The finance blogosphere has been ablaze the last week with Vanguard's announcement that they'll be eliminating trading fees on an enormous swathe of ETF's that currently cost $7 to buy and sell. Reducing transaction fees is an unalloyed good for investors, but I think there are some interesting additional consequences of the change to think about. What's happening On July 2, … [Read more...] about Thinking about Vanguard’s no-transaction-fee ETF announcement
Distinguishing between falsifiable and non-falsifiable claims
Right-wing troll Ben Shapiro has a cliché he deploys whenever he's confronted by someone who disagrees with his particular brand of snarky malevolence: "facts don't care about your feelings." Of course, what Ben means is that his feelings don't care about your facts. If Ben feels you're wrong, then you're wrong regardless of the evidence you provide, and if Ben feels he's right … [Read more...] about Distinguishing between falsifiable and non-falsifiable claims
What if low US labor force participation is driven by low US labor standards?
There is no cliché more beloved by chin-stroking observers of The West than the "sclerotic" labor markets of Western Europe. France is of course the most notoriously sclerotic labor market; but Spain hasn't dodged sclerosis either; and even our Anglo-Saxon brethren in the United Kingdom have a certain sclerotic tendency. There is a problem with this diagnosis, … [Read more...] about What if low US labor force participation is driven by low US labor standards?
Means-testing and the real marriage penalties (wonkish)
For decades (at least as long as I've been alive), people have used the expressions "marriage bonus" and "marriage penalty" to describe what happens to the income tax liability of a couple before and after they formally wed. But focusing attention on changes in income tax liability has resulted in a totally inadequate amount of attention being paid to the actual marriage … [Read more...] about Means-testing and the real marriage penalties (wonkish)
3 questions about Americans and money
It's a slow, rainy Sunday around here, which is as good an occasion as any to contemplate the mysteries of life. In that spirit, here are three questions I genuinely don't know the answers to about Americans and their financial habits. Why don't Americans save in other currencies? I'm fascinated by currency risk and have written before about exposure to currency risk in the … [Read more...] about 3 questions about Americans and money