Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with economic

International impact of Great Depression

msk1985 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:07:57 -0800

What was the extent of the international impact of the American Great Depression compared to the economic crisis today? What are (scholarly) resources that might help answer this question?

Trying to better myself and feeling thwarted at every turn?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:47:49 -0800

How do I get out of a career trap of my own making? I'll try and make a long story short: In my teens and early 20s, I was an emotionally troubled young man who didn't buy into the traditional life model of higher education, career etc. Once my mid-twenties hit, I re-evaluated and tried to turn my life around onto a more traditional trajectory.

I graduated from a state school in California with B.A. in Public Administration in 2007. My cumulative GPA was brought to a 3.52 (my lowest grade once I returned to school and applied myself was an A-).

I have been unable to find a career in my field and with the budget crisis of the state and most municipalities, I don't see that changing soon. I've been working jobs to pay the bills, but nothing that is particularly rewarding in any sense of the word (including financially).

I feel like I'm going to snap unless I do something soon. So my question is this: At my age (35) is it worth it going to school to pursue a Master's? Is it feasible to do in California given the impacts on student assistance? Is it feasible to contemplate schooling at an out-of-state school given non-resident tuitions?

Is there any other solution I may be missing? Right now I'm stuck in an industry that is one step away from buggywhips and my boss is squat little troll who berates its employees when at all possible. I'd quit, but then I'd be ineligible for unemployment. (Right?) I can't take much more of this.. HELP.

How has the process of renting an apartment in Brooklyn changed because of the economic crisis?

airguitar2 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:36:52 -0800

How has the process of renting an apartment in Brooklyn changed because of the current economic crisis? I'm moving to Brooklyn at the end of the summer and planning to visit in mid-July to hunt for apartments. How will the process be different now that rents are falling all over the Big Apple? What do I need to know?

I've been reading metafilter posts on the seemingly insane (to this Midwesterner) process of finding housing in NYC. (Bring your passport! ID! First born child! Be ready to light thousands of dollars on fire-- on the spot!) I'm hoping that the current economic situation will make finding an apartment a bit more pleasant, so I ask ye Brooklyn MeFites: has anyone rented in the last couple of months, or is moving now and noticing a chance in the process? Should I still plan to hunt 4-6 weeks before my move-in date? Anything I should be prepared for? How can I maximize my pennies?

Why are all the newspapers talking about libraries this weekend?

crazyray — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:26:11 -0800

Why is the (supposed) story about libraries and the recession seemingly spontaneously appearing in every single newspaper this week? I understand how wire services work, and how newspapers often "borrow" stories from one another, but why is it that suddenly every newspaper is running a story about how libraries are affected by the current economic situation? Each story seems to be sourced uniquely but written with similar storylines. Examples: 1 2 3 4 5

There are a lot more available on google, but almost all are dated in the past three days. This seems WAYYYYYY to coincidental to me. Is there a single PR agency at work here? Jessamyn, can you weigh in on this?

How do many businesses selling the same things at the same prices stay in business without differentiating themselves or asking a lower price?

chrisinseoul — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:14:20 -0800

EconomicsFilter: how do many businesses selling the same things at the same prices stay in business without differentiating themselves or asking a lower price? Living in Seoul, South Korea - and many of the same shops sell the same things, at the same price, in the same general location. What gives?

If you've never been to Seoul, imagine a floor of 50 shops. They're all selling the same thing (e.g. cameras), using the same displays, use the same sales pitches, and sell things at the same prices. These prices are essentially commodity-type prices since they probably buy from the same wholesalers. At any given time, however, few businesses HAVE any business. So how do these people stay in business?

When given the choice, I would imagine most people would simply walk around until they find what they believe to be the lowest price (given their disadvantage of information), choose the closest vendor (thus giving an advantage to the dealer closest to the escalator), or seek out a familiar person / business they've worked with in the process (meaning bad / expensive vendors would eventually close).

(This, by the way, may be posted about in a future blog post - if your words are used I'll credit your username or leave you anonymous as a econ guru. It's not a homework assignment or anything so academic, yet it seems to require an economic explanation.)

