The Economics of College’s March Madness, The Data Economy, and Wedding Economy.
As you enjoy your family and friends in the spirit of the Holy weekend Passover and Easter), I’ve decided to keep this weekend’s reading list to just five of the most interesting stories of the week. Currently enjoying a cup of coffee on the Amtrak Cascades as I travel from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington.
The Economics of Your Personal Data on Facebook and Google
The harvesting of our personal details goes far beyond what many of us could imagine. With Google, it stores a timeline of where you’ve been from the very first day you started using Google on your phone, everything you’ve ever searched or deleted, the apps you use. And has created an advertising profile based on your data. Read more to see all the different ways how Google and Facebook get your data and know everything you have ever done.
The Economics of Being a Wedding Guest
The price of other people’s happiness is climbing, as gifts, parties, travel and clothing expenses pile up. With wedding season approaching, it’s time to start saving your pennies. Attending nuptials for friends or family this year will put you out hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars. A nationally representative survey of more than 2,000 people by website Bankrate.com found that members of the wedding party spend an average of $728 on gifts, travel, attire and everything else associated with someone else’s happiness. Attendees in the Northeast spend even more: an average of $1,070 for the shower, the bachelor or bachelorette party and, finally, the main event.
Nigerian Economy: Why Lagos Works
(paywall) In a country plagued for its political and economic struggles, Lagos is thriving in attracting investment and private enterprise. With its 2017 output of $136bn, more than a third of Nigeria’s GDP was generated from Lagos. The city is the center of most of the country’s manufacturing and home to a pan-African banking industry as well as a thriving music, fashion, and film scene. The Dangote oil refinery (a new project on the Lagos Island) with a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day, will cost at least $12bn to complete and be the biggest refinery of its type in the world, producing enough petrol and kerosene to meet the entire demand of Nigeria’s 180m people, with left over for export. Read this article to learn how Lagos is shaping the national economy of Nigeria.
Want to Understand Japanese Economy? Think Reaganomics
Japan needed a shakeup after 20-plus years in the doldrums, just like the U.S. did after the 1970s. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in many ways analogous to President Ronald Reagan. Abe’s reforms, like Reagan’s, are best described as neoliberal. Where Reagan cut taxes and fought unions, Abe has focused on deregulation. Like Reagan, Abe is a free trader who has worked to increase immigration. This article is a Bloomberg View on the various similarities in economic approach between current Japanese administration and the Reagan administration.
The Economics of Making Into Colegiate Basketball Final-Four Loyola-Chicago’s $8.5 Million Final Four Run Lifts 10 Schools
Loyola University Chicago’s unexpected march to college basketball Final Four will have financial reverberations well beyond its urban lakeside campus. Nine other schools stand to make money off its Cinderella run. The Loyola Ramblers’ March Madness success has earned $8.5 million for their 10-team Missouri Valley Conference, to be paid out by the NCAA over the next six years. That amounts to roughly $140,000 per school, per year. The NCAA rewards teams for their tournament success. For every tournament game a school plays, not including the championship, the NCAA rewards that team’s conference with about $1.7 million, paid out over six years.
104 Countries That Block Women From Certain Jobs
In more than half the world’s economies, policymakers have yet to take an obvious step to close the difference between men’s and women’s earnings: allowing women to work the same jobs as men. In many nations, women are barred from taking jobs in many high-wage sectors, including manufacturing, contributing to very different economic outcomes for men and women.
Chart of the week
Resource of The Week
IRS Withholding Calculator
As the final days for filing your 2017 taxes winds down within the next three weeks, you may want to also think about to take advantages of 2018 tax changes. The IRS Withholding Calculator helps you identify your tax withholding to make sure you have the right amount of tax withheld from your paycheck at work.
How To Download Your Facebook Data
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, people are starting to ask, specifically, how much personal information is Facebook sharing? Here how to download your Facebook data to see exactly what FB has and sells to advertisers.
Thank you for reading through this weekend round-up! Hope you found a couple interesting articles to spark your next coffee or bar conversation.
Cheers,
Valentine.
Thank you for reading through this weekend round-up! Hope you found a couple interesting articles to spark your next coffee or bar conversation.
Cheers,
Valentine.
