Great way to illustrate velocity of money

So in class today we discussed the 'velocity' of money, in other words, the number of times money is exchanged in transactions throughout a period of time.

Check out this webpage which actually tracks dollar bills as they are moved throughout the country. Pretty fascinating and illustrates exactly what we mean by velocity.

Where's George

High growth in the last five years not helping middle class

Great article outlining how the spectacular economic growth we've experienced in the last five years have primarily helped the very wealthy and the very poor. Who gets left out- the middle class.

Larry Summers Comments on Economic Growth

What is the secret to success and Condi Rice is a concert-level pianist?

Turns out it's not natural-born talent but a lot of hard work.

What it takes to be great

Also, did you know that Secretary of State Condi Rice is also a concert-level pianist. Check out this article about polymaths and see the resume of a top-level executive of Citigroup who has "been, at varying points of his life, a brigadier general in the Army, a partner at Lehman Brothers, head of consulting at Bain, a Rhodes Scholar, and a student at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, where he earned his Ph.D. Also: a Heisman Trophy winner (in 1958)"

Crosstrain your brain

CA Community Colleges making higher education more affordable

California community colleges are leading the way in providing affordable higher education.

From the article:

The best news came for people at the nation's public two-year colleges, which educate nearly half of American college students. There, tuition and fees rose just 4.1% to $2,272. The increase was limited by California, which is home to more than a fifth of the nation's two-year public college students and lowered tuition and fees 12% this year. Elsewhere, prices rose 5.1%.

Tuition and fees at private four-year colleges rose 5.9% overall, to $22,218.

College Tuitions Up 6%

Perspectives on the minimum wage

Some great perspectives on whether it makes economic sense to raise the minimum wage.

Minimum wage

US Defense Spending - smaller than we think?

Thought this was interesting. Apparently, despite the fact that current defense spending is very high in absolute dollar amounts, spending as a percentage of GDP has actually fallen significantly throughout the last 60 years.

Our small defense budget

US population hits 300 million

What does this mean for the future of young people? This article predicts higher taxes and a higher retirement age for young people.

Population hits 300 million

Now here's some high opportunity cost of going to school

A great example of when the opportunity cost of going to school can be very very high.

The third YouTube founder

Stocks are rising

It's only a matter of time before the Dow hits 12,000.

Dow Just Below 12,000

Here's a quick overview of the types of mutual funds that have done well over the last few years.

Bull market kinder to some funds than to others

One example of when unions can do good

Remember that in some cases, labor unions can counter the power of large corporations to take advantage of workers.

Walmart forced to pay $78M

Nobel Peace prize goes to an economist

Very cool. An economist wins the Nobel Peace prize for his work in trying to increase economic growth in developing countries. His novel idea was to offer micro credit (or very small loans) to individual people in poor countries. It has been shown to be very effective at lifting people out of poverty.

Nobel Peace Prize goes to economist

US Trade deficit hits record

The US hit another record trade deficit in August. We'll learn later what effect this will have on the economy.

Trade deficit hits record

Google acquisition of YouTube

Google's acquisition of YouTube shows how much the high tech landscape of funding has changed since 2000.

Google acquires YouTube

Nobel Prize Winner critiques use of GDP

Interesting article by a former Nobel prize winner. He critiques the use of GDP as a measure of economic well-being because it does not take into account the depletion of our natural resources and the environment. He advocates using "green GDP" instead of conventional GDP. Reminds me of the lessons we learned in the second week of class.


Green GDP

California Ballot Propositions

Be an informed voter and review the pros and cons of each of the propositions on the ballot for this November 7. Don't forget to exercise your right to vote!

California Ballot Propositions

2006 Nobel prize announced

On Monday they annouced the winner of the Economics Nobel prize this year, Edmund Phelps. Later this semester, we'll learn about Phelps' Nobel-prize winning concept of the long-run relationship between inflation and unemployment.

American Wins Economics Nobel