October 2013 archive

Government shutdown great for some businesses

I’m occasionally surprised by the variety of anecdotes that support theories of market efficiency and the rapid adaptation of consumer behavior in free economies. The recent government shutdown seems to have introduced one such case. CBS reports that traffic is suddenly booming for “sugar daddy” websites. The news organization quotes folks at seekingarrangement.com and whatsyourprice.com …

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According to a Scrawny Sample, Fatter Applicants are Less Likely to Get into Graduate School

A recently published article on “Weight Bias in Graduate School Admissions” (gated link here) inadvertently highlights the dangers of drawing global conclusions based on inappropriate samples. Based on responses from 97 applicants to one university’s psychology department, the study asserts that graduate applicants with a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) tend to receive significantly fewer …

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It costs $241,080 to raise a child and other reasons why averages can be completely uninformative

A popular news service reported that it costs $241,080 to raise a child and then remarked, “the cost of raising a child is climbing at a rate that many families can’t keep up with.” The news agency cites falling wages and lower employment rates as support for this struggle to keep up. A host of …

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New AAA Discovery Rules are in Effect

The American Arbitration Association (“AAA”)’s recent revisions to the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules are effective for any AAA-administered arbitration filed on or after today, October 1.  One area of update is the discovery process. Going forward, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, these new rules should make it easier for arbitrators to more closely control …

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Government Shutdown, What to Expect

It is Tuesday, October 1, 2013 and Congress has not been able to reach a compromise on a funding bill that could get the government running again.  One of the major stumbling blocks is the long-running dispute regarding President Obama’s health care reform law (commonly referred to as Obamacare).  The House would like Obamacare to …

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