Bubble down under

Estragon — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:05:50 -0800

I'm looking for econometric analysis of the Australian housing market and the medium-term risk of a crash in prices. I'm particularly interested in information about Canberra house prices. Something like Calculated Risk, with lots of data and layman-level explanations of its probable import, would be perfect.

Why don't I get my stimulus?

mgrichmond — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:11:16 -0800

I'm a US citizen, while my wife is from Canada, and is in the US on a K3 visa while we work on getting her Green Card. The downside of this is that until she gets either that Green Card or a work permit, she can't be employed in the US. I filed my taxes as "Married Filing Jointly," and was informed that because she has an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, rather than a Social Security Number, I would not be getting my "Economic Stimulus (Bush Bribe)" check. Does anyone understand the rationale here? Why does her status preclude my receiving my payment?

Site that will help me, um, cite.... (ugh, I've got nothin')

numinous — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:02:04 -0800

[Attention-Citation-Officers-Filter]: I am clueless as to the proper way of citing financial documents in the course of my writing. The Chicago Manual of Style has left me high and dry. Hope me! I'm having difficulty finding out how to accurately cite financial documents. Specifically, I need to cite information from a non-profit organization's 990 form. I am citing several figures from this tax document. I've searched various terms, such as citation+financial+report+document+writing etc., with every coupling and configuration in between. No. Dice.

So, my multifaceted question:

Is there a cut-and-dried template of citing data from a tax document in expository writing? For both note and bibliographical references? In a way that is consistent with (or at least acceptable by) the Chicago Manual of Style? Are there any websites dedicated to illustrating this type of citation? If so, which ones?

Also, WHERE CAN I FIND AN EXAMPLE, PLZ.

All suggestions welcome. Seriously. This is driving me nuts.

Should I file my tax return before the passing of the stimulus package?

stratastar — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:50:41 -0800

[TaxReturnFilter] Should I file my tax return before this economic stimulus package is passed through Congress? I'm a single dependent, residing in Maryland and I was about to file my tax return to get a healthy chunk of change ready to be processed by the IRS, when I read about President Bush's proposed economic stimulus package. According to my cursory knowledge about the stimulus package, there will be tax return ramifications or perhaps a rebate of some kind. The question is, should I hold off on filing my return until this is passed, with hopes of garnering a larger return, or will this be a non-factor?

Many thanks,

How do you deal with the anxiety around the economic and global clusterfcuk?

onanon — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:07:00 -0800

How do you deal with the anxiety around the economic and global clusterfcuk? It's been keeping me awake for years, and increasingly so. I recycle, I write my representatives. I eat local, organic, take public transport.. I just can't not feel trapped and sometimes just completely terrified. I have a history of panic attacks in my immediate family, was diagnosed with the ubiquitous Depression at 16 and fought it really hard until I learned some basic meditation techniques and got some good cognitive therapy. Now I still fight a light current of anxiety, but I can usually still fight it until somebody spooks me with something apocalyptic... Then it's all over.

Limit to growth

bluefrog — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:00:28 -0800

Why is economic growth necessary? Sorry for this utterly naïve question. Our current economic system seems to need growth to stay on track, while unlimited growth is being questionned on ecological grounds. So why is growth necessary, in real terms (GDP/inhabitant)? There's the start of an explanation here but I'm not sure I really understand.

What would happen with sanctions against America?

jon_kill — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:26:06 -0800

What would be the short and long term results of economic sanctions against America? I'm doing some research for a story I'm writing, and was hoping for some opinions from a more informed crowd than myself. Let's imagine the world grew a pair and decided to impose sanctions against America: Canada cuts down on electricity, and softwood. Japan and China pull the plug on their huge number of exports. Europe forbids trade with American companies while handing out subsidies to compensate their populace.

Of note: nobody imposes oil sanctions. The outcome there is too obvious.

1) What would be the effect on America?
2) What would be the effect on the countries imposing the sanctions?
3) What would be America's short and long-term reaction?