SPU Political Economy blog index

click here for index of topics...... Freedom, Opportunity, Security book
2019...2018... 2017...2016...2015

2020

DateAuthorTopic
March 14, 2020 Douglas Downing Pi day and the sine function derivative
March 9, 2020 Douglas Downing When you can't vote for your favorite candidate
March 2, 2020 Douglas Downing The problem with Super Tuesday 2020
February 29, 2020 Douglas Downing How to count votes
February 22, 2020 Douglas Downing A president who did not seek the office
February 9, 2020 Douglas Downing Economists and economic policy advice
February 1, 2020 Douglas Downing Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve's forward guidance
January 20, 2020 Douglas Downing Measuring poverty progress
January 10, 2020 Douglas Downing 12000 economists, the Nobel prize, and carbon emissions

2019

DateAuthorTopic
December 16, 2019 Douglas Downing In memory of Paul Volcker
December 10, 2019 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: Midway
December 6, 2019 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: Harriet
November 11, 2019 Douglas Downing John Maynard Keynes and world wars
November 2, 2019 Douglas Downing Parliamentary problems
October 27, 2019 Douglas Downing A revised proposal for presidential impeachment
October 20, 2019 Douglas Downing Nobel prize for research on cures for poverty
September 19, 2019 Douglas Downing Is Pluto a planet?
September 14, 2019 Douglas Downing Machines and the future of jobs: there are lots of variables
September 4, 2019 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: The Human Advantage
August 31, 2019 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: AI superpowers
August 22, 2019 Douglas Downing The purpose of a business
August 15, 2019 Douglas Downing The nomination contest and a multi-stage hiring process
August 10, 2019 Douglas Downing Powerful technology companies and anti-trust law
August 2, 2019 Douglas Downing Representative democracy, Brexit, and popular votes
July 23, 2019 Douglas Downing Looking back 50 years: Apollo 11
July 19, 2019 Douglas Downing Hurting safety does not help profit
July 13, 2019 Douglas Downing Making decisions: logic is not enough
July 5, 2019 Douglas Downing Recommended reading and viewing: John Adams
June 18, 2019 Douglas Downing Are Sweden and the former Soviet Union both socialist?
April 23, 2019 Douglas Downing Socialism=controllism
April 20, 2019 Douglas Downing Cathedrals and jobs
April 9, 2019 Douglas Downing Statistics and cards (3): larger samples help, but...
April 6, 2019 Douglas Downing Statistics and cards (2): the problem with significance
April 4, 2019 Douglas Downing Statistics and cards: are queens more likely to be red?
April 2, 2019 Douglas Downing If economists designed the college admission process
March 30, 2019 Douglas Downing You need backups to reduce risk
March 26, 2019 Douglas Downing Should we change all the clocks twice a year?
March 5, 2019 Douglas Downing Will Washington's primary matter next time?
March 3, 2019 Douglas Downing What happens when a key resource is used up?
February 28, 2019 Douglas Downing 3 candidate election: another example
February 25, 2019 Douglas Downing 3 candidate election with 2 stages
February 21, 2019 Douglas Downing A 3 way presidential race: the current system
February 16, 2019 Douglas Downing Should only Democrats and Republicans be allowed to run?
February 14, 2019 Douglas Downing Electric power generation and transmission: not the same thing
February 7, 2019 Douglas Downing Ten years ago: employment and unemployment trends
February 4, 2019 Douglas Downing More interesting math: imaginary powers
January 31, 2019 Douglas Downing Possible game scores and ax+by numbers
January 29, 2019 Douglas Downing Comparative advantage and holding the football
January 26, 2019 Douglas Downing Economists and carbon taxes
January 22, 2019 Douglas Downing Ten years ago: nominal GDP and the severe recession
January 17, 2019 Douglas Downing Recommended historical experience: the great locomotive chase
January 15, 2019 Douglas Downing Smart workers are good for a country
January 10, 2019 Douglas Downing How not to shut down the government (again)
January 8, 2019 Douglas Downing Is consciousness an illusion?
January 3, 2019 Douglas Downing Why is a year 365 days long?

