Kent State University, Economics Department

10/11/2021

Nobel prize in economics goes to… 🥁🥁🥁

Three U.S.-based economists were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday.

10/08/2021

Employment for those with a bachelor's degree is up 0.7% since the start of the pandemic. For those without, employment is down 5.3-7.9%. In the last month alone, employment rose by 169,000 for those with the degree while it fell by 394,000 for those without.

The unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree is less than half that of workers with a high school diploma but no college studies.

09/13/2021

A popular theory for explaining why businesses have had trouble hiring is based on unemployment benefits. New research is showing that this is not a large driver. 25% of the workers who lost their benefits in June had gone back to work by August. In states that left the benefits in place, 21% of unemployed people found jobs.

Early this summer, the U.S. inadvertently launched one of the largest unemployment experiments in history to see if unemployment benefits impact worker shortages. Today on the show, we find the answer.

08/26/2021

Welcome back!! Is everyone as excited about what this school year is going to bring us?
The pandemic is definitely not over, but everyone in the KSU community is doing their best to keep everyone safe. Mask up, and let’s get some learning done!! 😷🤓📖📚📓🎉

08/23/2021

Over the summer, our very own Kathy Wilson and Lockwood Reynolds weighed in on opioids, rural broadband, Ohio's vaccination lottery, and Ohio's rainy day fund. Take a look at their opinions along with those of several other economists in Ohio.

The DeWine Administration's decision in 2020 to cut spending rather than use "Rainy Day" budget stabilization funds during the pandemic will lead to more economic growth for Ohio in the long run.

07/14/2021

This program is hailed to be revolutionary by many economists. We’ll see what the impacts are in a few years.

The Biden administration will send up to $300 per child a month to most American families thanks to a temporary increase in the child tax credit that advocates hope to extend.

05/07/2021

Here is an interesting thread with several graphs to help us understand today's labor report.

“Honestly, at first glance I have no idea what to make of the jobs report. Not just that it was weak, but the particular way it was weak, is perplexing. So come with me as I try to work through it the only way I know how -- with charts!”

04/03/2021

This is a nice summary on how poverty has fallen over time and the different strategies taken internationally. (The subtitle is misleading since perhaps the biggest contribution to the fall in Chinese poverty is due to free-market capitalism.)

Poverty is falling, and it isn't because of free-market capitalism

03/11/2021

Today is one year anniversary of Covid-19 pandemic. As things are slowly returning to normalcy with massive vaccination effort, it changed our lives so fundamentally, we all know that things will never be the same (all those things that could've been emails, you know?).

This article is a good reflection on how it changed politics and policy making, and what might stick.

The past year has seen progressive pipe dreams become reality. But can we hold on to what we’ve learned?

03/09/2021

This is a nice visual representation of the latest stimulus bill compared to the previous two packages from December and last March. I have found myself confused recently. "Wait, how many of these have passed? What is in this one that was not in the previous?" This piece helped answer these questions.

A look at the Senate bill, which now goes back to the House for final approval before likely landing on President Biden’s desk.

02/20/2021

Did you know that our own Kathy Wilson and Lockwood Reynolds are part of a panel of economic experts addressing policy issues for Ohio? Well, now you do. See aggregated responses to a whole host of questions in the link!

Optimally, the state government would invest more than the proposed $1 billion in COVID relief in the form of support for small businesses, bars and restaurants, local infrastructure, and residential broadband.

01/29/2021

Wondering what the heck is going on with GameStop? This podcast has the best explanation I’ve seen so far. The market sure is squirrelly. 😉

‎Show The Indicator from Planet Money, Ep GameStop And The Short Squeeze - Jan 27, 2021