PARIS - opening of "jean-paul gaultier / r�gine chopinot. le d�fil�", mus�e de la mode et du textile, 03/21/07

Courtroom Bonanza

The WSJ reports about a well-paid economist.

Cowen on Health Care

In today's NY Times, Tyler Cowen compares American and European health care.

EASIER

Now you can also access this blog with facehunter.org, but you oldskool fans can still use the old address.

Is Wage Insurance Optimal?

In academic economics, there is growing interest in a subfield called "dynamic public finance," which looks at optimal taxes and social insurance in situations where information unfolds over time. Here is one survey.

At the same time, in Washington policy circles, there is growing interest in social insurance schemes that have an important time-dimension. Some Democrats are proposing "wage insurance." According to the NY Times,

Under one proposal, by Representative Jim McDermott of Washington State, the government would pay as much as 50 percent of the difference between a person�s old and new wage � with a maximum benefit of $10,000 a year � for as long as two years. A welder who lost a job that paid $40,000 a year and who took a new job paying $30,000 would receive $5,000 a year in supplemental pay for two years.

Surprisingly, these two developments have been proceeding independently. As far as I can tell, the schemes being cooked up in Washington are not building on the academic literature, and the guys working on the academic literature do not pay much attention to what is happening in Washington. Perhaps it is time for a little intellectual arbitrage.

Personally, I am skeptical of the wage insurance plan. It seems that a worker who earns $40,000 in year one and then $30,000 in year two would end up with higher total income, after taxes and transfers, than a person who earns $35,000 in both years. Maybe there is a good argument for this idea, but I cannot immmediately see what it is.

PARIS - on the street, le marais and rue saint honor�, 03/20/07

Preppy Wedding Gets Married!!

Thanks for all of your well wishes and advice these last few days. Because I am going to be taking the next few days to tie up things before the wedding, I won't be available to blog until after I am a Mrs. Preppy Wedding!

Rest assured, I promise to take lots of pictures of the last minute details I have been wrapping up, so look for a great big post after the honeymoon. These last few days, my attention has shifted to the great vacation I am about to take. We already have reservations at two recommended Aruba restaurants and I think we know of a tour of the island to take!

If you're dying for updates on the wedding, feel free to check out our photographers' blog. They will probably post pictures of the wedding sometime next week!

Hope everyone has a fabulous week. I can't believe this is my last post as Miss Preppy Wedding.