Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
It’s not only the just-released University of Michigan consumer confidence report and February retail sales on Thursday that surprised economists and investors with another dose of underwhelming news. Overall, U.S. economic data have been falling short of prognosticators’ expectations by the most in six years. The Bloomberg ECO U.S. Surprise Index, which measures whether data beat or miss forecasts, fell…
The threat, made by the Greek justice minister and reported in the daily Kathimerini newspaper, has been supported by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who told the Greek parliament he would pursue the “very technical and sensitive” matter. Justice minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos has reportedly called for “war reparations, the repayment of a forced loan and the…
As part of its annual US graduate school rankings, US News has released data that tracks enrollment and tuition growth for the schools it ranks. Despite substantially higher costs across the board, most disciplines have seen rising (rapidly, in the case of engineering) or steady enrollment. A notable exception is law school, for which enrollment is declining. Despite the tough climate for American law school graduates,…
I think that all these stats have a point, but I’m also a little uncomfortable with how heavily focused on parents and marital status this is. It’s very easy to look at this coverage and say ‘ah, this is the decline of traditional family values hitting economic opportunity.’ At least that is how this author…
Political scientist Bob Putnam is photographed at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Putnam recently wrote a book about the inequality of opportunity for children titled “Our Kids.” (Damian Strohmeyer for The Washington Post) SWARTHMORE, Penn. — Robert Putnam wants a show of hands of everyone in the room with a parent who graduated from…
coming of age One of the largest generations in history is about to move into its prime spending years. Millennials are poised to reshape the economy; their unique experiences will change the ways we buy and sell, forcing companies to examine how they do business for decades to come. Millennials Infographic.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) Last week was the first ever National Adjunct Walkout Day, a grassroots protest to push for fair pay and better working conditions. Protests and teach-ins took place on as many as 100 campuses nationwide, prompting at least one university to create a task force to address labor concerns. It’s little wonder that a national movement has sprung up…
Last month I turned in my badge and my iPad at CFO.com, after a year plus slightly less than 6 months. A few days earlier, my then-girlfriend had been downsized from her company in a consolidation. So I’ve been spending some time thinking about the economics of work. The last decade has seen the rise…
Timing is everything. And for Joe Moser the timing was bad. He graduated from the University of Iowa’s law school in 2011, one of the worst years to graduate from law school ever. He worked as a bartender in St. Louis, Missouri, while applying for jobs. It took about a year for him to land…
Sweet Briar College announced today that it is shutting down at the end of this academic year. Small colleges close or merge from time to time, more frequently since the economic downturn started in 2008. But the move is unusual in that Sweet Briar still has a $94 million endowment, regional accreditation and some well-respected…