2018

DateAuthorTopic
December 15, 2018 Douglas Downing 50 years ago: the first view of earth floating in space
December 11, 2018 Douglas Downing Toy sales and regression analysis
December 8, 2018 Douglas Downing Probability and baking cookies
December 5, 2018 Douglas Downing Nobel prize winner William Nordhaus and measuring economic welfare
November 29, 2018 Douglas Downing The coming Supreme Court confirmation process meltdown
November 25, 2018 Douglas Downing Washington voters and carbon taxes
November 21, 2018 Douglas Downing Abraham Lincoln and Thanksgiving
November 18, 2018 Douglas Downing Washington voters and grocery taxes
November 11, 2018 Douglas Downing 100 years ago: my grandfather and the armistice
November 7, 2018 Douglas Downing The advantage of divided government
November 5, 2018 Douglas Downing The problem with electronic voting machines
November 3, 2018 Douglas Downing Coming to the U.S.
October 31, 2018 Douglas Downing Pre-existing insurance
October 28, 2018 Douglas Downing The future of Chinese economic growth
October 24, 2018 Douglas Downing Negotiating with another country
October 19, 2018 Douglas Downing Is China a communist country?
October 16, 2018 Douglas Downing Rapidly changing China
August 20, 2018 Douglas Downing Politics is not a team sport
August 15, 2018 Douglas Downing Prices are signals
August 10, 2018 Douglas Downing Top-two primaries in California and Washington
August 6, 2018 Douglas Downing Rank-order voting
July 28, 2018 Douglas Downing The coming Supreme Court gridlock
July 26, 2018 Douglas Downing Supreme Court openings: a schedule would help
July 19, 2018 Douglas Downing The constitution is clear about who can raise taxes
July 12, 2018 Douglas Downing A funny thing happened on the way to the classroom
July 9, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: exciting years for astronomy
July 4, 2018 Douglas Downing John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
June 30, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: a few economics lessons
June 25, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: the significance of flags
June 21, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: the financial crisis
June 19, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: social security
June 12, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: remembering the world trade center
June 7, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: personal experience with a school shooting
June 4, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: skyrocketing growth in US-China trade
June 1, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: the end of apartheid in South Africa
May 11, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: good news about global poverty
May 7, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: Baumol's law and the cost of education and health care
May 4, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: memorable moments in trade policy
May 1, 2018 Douglas Downing Are students getting smarter or less smart?
April 27, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: when bipartisan tax reform was not the impossible dream
April 25, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: how we used to find and display data
April 20, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: the electoral college and the nomination process
April 13, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: Good news about inflation
April 11, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: the Berlin wall and the economic transformation
April 6, 2018 Douglas Downing Looking back: typewriters and word processors
March 14, 2018 Douglas Downing One way to approximate the value of pi
March 9, 2018 Douglas Downing Does a trade deficit make you a loser?
March 2, 2018 Douglas Downing Sometimes it's not hard to see who is hurt by trade restrictions
March 1, 2018 Douglas Downing What really gets reversed in a mirror image?
February 23, 2018 Douglas Downing History: a learning experience
February 16, 2018 Douglas Downing There are no easy windfall stock market gains
February 8, 2018 Douglas Downing Seeking an interesting game without as many collisions (part 4)
February 6, 2018 Douglas Downing New game proposal part 3
February 2, 2018 Douglas Downing New game proposal part 2
January 30, 2018 Douglas Downing Can a game be as interesting as football with fewer collisions?
January 26, 2018 Douglas Downing How did Rome's republic become an empire?
January 24, 2018 Douglas Downing Cotton subsidies, solar panels, overseas cash, and government shutdowns
January 19, 2018 Douglas Downing The case of the WTO, cotton, the U.S., and Brazil
January 16, 2018 Douglas Downing How to tax corporate income
January 12, 2018 Douglas Downing Taxes and business expenses
January 8, 2018 Douglas Downing Can bitcoin work as a coin?
January 5, 2018 Douglas Downing How long is a year? it depends...

