tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post7614415060406762725..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: Piketty's CapitalSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-35737784687412347802014-07-06T14:32:47.130-04:002014-07-06T14:32:47.130-04:00If anyone wants to investigate Piketty's data ...If anyone wants to investigate Piketty's data (e.g. run your own analyses in R) this is worth a look:<br />http://simplystatistics.org/2014/06/30/piketty-in-r-markdown-we-need-some-help-from-the-crowd/<br />https://github.com/jtleek/capitalIn21stCenturyinR/tree/gh-pagesRichard Seiternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-15805296791139752682014-03-31T12:34:58.216-04:002014-03-31T12:34:58.216-04:00Thoughts:
>Income and wealth inequality as meas...Thoughts:<br />>Income and wealth inequality as measured by money is not a bug but the whole point of relatively free societies with markets. These measurements in his book ignore the other side of wealth which is the enormous utility of the consumer products. I'm happy to pay a few dollars to Bill Gates for a computer that would have cost 1 Trillion dollars 20 years ago. This lopsided Kennon Gilsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-9071921670846155482014-03-29T12:01:14.456-04:002014-03-29T12:01:14.456-04:00yep, I agree. And this is why the tax code is com...yep, I agree. And this is why the tax code is complex and ever changing - each change creates winners and losers. Almost any stable tax regime is likely to be fair in the sense that the anticipated taxes will be priced into decisions.LondonYoungnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-20883652928287475592014-03-28T19:12:44.217-04:002014-03-28T19:12:44.217-04:00"And this certainly is an economic discussion..."And this certainly is an economic discussion..."<br /><br />i was trying to point out that economics, in the us at least, is arid and abstract and meaningless by design. (what is meaningless is impotent.) and that one shouldn't confuse his facility with economics jive talk for understanding of the real world. though this discourse, jive talk, is taken as such by mass media and the chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-33360438488022389212014-03-28T18:56:14.421-04:002014-03-28T18:56:14.421-04:00"However, future owners are not really being ..."However, future owners are not really being taxed..."<br /><br />and the same goes for corporate and dividend taxes and cap gains taxes, so stop your bellyaching ly. you pay tax only on your cash salary. the rest is untaxed ;)chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-34035066550113038862014-03-28T08:28:03.318-04:002014-03-28T08:28:03.318-04:00Expert - a tiny note on property tax that you migh...Expert - a tiny note on property tax that you might like - its institution may be thought of as a one-time tax with no further taxation. This goes back to the old economic theory of rents. Imagine land which produces $100k annually. If the demanded return on capital is 5%, then the land will sell for $2mm. However, if we institute an annual property tax of $50,000 on it, then its private LondonYoungnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-9874649766045367152014-03-28T08:17:43.294-04:002014-03-28T08:17:43.294-04:00nah, I try to prefer data - that is why I wonder a...nah, I try to prefer data - that is why I wonder about the source (and have ordered the book, though in old fashioned medieval form)LondonYoungnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-46300796559718863492014-03-28T00:43:48.365-04:002014-03-28T00:43:48.365-04:00Well money certainly is an abstraction. As far as...Well money certainly is an abstraction. As far as food for a year and a place to live there is certainly nothing more concrete. I'll certainly concede you the possibility that it is too late in general though. There is no reason to believe that the human race is not susceptible to massive die offs in total numbers just like any other vertebrate species.<br /><br /><br />Han Chinese will James Hedmanhttp://www.dhs.gov/how-do-i/report-suspicious-activitynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-78664448807779598032014-03-27T23:47:07.334-04:002014-03-27T23:47:07.334-04:00Piketty's main innovation is to look beyond th...Piketty's main innovation is to look beyond the 1%. Are you sure your link isn't top-coding with 1% granularity%? Why would Seattle contribute much to the 0.1%? Sure, lots of 1% at MS, but 0.1%?Douglas Knightnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-45706734274438293352014-03-27T23:37:15.116-04:002014-03-27T23:37:15.116-04:00no.
this is all too abstract.
