The NYT article In the Arctic, the Old Ice Is Disappearing by Jeremy White and kendra Pierre-Louis (5/14/2018) notes In the Arctic Ocean, some ice stays frozen year-round, lasting for many years before melting. But this winter, the region hit a record low for ice older than five years. In fact, …
Read More »What is the Great Gatsby curve?
The Great Gatsby curve represents the correlation between income inequality and intergenerational income elasticity. In short, the greater the income inequality in a country the greater the relationship between a child’s income and their parent’s income. The Atlantic article, The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy: The class divide is already toxic, …
Read More »What are the prospects for new college grads?
EPI has an answer with its report Class of 2018 College edition by Elise Gould, Zane Mokhiber, & Julia Wolfe (3/10/18). The report has 16 key findings and 10 graphs (the graphs and associated data are available). For example, Women make up about half of 21- to 24-year-olds, but well over half (57.3 percent) …
Read More »What is the CEO to worker pay gap?
U.S. Publicly held companies now have to report CEO and median worker salaries (this was part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010) and Bloomberg has an article, Alphabet CEO Page Makes a Tiny FractionCompared to Its Median Employee by Alicia Ritcey and Jenn Zhao (5/15/18), with an interactive graph …
Read More »What is an explanation for the racial disparities in student loan debt?
Fenaba R. Addo has an explanation in the article Parents’ Wealth Helps Explain Racial Disparities in Student Loan Debt at the Federal Reserve bank of St Louis. An analysis of data from a youth survey found that 58 percent of black young adults reported that their parents contributed an average of $4,200 …
Read More »What are the sources and uses of U.S. engergy?
Every year the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency) updates their energy flow and consumption diagrams. They are now available for 2017 energy use and the graph here is primary energy consumption by source and sector. For example, petroleum fulfills 37% or our energy use, 72% of petroleum is for transportation, …
Read More »How does the U.S. government spend tax dollars?
Federal government spending is reported on the usgovernmentspending.com website. On the main page you will find this pie chart of fiscal year 2018 (Oct 2017 through Sept 2018). The two biggest categories are health care 22% and pensions including social security 19%, with interest at 6%. For some context you can …
Read More »How does air pollution compare by country?
The State of Global Air 2018 has an interactive air pollution graph to compare countries and regions. Graph and data are both available. For example, the graph here is Average Seasonal Population-Weighted Ozone (ppb) for Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. (in yellow), as well as the global average (in black). We …
Read More »What is the state of food security and nutrition in the world?
Read the FAO report How close are we to #ZeroHunger? The state of food security and nutrition in the world (2017) . The online report has numerous chart that can be downloaded, such as the one here. After steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger appears to be on …
Read More »Where does the U.S. rank on the world press freedom index?
According to the Reporters Without Borders index, the U.S. ranks 45 (out of 180) in 2018, just behind Romania and South Korea. Here is what they have to say about the U.S. US press freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment to the 1787 constitution, has been under increasing attack over …
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