Education and living alone

The Age this morning reports on research by David de Vaus and Sue Richardson on living alone. Though the economic incentives are to share – especially as governments bias more policies against singles – living alone is becoming more common. The proportion of people living alone increased from 11.9% in 1996 to 13% in 2006.

As de Vaus and Richardson note, educational disparities between men and women are part of the explanation. The tables in the paper make it a little hard to see what’s going on, as they report different groups as a % of the living alone. It is clearer when we look at the numbers of people in the different groups. Continue reading “Education and living alone”

Stand-up economics

Yoram Bauman is an economics stand-up comedian:

My dad said, ‘Yoram, you’ll never make it as a stand-up economist. There’s no demand.’

“I said, ‘Don’t worry, Dad; I’m a supply-side economist. I just stand up and let the jokes trickle down.'”

“Auwgkh!” the audience moans.

“I believe in the Laffer curve.”

Bada-bing?

Auwgkh indeed.