Category: Data Source

Singapore comes in first, Russia comes in last ("Natasha, we’re going to be late!"); not all countries were surveyed.  Here is the article and graph, via Private Sector Development blog.  Having an orientation toward the future is also strongly correlated with both happiness and confidence.

Statisticians have been scratching their heads lately over figures
that suggest Germans, among the most barren of western Europeans, are
rediscovering the joys of procreation.  In the first quarter of 2007, nearly 15 per cent more babies were born in Düsseldorf than in the same period last year.

Here is more.

Maybe this paper will help.  The more globalized parts of Mexico — most of all the north — have done extremely well since NAFTA passed.  The biggest problems remain in the least globalized parts, most of all the south and big chunks of the interior.  The paper has just appeared in the new NBER book on globalization and poverty.

Hunan rice is a Giffen good?  And maybe wheat flour in Gansu?

I am shocked to see this paper (Mark Thoma comments).  Future world powers should not have Giffen goods, much less two of them.

Addendum: David Leonhardt reports on a different kind of upward-sloping demand curve.

If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China’s eighth largest trading partner…

That is from Jeremy Haft’s cheesy-looking but at times interesting All the Tea in China: How to Buy, Sell, and Make Money on the Mainland.

Today, study published Science magazine: 396 subjects wear tiny
microphones. Result: whoops.  Women emit 16,125 words per day, men
15,669.  Statistically, even-steven.

Here is the story.  I am pretty quiet, though, so I do my part to uphold the honor of men.

A fifth of the population of Mali, for instance, already moves to Ivory Coast during drought years.

Here is the link.

Pollution is more globalized too:

Bruce Hope, a senior environmental toxicologist at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, estimates that global sources contribute 18 percent–more than four times the local share–to Oregon’s air pollution.  Increasingly, the ozone on the west coast will be determined by China.  In California, for example, some researchers believe at least one-third of California’s fine particulate pollution–known as aerosol–originates from Asia.  These pollutants could potentially nullify California’s progress on meeting stricter Clean Air Act requirements.  In May 2006, University of California-Davis researchers claimed that almost all the particulate matter over Lake Tahoe was from China.  The great irony is that these pollutants are mainly due to the burgeoning demand of U.S. and EU consumers for cheap Chinese goods–which is driving the Chinese economic development.  Some estimates cite that 7 percent of China’s CO₂emissions are due to production of U.S. imports.

Here is the source, the pointer is from Robin Hanson.  Concerning the last sentence, if you haven’t already seen it by now, here is Hal Varian’s piece on where the iPod is made.

Between 2000 and 2005, [real] compensation for the average worker rose $3000.  But money income was only 29% of the increase.

Here is the link.  Some of you will understand the title of this post…

Enough said.  Thanks to Christopher Hessenflow for the pointer.

That sign is from Brasilia, here is the link.

Our analysis indicates that the
increased product variety of online bookstores enhanced consumer
welfare by $731 million to $1.03 billion in the year 2000, which is
between seven to ten times as large as the consumer welfare gain from
increased competition and lower prices in this market.  There may also
be large welfare gains in other SKU-intensive consumer goods such as
music, movies, consumer electronics, and computer software and
hardware.

   
   
      
       

Here is the paper, the pointer is indirect through Tim Harford.  Do read my previous post — relevant for the wage stagnation debate — on how much the Internet is worth.

Lately I’ve noticed that people are confusing posts from Tyler with posts from me.  Here is a simple guide for the perplexed:

• References to a cymbalist/Dadaist/expressionist that you have never heard of.  Tyler.

• References to Dog/Rush/Hayek (Salma).  Alex

• A simple question with ten answers.  Tyler.

• A complex question with one answer.  Alex.

• You have no idea what the post means.  Tyler.

• You know exactly what the post means and it makes you mad as hell.  Alex.

1. The U.S. uses a bit more than 300 barrels of oil to produce one million Euros of gdp, Denmark uses just a bit over 100 barrels.

2. Pig blubber is an important medium for heating.

3. Energy consumption has held roughly steady for 30 years, even though gdp has doubled.

4. Non-profit cooperatives are common in the Danish energy sector.

5. Buying a new car involves a registration fee of 105% of the car’s value.

6. Electricity costs 43% more per megawatt hour than in the United States.

Those facts are from The Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2007, "How Denmark Paved Way to Energy Independence."