overall academic reputation from SNI which came in three levels if you qualified. They also paid piecework on articles. A payment for each working paper and then an additional payment for publication on a scale related to the quality of the journal. Finally there were semi-annual productivity bonuses that could be as large as two months base salary.
I found this to be a great system. We got a ton of work done there.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
People unclear on the subject
Was out on the Mall in DC today with Tyler, museum hopping and people watching. No really big protest crowds anywhere, but a lot of small, weird, hanger-on type protesters. You know your protest is failing when you and your 3 friends are the whole group, carrying the 150 signs you had printed up.
Some people really really really don't know how to protest though.
We saw one group with the sign "Socialism is the Alternative", and I said to them, "yes you are exactly right, thanks for reminding me that things could be worse". The sign is like an inkblot test. You can read it however you want.
Another strange one was, "Private Armies are Dangerous" to which Tyler observed "they better be"!
I really don't get this one; it's like printing A=A on a sign. Why walk around in the heat waving a tautology?
*********************
UPDATE: I guess we left too soon to go for a late lunch, because I see on the TV that there are a good amount of folks out on the mall now.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Uh, will any of this be on like, the final?
Did I Miss Anything?
Tom Wayman
From: The Astonishing Weight of the Dead. Vancouver: Polestar, 1994.
Question frequently asked by
students after missing a class
Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours
Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 per cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per cent
Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose
Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring this good news to all people
on earth
Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?
Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human existence
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered
but it was one place
And you weren't here
Tom Wayman
From: The Astonishing Weight of the Dead. Vancouver: Polestar, 1994.
Question frequently asked by
students after missing a class
Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours
Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 per cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 per cent
Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose
Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring this good news to all people
on earth
Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?
Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human existence
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered
but it was one place
And you weren't here
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Products entirely relevant for 21st century investing
Judging from the look on the guy's face, it is somewhat painful to have this product installed!
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Isn't child labor illegal in this country?
Magic to test new arena's drainage with big flush
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A massive toilet flush is set to take place at the new arena of the NBA's Orlando Magic.
The event Wednesday will test the Amway Center's sewer flows, water consumption and pressure. About 443 toilets will be flushed simultaneously.
Those expected to participate include Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Magic President Alex Martins and dozens of elementary students. They will simulate the crowd rush to bathrooms during halftime and between quarters.
There are about 1,200 plumbing fixtures in the arena. That includes approximately 560 toilets, 430 sinks and 210 fixtures such as drinking fountains, showers and disposals.
(My other possible title was "Magic simulate what it would have been like to sign Shaq")
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A massive toilet flush is set to take place at the new arena of the NBA's Orlando Magic.
The event Wednesday will test the Amway Center's sewer flows, water consumption and pressure. About 443 toilets will be flushed simultaneously.
Those expected to participate include Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Magic President Alex Martins and dozens of elementary students. They will simulate the crowd rush to bathrooms during halftime and between quarters.
There are about 1,200 plumbing fixtures in the arena. That includes approximately 560 toilets, 430 sinks and 210 fixtures such as drinking fountains, showers and disposals.
(My other possible title was "Magic simulate what it would have been like to sign Shaq")
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
tres coronas!
No one in the National League has won the triple crown since Ducky Medwick in 1937. This year two players have a legitimate shot. One is the incomparable 3 time MVP Albert Pujols, the other is some punk named Votto!
A-Poo is 1st in homers with 33 and 1st in RBI with 92. He's 3rd in batting average at .319.
Votto is 3rd in homers with 29 and 2nd in RBI with 86. He's 1st in batting average at .323.
I'm pulling for Albert, but it could go either way.
Wow, how cool would it be to have a triple crown winner in the NL?
A-Poo is 1st in homers with 33 and 1st in RBI with 92. He's 3rd in batting average at .319.
Votto is 3rd in homers with 29 and 2nd in RBI with 86. He's 1st in batting average at .323.
I'm pulling for Albert, but it could go either way.
Wow, how cool would it be to have a triple crown winner in the NL?
Sunday, August 15, 2010
It's a funny old world
Pundits on the left decry the evil "deficit hawks" and demand more stimulus. They however are in favor of raising taxes on "the rich" because somehow it won't hurt economic activity and hey, we gotta start on that deficit sometime, right?
Pundits on the right decry deficits but also oppose raising taxes on "the rich".
(I am sorry for the quotation marks but a two earner family of 4 or 5 whose parents' combined income is $250,001 is not really rich!!)
Intellectual consistency is apparently far too heavy of a burden to impose on our chattering classes.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Bought off, but NOT paid for
So another $26 billion goes out the door for teachers and police and fireman. But don't worry people, because it's all paid for and won't add to the deficit.
But, our government has an interesting way of paying for things. The spending happens ASAP, if not sooner.
The paying part? Oh yeah, we will let the increased level of food stamp payments from the stimulus bill expire in 2014. That's supposed to be almost half of the $26 billion "payment".
It's not really a cut, just a reversion to pre-stimulus levels. And of course the exchange isn't contemporaneous so Oliver Williamson applies with a vengeance.
Congress calls this "real spending cuts".
I call it BS.
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