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economy lab

A roundup of the best economic posts on the Web



Poland's currency lifts economy

The New York Times takes a look at Poland, which is on the outside of the euro zone - and booming.

"Being outside the euro zone is working to Poland's economic advantage. That is not the only reason Poland is currently that rare species: a financially vibrant member of the European Union. But it is to Poland's benefit not to be bound by a common currency, at a time when euro zone countries like Ireland will have trouble using cheap exports to grow their way out of trouble."

Alternative to austerity



Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglizt has a five-point plan that would cut the U.S. deficit without bolster economic growth. Among them: "...military expenditures must be cut – not just funding for the fruitless wars, but also for the weapons that don't work against enemies that don't exist. We've continued as if the Cold War never came to an end, spending as much on defense as the rest of the world combined. Following this is the need to eliminate corporate welfare. Even as America has stripped away its safety net for people, it has strengthened the safety net for firms, evidenced so clearly in the Great Recession with the bailouts of AIG, Goldman Sachs, and other banks.



African poverty is falling…much faster than you think



On VoxEu, a study takes exception to the UN's recent Millennium Development Report which said Sub-Saharan Africa has made little progress in reducing extreme poverty. "The sustained African growth of the last 15 years has engendered a steady decline in poverty that puts Africa on track to meet the Goals by 2017. If peace is established in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it returns to the African trend (which is what happened to other African nations that were formerly at war), Africa will halve its $1/day income poverty rate by 2013, two years ahead of the 2015 target."





Sense and nonsense in the quantitative easing debate

Also at VoxEu, John Cochrane of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business "argues that now is not the time to be buying back long-term debt. Given exceptionally low long-term rates, the U.S. government should be issuing it instead."



The War on Drugs is reducing marriage rates



Economy Lab contributor Marina Adshade on bigthink.com:

"The 'Just Say No' campaign in the late 1980s increased the severity of sentencing for drug offenders in the U.S. Since that time, particularly since the mid-1990's, incarceration rates have been steadily increasing to the point that the U.S. now has the one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Over the same period, marriage rates have been falling in the U.S. and falling in some communities faster than in others. Economic theory predicts that an increase in the incarceration rate will disadvantage some women when it comes to marriage and reduce the overall marriage rate. The evidence seems to support that view."





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