Category Frances Woolley
Are stagnant incomes a statistical artifact?
The American middle class hasn't got a raise in 15 years. Median household incomes aren't moving. Canadian numbers tell a similar story. The market income (earnings, private pensions, investment income) of the median Canadian household is lower now, in real terms, than it was in 1976:
Never mind the mean, feel the variance: some thoughts on grading schemes
Imagine two course sections with the following grading schemes: Section A: 4 assignments worth 5% each for a total of 20%; 35% midterm; 45% final. Section B: 4 assignments worth 10% each for a total of 40%; 60% final. In my experience, students often reason: "Section B places more weight on assignments. I can work with […]
The gender politics of taxation
The pressure to cut taxes comes from those who pay relatively more in taxes, and benefit relatively less from government spending. Men, on average, earn more than women. Hence they pay more taxes than women do:
What is the most pressing issue in Canadian tax policy today?
The most pressing issue in Canadian tax policy today is that people don't like paying taxes, and it is increasingly hard to persuade them to do so. The heavy duty engines of tax revenue generation are the personal income tax and the federal and provincial sales taxes. Federally, personal income taxes raise about half of […]
Why is enterprise software so bad?
Every piece of software I use in the course of academic administration is lousy. Sure, the systems do what they're supposed to do most of the time, and they're not that difficult to learn how to use. But every single one has numerous design flaws; clunky features that eat up seconds or minutes or hours […]
Learning about theory does not teach people how to theorize
A random question from a Stanford University PhD micro exam looks something like this: The "Robinson Crusoe economy" is the simplest possible general equilibrium model, and students who can solve for Crusoe's leisure and coconut consumption choices have presumably learned something about general equilibrium theory. But they haven't learned how to theorize.
Why do unions bargain for health benefits?
Unionized workers are more likely to have health insurance and other non-wage benefits than non-union workers (for US evidence see here or here (gated)). Yet it is not clear why. Some obvious explanations do not stand up to scrutiny: 1. Health insurance receives preferential tax treatment. 2. Workplace insurance is efficient, because it avoids the adverse selection problems […]
The CWEN lunch: an idea whose time has past?
The Canadian Economics Association meetings take the same format every year: sessions start at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning and end at noon on Sunday. The Innis Lecture is Friday evening and the Purvis lunch is Saturday afternoon. From time to time a bold and innovative President-elect will try a new experiment, like I think it was […]
All-you-can-eat sushi restaurants should not exist. Why do they?
All-you-can-eat restaurants should not exist. People with large appetites crowd into all-you-can-eat establishments. These greedy customers eat vast amounts, driving up the restaurants' costs. Restaurants have no choice but to increase prices, but this turns off people with small appetites. Eventually the only people who eat at the restaurant are hulking athletes, and the restaurant […]
Yes, academic administrators do have to alienate people
My colleague Stephen Saideman just tweeted a post by Bill Ayres on The Myth of Academic Incompetence. In it, Bill argues: there is no necessary correlation between having to make sometimes difficult trade-off decisions and alienating people. What matters is how the decisions are made and what the relationship is between those making those decisions and those being affected by […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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