2017

DateAuthorTopic
December 15, 2017 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: The Man Who Invented Christmas
December 8, 2017 Douglas Downing The optimal route for Santa Claus: an extremely hard problem
December 5, 2017 Douglas Downing Conclusion: regression analysis of pay discrimination
December 1, 2017 Douglas Downing Part 4: regression analysis of pay discrimination
November 29, 2017 Douglas Downing Part 3: regression analysis of pay discrimination
November 22, 2017 Douglas Downing Recommended Thanksgiving historical experience: Plimoth
November 21, 2017 Douglas Downing Regression, job category, and pay discrimination (part 2)
November 17, 2017 Douglas Downing Can we increase happiness?
November 14, 2017 Douglas Downing How to use regression to study pay discrimination (1)
November 9, 2017 Douglas Downing 100 years ago: my grandfather and WWI
November 8, 2017 Douglas Downing How to reform taxes: a real-life story
November 1, 2017 Douglas Downing Government policy to make solar power more expensive
October 30, 2017 Douglas Downing Daily life after 1870: cars
October 25, 2017 Douglas Downing Daily life after 1870: railroads
October 23, 2017 Douglas Downing My mother's summer job is obsolete
October 20, 2017 Douglas Downing Remembering the October stock market crash
October 17, 2017 Douglas Downing A law that a narrow interest group hopes you don't know about
October 13, 2017 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: Banker to the Poor
October 10, 2017 Douglas Downing Provide an incentive to find the gun violence solution
October 6, 2017 Douglas Downing The right way to bump overbooked passengers
October 3, 2017 Douglas Downing Why hurricane insurance is expensive
September 29, 2017 Douglas Downing Presidential primaries: earlier and earlier
September 27, 2017 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: First They Killed My Father
September 7, 2017 Douglas Downing The right to a jury trial
September 5, 2017 Douglas Downing Can we improve the political system?
September 1, 2017 Douglas Downing Eclipse economics
August 29, 2017 Douglas Downing Why do hurricanes have personal names?
August 26, 2017 Douglas Downing You can predict the future--of the sky
August 18, 2017 Douglas Downing What to do about Confederate monuments?
August 15, 2017 Douglas Downing The truth about Nazis
August 11, 2017 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: the rise and fall of American growth
August 7, 2017 Douglas Downing How is studying economics different from studying business?
August 5, 2017 Douglas Downing The Seattle mayoral primary and the three-stage election proposal
July 28, 2017 Douglas Downing Can states end the electoral college on their own?
July 26, 2017 Douglas Downing What to do about the electoral college?
July 19, 2017 Douglas Downing Where will people live?
July 17, 2017 Douglas Downing Federal reserve policy and the future of interest rates
July 14, 2017 Douglas Downing Speculators: heroes or villains? conclusion
July 13, 2017 Douglas Downing Speculators: heroes or villains?
July 5, 2017 Douglas Downing The formula for continuously compounding interest
July 4, 2017 Douglas Downing Hereditary monarchy versus elected government
June 28, 2017 Douglas Downing The long lame-duck period problem
June 27, 2017 Douglas Downing Potential breakthrough: algae fuel production
June 21, 2017 Douglas Downing The problem with Congress: secrecy or express railroads?
June 20, 2017 Douglas Downing Should soda be taxed?
May 30, 2017 Douglas Downing Exhibit recommendation: the terracotta warriors
May 25, 2017 Douglas Downing There aren't any good gerrymanders
May 23, 2017 Douglas Downing Ransomware and other cyber-dangers
May 18, 2017 Douglas Downing The Lorenz curve for the U.S.: comparing 2004 and 2014
May 15, 2017 Douglas Downing Richer rich people or more rich people?
May 10, 2017 Douglas Downing Vital information missing from the Lorenz curve
May 8, 2017 Douglas Downing Income inequality: what Gini doesn't tell you
May 3, 2017 Douglas Downing Illustrating income inequality: the Lorenz curve
April 28, 2017 Douglas Downing How not to shut down the federal government
April 26, 2017 Douglas Downing The top-two French presidential election system
April 20, 2017 Douglas Downing What to do about airline overbooking?
April 17, 2017 Douglas Downing Fun with math: checking divisibility by 3
April 13, 2017 Douglas Downing The moon, the calendar, and Easter
April 10, 2017 Douglas Downing Health care policy suggestions
April 6, 2017 Douglas Downing The puzzling policy of employer provided health coverage
April 3, 2017 Douglas Downing The generous employer that provided meals
March 30, 2017 Douglas Downing Visualizing world population and per capita income with pie charts
March 27, 2017 Douglas Downing Learn Algebra and Calculus with an adventure story
March 7, 2017 Douglas Downing Bailouts and Casablanca regret
March 3, 2017 Douglas Downing In memory of Kenneth Arrow, voting, and the impossibility theorem
March 1, 2017 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: Pillars of the Earth
February 24, 2017 Douglas Downing In memory of Michael Novak and the spirit of democratic capitalism
February 22, 2017 Douglas Downing When was George Washington born?
February 17, 2017 Douglas Downing Piketty, the rate of return, growth, and income distribution
February 14, 2017 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: The Glass Universe
February 10, 2017 Douglas Downing Offshore earnings and taxes
February 8, 2017 Douglas Downing Where Trump, Clinton, and Sanders all disagree with Obama
February 2, 2017 Douglas Downing Trans-Pacific Partnership presidential candidate quiz
January 30, 2017 Douglas Downing Competition, polypoly, and economic understanding
January 26, 2017 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: Hidden Figures
January 23, 2017 Douglas Downing Presidential trivia: presidents ranked by length of term
January 20, 2017 Douglas Downing When has one party controlled the government?
January 17, 2017 Douglas Downing Presidential elections and majority votes
January 13, 2017 Douglas Downing Should elected officials do what they think is best or do what the people want?
January 9, 2017 Douglas Downing How to start learning accounting
January 6, 2017 Douglas Downing Why is January 1 on Sunday this year?
January 4, 2017 Douglas Downing Charles Dickens and trade

