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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During the disintegration of the Soviet Union, was there a surge of child allergies in Tajikistan because people hoarded soap?

The Hesitant U.S. Rescue of the Soviet Economy Wilson Quarterly (Fall 2016): By November 1990, Professor Graham Allison of Harvard University had become alarmed at the deterioration of the Soviet economy. Partial reforms had allowed cooperatives to…
Fizz
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Can Iran afford to put someone on the moon by 2025?

Iran has claimed that it intends to put someone on the moon by 2025. I find it hard to believe that Iran has the necessary financial resources to accomplish such a mission. Notwithstanding some unpredictable advances in the cost-effectiveness of…
Brian M. Hunt
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Can a Cuban taxi driver make a doctor's monthly salary in just one hour?

A recent video by the Guardian, 'It's not fair': why Havana's taxi drviers vastly out-earn doctors looks at the difference between public sector workers and the privately employed in Cuba. The video says that the private industry (and tourism in…
waltzfordebs
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Is the equity ratio of US banks around 3%?

Did John H. Cochrane, a professor of economics at Chicago, wrote: In order to make $100 of loans, a typical bank borrows $97—from depositors, from money-market funds, from other banks, or from bondholders—and sells $3 of stock, its "capital." So if…
Christian
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Do rich Americans pay a lower portion of their income in federal taxes than the middle class?

Not quite the same as this related question but similar. According to Wikipedia, the origin of the "Buffett Rule" oft-quoted by former-President Obama is that: rich people, like himself, could pay less in federal taxes, as a portion of income, than…
Ertai87
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Did DR Congo use banknotes with hole where Mobuto's face used to be after he was deposed?

On almost every list on the internet featuring strange banknotes that were at one time in circulation, one can find a picture of old Zaire banknotes with the image of the dictator Mobutu's face punched out leaving a hole. Supposedly, in 1997, after…
zen.void
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Does the meat industry cause 414 billion dollars in externalized costs?

About 34 minutes into the 2014 Documentary Cowspiracy, there is a statement by David Simon, the author of Meatonomics, about hidden costs of animal food production. I've added up the costs of animal food production, that the producers, don't…
Amani Kilumanga
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Does using ethanol fuel save money, and is it better for the environment?

In the last couple of years, petrol companies have started offering petrol with 10% ethanol in them, presumably at a cheaper price than normal unleaded. However, I've noticed (although this is just from a gut feeling), that my car when using fuel…
Samuelson
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Does the US spend more on prisons than public education?

I have heard often that the US as a whole or States in it "spend more on prisons than on schools". This is apparently true for higher education, but I am interested in schools as in public education (guaranteed through age 16 in the US). Links: *…
user29285
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Do the world's eight richest people have as much wealth as the poorest 50%

The charity Oxfam recently launched a media campaign about global inequality with the startling statistic (this page on their website): ...inequality is rising: the combined wealth of the richest 1 per cent will overtake that of the other 99 per…
matt_black
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Is racial income inequality currently in US worse than it was in Apartheid South Africa

As reported here, (and here) white/black wealth inequality is worse now in the US than it was under Apartheid South Africa. The figures brought up during the segment are backed up, too. America's income inequality gap has gotten worse in the past…
Diederik
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Has the average Somalian's quality of life improved under anarchy?

Peter T. Leeson makes multiple claims about economic and public health improvements since the collapse of its government in his paper Better Off Stateless. This paper investigates the impact of anarchy on Somali development. The data suggest that…
William Grobman
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Do obese people have lower lifetime healthcare costs?

I've always been told that obesity is a drain a country's healthcare system...and it's generally accepted as fact. In online debates I frequently see reference to this. I remember seeing news reports on 'The Cost Of Obesity' that say obese people…
Rob P.
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Are GMO crops to blame for farmer suicides in India?

Anyone who follows the genetically modified organism (GMO) debate has probably heard the claim that GMO crops, and specifically the inability to save seed and other associated production costs, have lead Indian farmers deep into debt, and a large…
Flimzy
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Are most properties in China vacant, despite record property price growth?

House prices in China have been growing really fast due to the amazing GDP growth of the country. I've been reading though that whilst there are so many buildings being built, it's mainly due to the fact that people are wanting to buy them in order…
Samuelson
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