america's prob...no.<br /><br />this is all too abstract.<br /><br />america's problems aren't transient and aren't economic. it's problems are cultural and ethnic. it was way too late in 1776. the waves are washing over the gunwales. <br /><br />there will <i>never</i> be a recovery.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-22087145869883386282014-03-27T21:44:28.916-04:002014-03-27T21:44:28.916-04:00Like some other commodities physical gold can be a...Like some other commodities physical gold can be a better choice during hyperinflation but those periods have always been and necessarily are of short duration. In the case of the subsequent concomitant collapse an even better choice is a fully paid for and solidly defensible place in the countryside with a years supply of food for the entire clan just as the Mormons do. As for financial assetsJames Hedmanhttp://www.dhs.gov/how-do-i/report-suspicious-activitynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-19760481807616853372014-03-27T20:34:01.744-04:002014-03-27T20:34:01.744-04:00Just as patents ought not overly-privilege the fir...Just as patents ought not overly-privilege the first inventor over <br />equally-able later inventors <b>(because ability and not product is what should be rewarded)</b>, ensuring that humans should not be <br />disadvantaged by accidents of birth order is an important goal<b>(or by accident of less ability or suitability)</b>. <br /><br />One simple change to policy could go a long way to to chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-24116681510314038192014-03-27T20:24:23.228-04:002014-03-27T20:24:23.228-04:00your last link has "williams'" and t...your last link has "williams'" and touts gold.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-9757599172372425062014-03-27T17:46:36.627-04:002014-03-27T17:46:36.627-04:00born with the gift dumness and a sense that the wo...born with the gift dumness and a sense that the world was fair.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-18363676786043384142014-03-27T07:34:23.653-04:002014-03-27T07:34:23.653-04:00Just as patents ought not overly-privilege the fir...Just as patents ought not overly-privilege the first inventor over equally-able later inventors, ensuring that humans should not be disadvantaged by accidents of birth order is an important goal. <br /><br />One simple change to policy could go a long way to to fixing this: Whenever someone is renting a house (paying a landlord a profit), the government should guarantee a mortgage payment for TimothyBatesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-24068545618847071142014-03-27T07:09:38.212-04:002014-03-27T07:09:38.212-04:00ly has no chinks in his achievement ideology or hi...ly has no chinks in his achievement ideology or his american exceptionalism ideology. he takes ayn rand seriously and was crushed he couldn't get his foot in the door making better bombs for the us military. <br /><br />he's the most patent case for the achievement ideology's being mere ideology.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-20148889319750082942014-03-27T06:23:59.521-04:002014-03-27T06:23:59.521-04:00So the whole r > g rationalization is why this ...So the whole r > g rationalization is why this is blogworthy?<br /><br />Frenchman decries wealth inequality. Proposes the government steal more money from the wealthy. Also throws in a couple of jabs at the US and "overpaid" executives. The New Yorker publishes an article about this man's book.<br /><br />Next week's top blog post - "Japanese People Eat a Lot of Rice&Corneliusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-14697780654724961392014-03-27T01:56:54.460-04:002014-03-27T01:56:54.460-04:00So you prefer your own prejudices to the data.So you prefer your own prejudices to the data.5371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-87383926058827120142014-03-27T01:53:42.266-04:002014-03-27T01:53:42.266-04:00According to descendants of the Code N., the split...According to descendants of the Code N., the split doesn't have be even, but no-one can be left less than a large percentage of what he would have got if it was.<br />It's easy to say that noble officers (like N. himself) are less competent on average than non-noble, but I don't find any historical evidence for it5371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-9516616054938725442014-03-26T20:49:49.563-04:002014-03-26T20:49:49.563-04:00What you write may make sense if for the inequalit...What you write may make sense if for the inequality r>g, r was not much greater than g. The point of the book is that, for much of history r was substantially greater than g, but for the period between the great war and 1975 or so (les trentes glorieuses): the period that was just lived through, and shapes the economic discussion. But now we are reentering a low growth world in which signs ChrisFahlmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-2571162484940128722014-03-26T20:15:13.841-04:002014-03-26T20:15:13.841-04:00one might think that if spending weren't propo...one might think that if spending weren't proportional to income return on capital would require an increase in consumption by the have nots. where's that increase in revenue coming from? perhaps there's been a reduction in labor expense? but then who's buying what you're selling?<br /><br />the rich stopped spending like they used to. the poor made too little to give any chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-13407480902337823232014-03-26T18:27:24.067-04:002014-03-26T18:27:24.067-04:00I'm confused by this. In earlier studies (1990...I'm confused by this. In earlier studies (1990s data) I think almost all of the increase in inequality could be traced to just four counties in the Silicon Valley, Seattle, NYC-Greenwich areas. But perhaps things changed more recently.<br /><br />http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2006/09/us-income-inequality-caused-by.htmlsteve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-57913877536035055972014-03-26T17:27:23.620-04:002014-03-26T17:27:23.620-04:00yet france is still much more unequal and less mob...yet france is still much more unequal and less mobile than de, nl, scandinavia, etc.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-23011234245092485892014-03-26T17:17:15.619-04:002014-03-26T17:17:15.619-04:00even in finance and start-ups the founders have of...even in finance and start-ups the founders have often achieved executive status working for someone else, and this is the rule for entrepreneurs in other fields.<br /><br />the "i think i'll start a business today" guy doesn't exist or he's very rare.chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-46638233746469227362014-03-26T17:14:16.389-04:002014-03-26T17:14:16.389-04:00"...but I also don't like the fact that t..."...but I also don't like the fact that the rich pay lower percentage taxes on capital gains than the middle class pay on earnings..."<br /><br /><br />right. let's discourage labor relative to saving and investing;)<br /><br /><br />"...we should just accept extreme inequality since some people are so much more productive than others..."<br /><br /><br />as pointed chartreuse1737noreply@blogger.com