Tim Worstall

The problem with being an autodidact (posh word for untaught) in a subject is that you’ve no idea at all whether some idea that pops up is original or not. Simply not enough information about what others have been doing. So, I hope like hell that someone has already thought about this and possibly even [...]

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We know that people have generally been getting taller (erm, OK, the average height of those alive has been rising, not that individuals necessarily grow) over the past century or so. I’ve been looking around, but cannot find, a time series that tells me the average American height over that time. I’ve a basic working [...]

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I’m getting confused about a number which is being bandied about. For example, the wage share of GDP as at page 6 of this. Which seems remarkably different from the labour share of income here. And what sparks my interest is this definition of calculating up (or dividing out if you prefer) GDP via the [...]

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I pondered as to whether there was a connection between high marginal tax rates and the substitution of market for household working hours as a result. It seems that there is a weak connection, but only a weak one. So does anyone who knows how to do this empirical economics stuff want to pitch in [...]

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So, you’re a bright lot. Point me at stories and sources for why we subsidise fir and spruce plantations in the UK. Yes, I know quite a bit, but would love to see what you can point me at.

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So, we’ve a theory. That higher marginal tax rates will lead to people withdrawing their labour from the market. We expect this to be greatest among women with children. For obvious reasons: the higher the marginal tax rate the more attractive looking after your own children will seem as opposed to working, suffering the tax [...]

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That was before the police found the body of a man thought to be one of Japan’s oldest, at 111 years, mummified in his bed, dead for more than three decades. His daughter, now 81, hid his death to continue collecting his monthly pension payments, the police said. Alarmed, local governments began sending teams to [...]

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I often have little thoughts (yes, thank you at the back there, very little indeed) and then realise that I’ve not got the technical skills to even being researching whether they’re true or not. I might know roughly where the basic information can be found for example, but not know how to put it together. [...]

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