Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

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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Are there enough unused houses in America for each homeless person to have six?

I can't find a source for this, and that number seems much too high to me (although I don't know much about the subject). Is this true? If not, what is the actual ratio of homeless people to vacant houses?
Orcris
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Is there a gold stockpile at "Fort Knox"?

I heard an interesting conspiracy theory recently with the basic idea that there isn't a gold stockpile at "Fort Knox" (anymore or ever). With the level of security so great there and reportedly few people having seen the gold, it's an interesting…
DuckMaestro
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Did the percent of humans living on < $2/day drop from 94% to 8.6% since 1820?

In a recent Vox article, the author claims (without citation): In 1820, some 94 percent of humans lived on less than $2 a day. Over the next two centuries, extreme poverty fell dramatically; in 2018, the World Bank estimated that 8.6 percent of…
johnDanger
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Can we grow enough crops to feed all people on Earth?

Vegetarianism is heavily promoted. But let's say all people on Earth stop eating animal products. Can we grow enough crops so all people on the Earth are provided with enough healthy, nutritious food? The question is of course very theoretical, but…
Egle
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Has the FTSE lost more value in 12 months than the UK has paid into the EU during the 45 years since they joined?

Regarding the claim “The FTSE has lost more value in 12 months than the UK has paid into the EU during the 45 years since we joined.” Is this claim accurate and furthermore what does this mean? Is this unusual or is this within normal market…
Mark Berry
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Is more than 30% of US healthcare spending waste?

National healthcare spending in the USA consumes more than 18% of GDP and is growing rapidly. Europeans criticise the expense and relatively poor quality of the US system (for example, see this question: Is the US Newborn Mortality Rate higher than…
matt_black
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Are 550 people still losing their jobs at "Trump's" Carrier plant?

Donald Trump made saving the jobs at Carrier a big campaign rallying point. On December 06, 2016 New York Times reported from Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, that 550 people are losing their jobs. 700 other positions…
Evan Carroll
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Organic food is worse for the environment because it requires more land than non-organic food

I've heard that organic crops and husbandry are worse for the environment than non-organic equivalents because in the absence of pesticides and fertilizers much more land is required for an organic yield equivalent to what would be achieved with…
Brian M. Hunt
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Is nuclear power economically untenable?

One of the arguments I've seen levied against nuclear power is that it's not economically viable. In the 1970s nuclear power cost half as much as electricity from coal burning: by 1990 nuclear power cost twice as much as electricity from coal…
Nick T
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Did the US spend 7 trillion in the Middle East?

In response to the recent train accident in Washington State, the current President of the United States, Donal Trump, made a claim in a tweet that the US has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Is this true, and if so what's the (rough)…
aross
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Is the total cost of treating the uninsured in emergency rooms more expensive than government-subsidized urgent care would be in the US?

One of the claims I have frequently encountered in support of government intervention in providing health insurance that is more extensive than Medicare and Medicaid in the US, is that it will reduce the need for patients without insurance to use…
ColleenV
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Did Henry Ford predict revolution if people understood the banking and monetary system?

Several sites claim that Henry Ford said the following: It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. Members in…
Dave Hilditch
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Is there economic data to suggest whether or not trickle-down economics provides a net increase in standards of living?

One of the chief arguments for Reagan's fiscal policy of trickle-down economics was "money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy." Essentially that by providing tax cuts and write-offs to wealthy…
Mark Rogers
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Does Norway spend $29,726 on child care per toddler annually?

I would like to verify the following chart (e.g. take Norway) in a New York Times article: (Note that multiple references in the article appear to define a toddler as being 0-2 years of age. They say "Denmark, for example, spends $23,140 annually…
Sherwin Lott
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Does the United States throw wheat in the ocean to keep the prices high?

In Iran, there is a wide-spread belief that the USA throws extra wheat it produces into the ocean to keep the prices high. The official website for the Iranian presidential office [Persian] quotes Mohammad Reza Rahimi, former First Vice President,…
Saman
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