April 22, 2012
The geography of unemployment
Some quick remarks on the unevenness of the U.S. economic recovery.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:29 AM permalink | Comments (20)
May 20, 2010
San Diego economy outlook
The San Diego Daily Transcript invited me to join a group of economists in discussing prospects for the local economy. You can watch the discussion in a series of videos:
Posted by James Hamilton at 07:36 AM permalink | Comments (0)
September 08, 2009
Supply and demand for judicial services
I've been trying to understand changes over time in the California state budget, though the data are presented in a way that makes that extremely difficult to do. I did spend enough time to discover one component of the budget that seems to have grown at a pretty healthy pace if you look at the last decade as a whole.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:09 PM permalink | Comments (36)
September 03, 2009
Furloughed professors
The University of California may say I'm just taking a few days off. That's not how I see it.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:21 PM permalink | Comments (55)
February 14, 2009
Former Bernanke home in foreclosure
A couple of stories that provide some personal perspective on the scope of the current problems.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:06 AM permalink | Comments (23)
February 01, 2009
Worth reading
Links to a few items I found interesting on non-residential structure investment, the "bad bank" proposal, and separation of powers.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:17 AM permalink | Comments (10)
December 19, 2008
Fiscal stimulus: the case for block grants
A few thoughts on how the federal government might best implement a fiscal stimulus.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 06:21 PM permalink | Comments (28)
October 16, 2008
Balancing California's Energy Needs with its Environmental Goals
That was the topic of a talk by Stanford Professor Frank Wolak at the UCSD Economics Roundtable on Tuesday.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 09:23 PM permalink | Comments (41)
February 23, 2007
San Diego County pension fund
I have been developing concerns about the possibility that hedge fund investment flows have become a destabilizing force in world financial markets. Following the maxim "think globally, act locally," I decided to take a look at how the behavior of our local pension funds may be one small part of that phenomenom. And I have some recommendations to make on behalf of San Diego County residents and the world at large.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 05:40 AM permalink | Comments (46)
October 18, 2006
Proposition 87 expenditures
Last week I discussed the way in which California's Proposition 87, the Clean Alternative Energy Act, would raise revenues. Today I take a look at some of the implications of its proposed use of those funds.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:17 AM permalink | Comments (10)
October 10, 2006
Proposition 87 tax plan
Sixteen of the 191 pages that Californians are asked to read in order to vote intelligently in the upcoming election are devoted to discussion of Proposition 87, the Clean Alternative Energy Act. This calls for $4 billion or more in new taxes and spending. In this post, I discuss only the tax side of this proposal, and hopefully will have an opportunity to take up the spending details in a sequel.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 09:22 PM permalink | Comments (27)
September 24, 2006
Environmental totalitarianism
What do Russia and California have in common?
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Posted by James Hamilton at 06:26 AM permalink | Comments (54)
July 21, 2006
That's one way to raise those campaign dollars
A California lawyer tells doctors that they should not expect to be asked to testify in workers' compensation trials unless they contribute $2,500 to Phil Angelides' campaign for governor.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 06:41 AM permalink | Comments (13)
January 22, 2006
Careful with that "e-waste"
As a service to California readers, I call attention to new state regulations on disposal of household waste.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 06:35 PM permalink | Comments (11)
October 27, 2005
Proposition 80
Here's some background on the problems in the California electricity market over the last 10 years and why I believe that Californians should vote no on Proposition 80.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:24 AM permalink | Comments (31)
September 10, 2005
Proposition 77
It is my intention occasionally to offer thoughts about some of the propositions on which Californians will be asked to vote this November and provide a forum for discussion of the issues. Today I take up Proposition 77, the redistricting initiative.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 05:44 PM permalink | Comments (14)
September 04, 2005
Lockyer to the rescue
I'm starting to think that every day some politician is going to come up with a new idea for how to make the current gas situation worse. California's Attorney General provides today's illustration.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 07:23 AM permalink | Comments (53)
August 13, 2005
Investigating charges of Medi-Cal fraud
There are some obvious steps we could take to make sure that state and federal contributions for medical assistance are spent as effectively as possible.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 04:00 PM permalink | Comments (7)
August 06, 2005
Update on Kelo in California
New developments on the implications of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision for California.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 01:26 PM permalink | Comments (2)
July 22, 2005
No blackouts yet
Thank you, fellow Californians, for paying due diligence to your conserve-o-meter.
Posted by James Hamilton at 01:19 PM permalink | Comments (3)
July 19, 2005
San Diego in the spotlight
Say what you will about San Diego politics, at least it's not boring.
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Posted by James Hamilton at 08:41 PM permalink | Comments (4)
July 01, 2005
Some like it hot
California may again offer the nation a useful illustration this summer of how not to deal with an energy crisis.
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Posted by econbrowser at 05:51 PM permalink | Comments (9)