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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Does the Jones Act double import prices in Puerto Rico?

The Jones Act is a protectionist law passed in the 1920's requiring ships carrying goods between American ports to be made in America and crewed by Americans. The Jones Act has become an issue recently because members of Congress have been…
Keshav Srinivasan
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Does NASA have a high ROI?

One of the oft-cited reasons for funding space exploration is the high return on investment, in terms of boosting the economy. For example Studies estimate that for every $1 the U.S. government spends on NASA, the economy is boosted by $7-$14. That…
Mike
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Is this €150k beach club bill real?

This bill, with a total amount of over €150,000, from a beach club in Monaco is currently circulating on social media. Is it real? I've checked the website of the beach club; some of the more common drinks and dishes on the menu are in the same…
Glorfindel
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Are Nielsen TV ratings accurate?

I remember I read somewhere that the US Nielsen rating was calculated by something like 25,000 households. That sounds extremely small compared to the number of people that actually have TVs. What's more - these ratings are then broken into…
Samuelson
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Are wages stagnant over the past 40 years in the USA?

Over the past few weeks, it has become a common talking point at either major party's convention to talk about the lack of movement in USA citizens' wages since approximately the middle of the 1970s. For example, in Representative Joseph Kennedy…
Jimmy M.
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Did the financial sector make up 40% of the US economy before the 2008 financial crisis?

I'm watching a video that claims that 40% of the US economy is made up by the financial sector. It then goes on to talk about the Financial crisis of 2008, so I would assume it's referring to pre-crisis levels. Is that true?
Kit Sunde
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Is Coffee the most traded commodity in the world after Oil?

I have heard the claim that Coffee is the most traded commodity in the world right after Oil. Is there any proof of that? I have also heard that coffee is the most consumed beverage after water? Any proof of that claim?
John Billon
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Are there lots worldwide filled with thousands of unsold new cars left to ruin?

This link came in an email that was getting passed around the office today: http://www.vincelewis.net/unsoldcars.html The premise is that car manufacturers, not wanting to dilute their inventory to a point that would push supply up and price down,…
DeeDee
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Is the US $20 bill the most counterfeited?

In a comment on "Is it illegal to refuse US currency for a purchase?", @Dan Neely said I don't think the main reason many businesses ban $50/100 bills is that they'd deplete their ability to make change for future customers. Minimizing losses from…
warren
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In the economic crisis of 2008, were some companies truly "too big to fail"?

During the first of the half of the current economic crisis, some companies began to collapse due to the subprime mortgage crisis or from the cascading economic damage that it entailed. A danger was seen in allowing some large important companies…
Mark Rogers
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Do the rich in the US donate an average of 15 percent of their income?

Dick Smith in a recent rant about "selfish" rich Australians made a claim that: In the United States, the rich donated an average of 15 per cent of their income, Smith said. But in Australia it was less than 1 per cent. ''In America, I'm told…
going
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How is structural unemployment measured?

In light of today's Presidential Speech on jobs, I was reminded of something that I read in Bloomberg Businessweek. With the jobless rate still above 9 percent, the untapped labor pool is deep. Yet some companies struggle to find qualified…
Larian LeQuella
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Is global economic production sufficient to feed, clothe and educate everyone?

Is there enough food produced annually to provide a subsistence diet for the entire population of Earth? (Bonus points for data involving shelter, clothing or education.) This question was inspired by this question.
Joseph Weissman
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Is the Greek Orthodox church worth 700 billion Euros?

This Wikipedia list puts the Greek Orthodox church's net worth at 700B Euros in 2011 (about 974B USD), above any branch of the Catholic church or other religion. Its source is France 24, but I am not sure whether the 700B estimate is trustworthy.…
Caleb Stanford
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Has the oil industry made $1 trillion dollars of profit a year for 50 years?

A headline in the Guardian on July 21 2022 claims the following: Revealed: oil sector’s ‘staggering’ $3bn-a-day profits for last 50 years [Note that $3 billion/day is roughly $1 trillion per year.] In more detail, one of the sources for the…
matt_black
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