Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [economics]

Economics is the analytical study of the costs and benefits of producing, distributing, and consuming goods and services. This tag should not be used for personal finance questions, nor for most questions about expensive items, e.g. exorbitantly priced houses, autos, jewelry. It can be used for current events, and in historical contexts.

  • Macroeconomics concerns itself with behaviors, trends and efficiency at an economy-wide level.
  • Microeconomics focuses on firm-level and specific industry-scale behavior, e.g. individual transactions, forces of supply and demand, competitive markets participants versus those who wield pricing power.

Economic concepts are applicable to business enterprises in the private sector, as well as in government. Economic systems vary, from laissez-faire to central planning. The scope of economic thought is broad, influencing social welfare programs, foreign trade, monetary policy, and much more.

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Do Europeans have a greater chance of making it into the top 1% of income earners than Americans?

In a 2011 Vanity Fair article, Nobel-Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz wrote: America has long prided itself on being a fair society, where everyone has an equal chance of getting ahead, but the statistics suggest otherwise: the chances of a…
user1873
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Are elections bad for the economy?

Since 2008, whenever the possibly of an election is brought up, the Conservative Party of Canada repeats the same point: elections are bad for the economy. For example, here's an excerpt of Jim Flaherty's speech in 2010: That is the risk of an…
Borror0
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Do minimum wage laws disproportionately harm black employment?

There is a common claim that applying minimum wage laws impacts the poorer members of society, and thus impacts poorer minorities, such as blacks, more than others. Milton Friedman openly argued that minimum-wage laws are racist in effect if not…
user4951
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Were only half of US college graduates from 2006-2011 employed full-time in 2012?

According to an online article SmartMoney magazine titled, "The Jobless Class of 2012": Only a half of those who graduated since 2006 are now employed full time, according to a recent Rutgers University survey. Here's a link to the PDF report…
blunders
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Do countries deliberately avoid winning Eurovision?

Spanish singer told to lose Eurovision? claims that countries deliberately avoid winning the Eurovision Song Contest because of the expense of hosting it. It claims that: Montenegro, Andora and Hungary pulled out of the Eurovision song contest in…
Andrew Grimm
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If you raise taxes, will the rich leave the country?

I often see/hear this argument used as an argument against raising income tax, at least here in the UK. The argument being the rich will leave, taking their cash out of the country, resulting in damage to the economy. I am always slightly sceptical…
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Does offshoring ultimately help the offshoring-country's poor and middle classes?

Are claims about the positive economic effects of offshore outsourcing for the poor and middle class of the outsourcing country verifiable? The main argument for Offshore Outsourcing, is the common economic justification that "a rising tide floats…
Mark Rogers
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Does Sallie Mae earn more from defaulted education loans than properly repaid ones?

I was sent an article by Catherine Austin Fitts, the author of the Solari Report, entitled William M. Diefenderfer: The Financial Hit Man of Student Loans. It contained some rather striking claims that I wanted to reproduce here. She writes this as…
Hendy
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Is it possible to identify where Euro banknotes are from?

Some websites claim that you can know which country printed an euro banknote, by looking at the serial number. Is that technique fool-proof ?
Manu
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Does placing a fly on a urinal improve cleanliness in men's toilets?

Recently Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his "Nudge" Theory. Pretty much every news agency (in the UK at least) has chosen to explain his theory by using the "Fly on a Urinal" that was implemented at Amsterdam Airport and then…
user14708
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Does immigration to the USA increase the unemployment rate?

Does immigration to the USA diminish the number of jobs available to US citizens? According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll: The poll also finds that 56 percent of American voters believe that immigration helps more than it hurts [...] That's…
Santropedro
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Did JFK Attempt to eliminate the power of the Federal Reserve Bank to loan money to the US?

According to this site: On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order 11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal…
Chad
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Do CFLs have a significant impact on your light bill?

I just moved into my own apartment, and I've taken quite an interest in being as energy-efficient as possible (simply because, hey - I'm paying the electricity bill now!). I've been wondering - are Compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) as efficient as…
eckza
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Is the value of a tree $193,250?

There is a sign, at the Eden Nature Park & Resort in City of Davao, Philippines, that says this: Of concern to all! A tree is worth $193,250 According to Professor T.M.Das of the University of Calcutta. A tree living for 50 years will generate…
Cees Timmerman
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Is Walmart the largest company in history?

I have seen a post going around on Facebook containing a list of "facts" about Walmart. Two of them seem like very large claims: Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most speak English. Wal-Mart is the…
user6204
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