State of birth by state of residence

The NY Times provides us nifty graphical snapshots of state-of-birth in all 50 states in Census data since 1900. One of the mild surprises? Residents of New York are more than 60% New-York born. More than half live upstate, but given the large percent foreign born in the state, this still seemed surprising to me.

PTSD in the Civil War

An enterprising SUNY grad student examines PTSD among Civil War veterans using several sources including Ancestry.com and hospital records. She paints a sobering picture.

Cost-benefit analysis when there's addiction

The Times reports on a kerfuffle over FDA cost-benefit analysis regarding smoking, in which a number of prominent economists have weighed in. A big bottom line for them: "Particularly when ... addiction occurs prior to the age of majority ... we find it inappropriate to measure the area under a demand curve to define welfare."

 

Too much of a good thing?

The WSJ reports on research about high blood pressure and blood sugar control. Especially among the elderly, the benefits of managing biomarkers in a tight range are weighed against costs.

Cost-benefit analysis of counterterrorism spending

John Mueller and Mark Stewart provide a nice overview in the Summer 2014 J Econ Perspect. The short view: overall spending seems too high compared to the probability weighted risks. But FBI counterterrorism efforts seem more reasonable.