Dear Dr. Dollar: The Airfare Mystery
Boston is 3,280 air miles from London, only 27% further than the 2,580 air miles from Boston to San Diego. So why does a flight from Boston to London cost more than twice as much as a flight from Boston to San Diego, 100% more, for the same dates? Is it just supply and demand? --Kathleen M. Gillesp
Dear Dr. Dollar: Black-White Income Differences: What’s Happened?
There is a great deal of awareness of the general increase of income inequality in the United States. But what's happened to the income inequality between African Americans and European Americans ("Black-White" inequality)?
Dear Dr. Dollar: Structural Adjustment, Here and There
What are the similarities and differences between structural adjustment in the rest of the world/Third World and structural adjustment in the United States? --Vicki Legion, San Francisco, Calif.
Dear Dr. Dollar: Abolishing the Fed is No Solution to a Real Problem
Is the Federal Reserve, the Fed, as important to the operation of the economy as it seems? How does it work? If it is so important, how can anyone take seriously politicians such as Ron Paul, who calls for the Fed's abolition? --Tom Prebis, Cleveland, Ohio
How important is Citizens United?
Dear Dr. Dollar: People in the Occupy movement and many others are quite concerned about “corporate personhood,” and especially about the Citizens United decision. Did that Supreme Court decision in fact make a crucial difference with regard to the role of money in elections?
Dear Dr. Dollar:
The main narrative that I hear in mainstream press is that U.S. workers are being undercut and eventually displaced by global competition. I think this narrative has a tone of inevitability, that low wages and job loss are driven by huge impersonal forces that we can't do much about. Is this right?
Dear Dr. Dollar:
Many times I have read (in writings by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, for example) or heard it said (by President Obama, for example) that technology is eliminating more manufacturing jobs in the United States than rising imports. Is that true? --Kevin Rath, Oakland, Calif.
Dear Dr. Dollar:
With the crisis in Greece and other countries, commentators have said that governments are "under pressure from the bond market" or that bond markets will "punish" governments. What does this mean? --Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Queens, N.Y.
Dear Dr. Dollar:
In his book Colossus (2004), Niall Ferguson argues that a major problem with Social Security and Medicare is their underfunded liabilities--to the tune of $45 trillion. Ferguson uses a 2003 report by Jagadeesh Gokhale and Kent Smetters to substantiate the seriousness of the issue. Can you comment on
Dear Dr. Dollar:
I learned in my economics classes that in a market economy, problems tend to be self-correcting: when a recession starts, demand weakens; then prices drop, people and firms start to buy more and the economy picks up again. So why don't we see this kind of self-correction now? Why does it seem as if
Dear Dr. Dollar:
Isn't the "bailout" of Wall Street like having a rotten tooth extracted? The extraction is very unpleasant, but it beats the alternative. Even if the dentist charges an unreasonably high fee, I am still going to pay and have the job done. Later I will worry about taking better care of my teeth. So s