2016

DateAuthorTopic
December 17, 2016 Douglas Downing A Christmas Carol
December 14, 2016 Douglas Downing 12 days of Christmas: how many gifts?
December 8, 2016 Douglas Downing Hitting imports with tariffs: Smoot-Hawley history
December 6, 2016 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: The travels of a t-shirt
December 1, 2016 Douglas Downing The problem with the "Blame America" view and the "Blame Foreigners" view
November 29, 2016 Douglas Downing The problem with a 5-candidate top-two primary
November 23, 2016 Douglas Downing Recommended Thanksgiving reading: The Long Winter
November 22, 2016 Douglas Downing Can we trust polls to predict elections?
November 18, 2016 Douglas Downing Major Winchester and immigration
November 15, 2016 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: Presidential Lottery
November 11, 2016 Douglas Downing What happens to the economy after January 20?
November 7, 2016 Douglas Downing Solving the centrifugal force problem
October 28, 2016 Douglas Downing The centrifugal force problem and the presidential nominating system
October 24, 2016 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: Won't Back Down
October 21, 2016 Douglas Downing How many people will vote?
October 19, 2016 Douglas Downing The rules-in-advance principle and the presidential primary timing problem
October 18, 2016 Douglas Downing The presidency is not an entry-level job
October 13, 2016 Douglas Downing 100 years ago: my grandfather in the trenches
October 11, 2016 Douglas Downing Is there hope for tax reform?
October 6, 2016 Douglas Downing Price ceilings and waiting in line to get gas
October 4, 2016 Douglas Downing Secure schedules for Seattle workers
September 30, 2016 Douglas Downing The 1911 revolution in China
September 26, 2016 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: The Last Emperor
September 22, 2016 Kathleen Braden Do you know economic geography intuitively? answers
August 22, 2016 Douglas Downing The lame duck pardon problem
August 19, 2016 Douglas Downing Profit sharing for workers
August 17, 2016 Douglas Downing That which is not seen
August 11, 2016 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: The Chronicles of Prydain
August 9, 2016 Douglas Downing Discussing Citizens United
August 4, 2016 Kathleen Braden Do you know principles of economic geography intuitively?
August 3, 2016 Douglas Downing The Arrow theorem and strategic misrepresentation voting
July 31, 2016 Douglas Downing The Arrow theorem and median voting
July 25, 2016 Douglas Downing The Arrow Impossibility theorem of voting part 2: independent issues
July 22, 2016 Douglas Downing The Impossible Dream: a perfect voting system and the Arrow theorem
July 20, 2016 Douglas Downing What should be done about Citizens United?
July 14, 2016 Douglas Downing Choose your own tax rates
July 11, 2016 Douglas Downing How do taxes affect incomes?
July 9, 2016 Douglas Downing Basel is more than a city in Switzerland: bank capital requirements
July 5, 2016 Douglas Downing World governments on July 4, 1775
June 28, 2016 Douglas Downing Ethanol fuel cell vehicles?
June 27, 2016 Douglas Downing Is Brexit a good idea?
June 24, 2016 Douglas Downing The cure for high rent: more housing or fewer people
June 9, 2016 Douglas Downing World War I and the lessons of history
June 7, 2016 Douglas Downing Poor nations: exploitation or bad decisions?
June 3, 2016 Douglas Downing Andrew Jackson and money
June 1, 2016 Douglas Downing The end of optional tipping?
May 27, 2016 Douglas Downing The presidential veto and the budget
May 24, 2016 Douglas Downing Khufu and the great pyramid
May 20, 2016 Douglas Downing Do we need academic freedom?
May 18, 2016 Douglas Downing CEOs behaving badly
