It’s looking like the NFL lockout is about to come to an end, which raises the question: what will the effects of it be? In an article posted on Freakonomics, that very topic is addressed. The sports economist interviewed believes that demand for the sport by fans will be unaffected and that they will be happy to see the season start up. He also believes that in the new collective bargaining agreement, the owners are getting the better deal. Their share of the revenue will increase as the salary cap each team faces decreases; the rookie pay scale will also face a decline but veterans will be voting on the deal which could help explain why the players seem poised to accept the offer.

Source: Freakonomics Blog

Personality tests are an increasingly popular tool used by businesses and governments alike. A new weapon in the arsenal of tests might be a review of your Facebook profile. Researchers are looking for conclusions they can make about you based on your online page. Some of them include:

• Extroverts have more Facebook friends than introverts but their networks are more likely to be “sparse”
• People with longer last names have more neurotic traits.
• People who often use words such as “pizza”, “dish” and, “eat” are also more likely to be neurotic.

Read the article to find out more about the other correlations that researchers have found in Facebook profiles.

Source: The Washington Post

Via: Know the World

It’s a simple question. How many people in the world are poor? Yet the answer isn’t as straightforward as it would seem. In 2005 The World Bank estimated that there were 1.37 billion people who live on less than $1.25 a day but since then emerging economies have expanded by 50%. The Brookings Institution updated that number for 2010 and estimated that the number of poor had fallen by half to 900 million. Other interesting points in the report include:

• The fall in the poverty rate is unparalleled in the entirety of human history
• By 2015 they estimate that fewer than 600 million people will be below the poverty threshold
• The First Millenium Development Goal (to half global poverty levels) was probably met in 2007, 8 years ahead of schedule.

Read the (exceedingly short) two page summary over here and find out where the poor will be concentrated and the strategies that aid donors must now pursue.

Source: Brookings

Via: NOTAS MARGINALES

Ashley Gilbertson, a journalist with The New York Times recently discussed interesting things about the combat rations that are distributed to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan from around the world. Some of the highlights include:

• At one point one serving of French combat rations could be bartered for five servings of American rations.
• Combat rations are designed to remind soldiers of home. This includes sampling eating fads in the home country. British troops were able to enjoy lamb curry as part of their rations when the dish became popular.
• U.S. troops are given Assorted Charms. The soldiers believe it is bad luck to eat them.
• Peanut M&M’s are the ultimate treat and can be traded for almost anything.

Read more about the ingredients in “Ranger Pudding” (it involves Tootsie Rolls), and “Combat Espresso” (it’s not the dish that’s interesting. Just the container.) by clicking here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Jay Lake ; The Society Pages

The euro, the currency used by many European nations for the purpose of more closely aligning their economic interests, seems to be in trouble over the debt crisis that Europe is facing. The problem is that Greece, Ireland, and Portugal have suffered from serious debt problems and required a bailout from other, more financially stable European countries. This bailout proved to be inadequate as the debt problems still loom large. However, countries that have kept their debt down and have remained financially stable are not to pleased about being put in a position of having to use their funds to bail out other countries that have not acted quite so responsibly. Thus, after the first bailout, which itself involved a great deal of debate and anger, it has become unclear whether these other euro-zone members would be willing to move forward with another bailout. It appears that one will be needed to keep countries like Greece financially afloat. Therefore, the euro-zone is facing some serious questions over how to solve these problems and what the future of the euro may hold. The IMF has painted a rather bleak picture for the future of the euro – a future that may not include the euro at all. This seems to be a rather extreme scenario, but there is no denying that the euro-zone, and its currency, are facing some serious problems right now.

Source: Washington Post

The health care debate has subsided to an extent, but there are still those who wonder whether the additional costs to states of providing health insurance to their citizens is worth it. Researchers have been trying to figure out whether having health insurance changes people’s behavior significantly. Some of the issues they are interested in is if health insurance improves the health and happiness of those who have it. In Oregon, 10,000 additional people were enrolled in Medicaid out of an applicant pool of 90,000. Researchers then compared the behavior of those who were enrolled with those who were not. Those enrolled were 7.5% more likely to go to the hospital for treatment, 25% more likely to report themselves to be in “good” health, 32% more likely to report themselves as being happy, and they cut down on sick days by 15%. Those with health insurance were also far more likely to get preventative care, but were just as likely to go to the emergency room as those without health insurance.

Source: Slate

One business seems able to weather any kind of economic climate it finds itself in. What business is it? Law School. The New York Times recently ran an article about the economics of law school. It’s a fascinating article as it highlights the fact that law schools seem to defy economic principles – despite the fact that the job market for law school grads is weakening, law schools are raising their tuition rates. One might suspect that such a scenario would lead to less students applying to and attending law school, but this is not the case. Rather, law schools have shown little problem attracting students, with some schools even raising class sizes. In fact, many law schools are doing so well financially that they pay a “tax” to the university they belong to that serves to subsidize other aspects of the university that are unable to pay for themselves. Many have questioned what responsibilities a law school must have to protect its students – after all, is it ethical to increase the number of students when the job market they face upon graduation is worse than any other time in recent history, all the while charging them more than ever to attend? From the years 1989 to 2009, the cost of tuition has gone up 71 percent for college, while the cost of tuition has gone up 317 percent for law school. Law school rankings and bond rating agencies are listed as two causes for the behavior of law schools as they try to maintain a strong bottom line and gain greater prestige. This all leads to two questions – should law schools be looking out for the best interests of their students, and given the current scenario law school students find themselves in, is it worth it for them to attend?

Source: New York Times

The Economist notes that “America’s universities have raised fees five times as fast as inflation over the past 30 years” and yet “still the universities keep sending begging letters to alumni and philanthropists.” The Economist reports that Vance Fried of Oklahoma State University found a way to provide a first class education for just $6,700 a year. Some of the cost cutting techniques include:

• Separate the funding of research and education, and make sure that students are only paying for their education and not subsidizing the institution’s research.
• The student-teacher ratio should be increased. Both business and law schools achieve good results with higher ratios than those that currently exist at undergraduate institutions.
• Eliminate and consolidate programs that receive little interest from students.
• Reduce administrative costs that have risen by as much as 61%    in the last 15 years.

Read about other ideas and the universities that are seriously implementing them over here.

Source: The Economist

Malcolm Gladwell at The New Yorker took a look at the history behind the American mall. Some of the highlights include:

• Before the 40s American retailers would always have their storefronts face the street so that customers could look into the store and its displays. The revolutionary idea behind the mall was to have a plain exterior and a lively, energetic, air conditioned interior.
• Other innovations include two storey malls that shortened the distance that shoppers had to walk between any two stores; and an artificial town square park in the centre of the building.
• Malls often have transparent handrails so that there’s nothing to disrupt the view of the shoppers.
• Car parks are designed so that there are more parking spaces on higher floors than lower ones because “people flow like water” and are more likely to go down than up. Elevators and escalators are also normally placed at opposite corners so that shoppers have to make a full loop.

Click here to find out more about how Congress inadvertently revived malls soon after it seemed that their dominance in American retail would come to an end; the role that socialism played in their rise; and the anguish that the creator of the mall felt about the global trend that he started.

Source: The New Yorker

Via: Slate