Hey folks, I have a new big paper up at @niskanencenter.

It's about the weird way that the USA finances our unemployment insurance system and how it is RUINING THE LABOR MARKET.

'American engineers complained of rigid, counterproductive hierarchies; Taiwanese TSMC veterans described Americans as lacking the kind of dedication and obedience they believe to be the foundation of their company’s world-leading success.'

restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-ariz…

Very interesting paper

* Union election wins -> less employment, site closures

* But mostly in manufacturing + multi-site employers, who can close a union plant and move work to a non-union plant.

* Services unions don't lower employment much

census.gov/library/workin…

Must read J.K. Dineen story on SF's 'inclusionary housing' program for middle-income households.

It's yielding mass vacancy rather than housed middle-income families.

Why? B/c of panoply of death-by-good-intention allocation & pricing rules.
🧵/12.

sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mis…

1) I've admired @powellatlantic's reporting in the past. But his latest column -- which argues that voters are right to give the Biden economy poor marks -- contains one large and telling error:
vox.com/24134257/biden…

'Physician Alinafe Kachigwali said deaths at Mwima Health Center in Khongoni have fallen significantly since the GiveDirectly disbursement began. …Double the number of women are coming in for five-month prenatal checkups, hospital records show.'

washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/…

The US is a massive net exporter of blood plasma: nearly 70% of global supply comes from the US.

Why? Because it's one of the few countries that pays donors.

Secretaries Azar & Sebelius weigh in on site-neutral payments.

Explaining why it makes little sense for Medicare to pay 2x for physician services like office visits, imaging, or drug admin when a hospital buys the practice & slaps their name on it.

statnews.com/2024/04/18/sit…

Nixon's disdain for central bank independence is legendary but get a load of Ford!

After Stefan Dercon went on the The Charter Cities Institute podcast (chartercitiesinstitute.org/podcast/charte…) we commissioned him to write something for us about what philanthropists should do to promote catchup economic growth: openphilanthropy.org/wp-content/upl…

Excited this is finally out, worth a read!

NIXON: Fantastic Mr. Fox. Disgusting picture. Fella wears a [expletive] corduroy suit.
HALDEMAN: [inaudible]
NIXON: They run the banks too

Love it when journalists RT misinformation like “CPI doesn’t include shelter, energy, and food costs.”