May 16, 2016 Douglas Downing Washington state charter schools survive a scare
May 13, 2016 Douglas Downing Too small to comply
May 10, 2016 Douglas Downing A child's view of bridges and Keynesian economics
May 6, 2016 Douglas Downing John Perkins speaks at Seattle Pacific University
May 4, 2016 Douglas Downing The Monty Hall problem: common sense sort of vindicated
May 2, 2016 Douglas Downing Should the nomination process belong to parties or voters?
April 29, 2016 Douglas Downing SPU Social Venture plan competition
April 26, 2016 Douglas Downing More oddities in the presidential nominating process
April 22, 2016 Douglas Downing Debating a better way to debate
April 20, 2016 Douglas Downing Economists and the way people behave part 2
April 18, 2016 Douglas Downing Economists and the way people behave: part 1
April 15, 2016 Douglas Downing Recommended reading: Pride and profit: Adam Smith and Jane Austen
April 12, 2016 Douglas Downing April 12, 1862: the great locomotive chase
April 8, 2016 Douglas Downing What can an undervalued company do: share buybacks
April 6, 2016 Douglas Downing How to improve bank capital requirements
April 4, 2016 Douglas Downing Bank capital requirements part 2: CoCos
April 1, 2016 Douglas Downing Bank capital requirements and risk
March 30, 2016 Douglas Downing Movie recommendation: The Big Short
March 16, 2016 Douglas Downing A little bit of progress for transit in Seattle
March 14, 2016 Douglas Downing The serious danger of cyber insecurity
March 10, 2016 Geri Mason Producers vs. consumers: enabling productivity (part 2)
March 7, 2016 Geri Mason Producers vs. consumers: "Poor" business practices
March 3, 2016 Douglas Downing Washington state school funding court cases
February 29, 2016 Douglas Downing Julius Caesar and February 29
February 26, 2016 Douglas Downing The problem with super Tuesday
February 24, 2016 Douglas Downing The problem with random timing of Supreme Court vacancies
February 22, 2016 Douglas Downing Deng Xiaoping and modernizing China
February 18, 2016 Douglas Downing Theatre recommendation: play about astronomer Henrietta Leavitt
February 16, 2016 Douglas Downing Is the economy in good shape or in bad shape?
February 12, 2016 Douglas Downing Abraham Lincoln and opportunity:the Morrill act
February 9, 2016 Geri Mason Super bowl commercial economics lesson
February 8, 2016 Douglas Downing The first emperor of China
February 5, 2016 Douglas Downing What's the probability of a tie vote?
February 1, 2016 Douglas Downing When 12000 economists get together
January 29, 2016 Douglas Downing Bank of Japan news: negative interest rates
January 27, 2016 Douglas Downing "Little House" and the take it for granted problem
January 25, 2016 Douglas Downing Is there a better way to nominate a president?
January 21, 2016 Douglas Downing Movie Recommendation: Brooklyn
January 19, 2016 Douglas Downing Dr. Alex Gee at SPU
January 15, 2016 Douglas Downing Stock market ups and downs
January 13, 2016 Douglas Downing SPU student to sacrifice hair to benefit Iraqi survivors
January 11, 2016 Douglas Downing Quiz for socialists
January 7, 2016 Douglas Downing How to nominate a president

2015

December 23, 2015 Douglas Downing Economists and the grinch
December 19, 2015 Douglas Downing How to reduce carbon emissions
December 16, 2015 Douglas Downing Should the government investigate oil prices?
December 14, 2015 Douglas Downing Christmas and taxes
December 11, 2015 Douglas Downing Presidents and their previous experience
December 8, 2015 Douglas Downing Seattle's almost right policy on campaign funding
December 4, 2015 Douglas Downing Good news on extreme poverty
December 1, 2015 Douglas Downing Do economists cheer you or depress you?
November 24, 2015 Douglas Downing Freedom, Opportunity, and Security