Kent State University, Economics Department

Nobel prize in economics goes to… 🥁🥁🥁

Nobel Prize in economics goes to David Card, Joshua Angrist, Guido Imbens Three U.S.-based economists were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday.

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 jobs data underscores the divide between college graduates and those without degrees. 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.

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.

Did Ending Pandemic UI Benefits Push Americans Back To Work? : The Indicator from Planet Money 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.

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!! 😷🤓📖📚📓🎉

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.

Click Here for Individual Responses — Scioto Analysis 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.

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

Monthly Payments to Families With Children to Begin 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.

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

Ben Casselman on Twitter “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!”

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.)

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

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.

Opinion | The Coronavirus Made the Radical Possible The past year has seen progressive pipe dreams become reality. But can we hold on to what we’ve learned?

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.

What’s New in the Third Covid-19 Stimulus Bill? A look at the Senate bill, which now goes back to the House for final approval before likely landing on President Biden’s desk.

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!

Ohio Economic Experts Panel — Scioto Analysis 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.

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. 😉

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