How to meet me in Denver

If you are going to the Denver ASSA meeting next week, and if you would like to meet me for a discussion of the challenges facing economic policy, you might be interested to know that my publisher is arranging a couple of events. Click here to sign up.

I look forward to seeing you!

Econ Education at the ASSA Meeting

If you teach economics and are going to the upcoming ASSA meeting in Denver, you might find this list of the pedagogical sessions helpful.

One of the sessions includes an analysis of the leading economics textbooks.

Voting with Your Feet II

Ed Glaeser on regional population trends:

The future shape of America is being driven not by quality of life or economic success but by the obscure rules regulating local land use.  In a sense, the anti-regulation crowd is right that the laissez-faire attitude of the South and West explains their recent growth. But the usual argument focuses on the wrong regulations. Housing regulations, more than those that bind standard businesses, explain the Sun Belt’s population growth. If New York and Massachusetts want to stop losing Congressional seats, then they must revisit the rules that make it so difficult to build.

Malkiel's Recommended Asset Allocation

Source.

Economists on Ebenezer Scrooge

• Paul Krugman
• David Henderson
• Steven Landsburg
• Joel Waldfogel

Voting with Your Feet

A fact from Michael Barone:

[Population] growth tends to be stronger where taxes are lower. Seven of the nine states that do not levy an income tax grew faster than the national average [over the past 10 years]. The other two, South Dakota and New Hampshire, had the fastest growth in their regions, the Midwest and New England.  Altogether, 35 percent of the nation's total population growth occurred in these nine non-taxing states, which accounted for just 19 percent of total population at the beginning of the decade.

Four reasons Google is still Awesome

My recent predictions about which Google products will succeed (and which won't) are causing people to think that I'm anti-Google, which makes me sad since Google is probably still the best company of its size, and I really enjoyed my time there. 

Unfortunately, positive stories are never as popular as negative ones, but regardless, it's worth highlighting some of the things that continue to differentiate Google as one of the best companies in tech.

1 - They take big risks. People often point to projects such as Wave as evidence that Google has "lost its magic" or something. To me, it's evidence that they are still willing to take risks on new ideas and new ways of doing things (Wave was run as a completely autonomous project in Australia). If everything you do works, then you're not taking many risks and probably aren't innovating either. Obviously, if everything you do fails, that's not good either, but there's a sweet-spot somewhere in the middle. Google has enough big successes, such as Chrome and Android, to show that they are somewhere near that sweet-spot.

2 - They are willing to build new technology seemingly unrelated to the core business. When we started work on Gmail, many people said it was a distraction and that Google should focus on web search. Now nobody questions email, but they wonder why Google is developing self-driving cars. From a market perspective, this looks like a lack of focus, but that's a rather narrow way of viewing things. From a broader perspective, it can be seen as a focus on using technology to improve the world. Did people criticize Edison or Tesla for inventing too many different things?

From an employee perspective these non-core projects are also an opportunity for greater autonomy. Part of what made the Gmail project so fun was that we had a lot of independence and could pursue ideas that other people inside Google thought were "the wrong way to do it". Most other tech companies do not offer that kind of freedom.

3 - They compete in positive ways. Many companies compete in ways that actually destroy value, such as using patent lawsuits to slow down or kill competitors. Google's weapon of choice is more often open source and open standards. There's no question that projects such as Android and Chrome have strategic value and work to weaken Microsoft and others, but they also happen to be good for the world. Google has managed to keep their interests surprisingly well aligned with the interests of their users.

4 - They don't seem to mind honest criticism. I'm currently reading a draft of a forthcoming Google book, and was amused to find that it includes an email that I sent back in 2000 trashing our then most recent product launch. It's painful for me to not tell people what I think, so for the most part I try to find people who don't mind hearing the truth (or my take on it, rather). Much of my interaction with startups consists of me telling them everything that I don't like about their product (and then they thank me!). I've worked for a lot of different companies, and Google was the only one where me speaking my mind never seemed to cause a problem. I'm not claiming that I'm always right, because obviously I'm not, but systems (or individuals) that don't welcome negative feedback are doomed. Cultures that don't laugh at themselves are cults.

Talking about Google is always a little tricky for me given my background, but they continue to be a fascinating company and a great source interesting lessons, so I'm going to keep trying. Hopefully I don't come off as a hater or a fan boy, but simply an honest observer.

Advances in Inflation Measurement

Chapter 24 of my favorite textbook discusses how economists measure the cost of living.  This article in Slate would provide a good supplementary reading.

An Occupational Hazard

The Value of Good Teachers

From Eric Hanushek:

A teacher one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness annually generates marginal gains of over $400,000 in present value of student future earnings with a class size of 20 and proportionately higher with larger class sizes. Alternatively, replacing the bottom 5-8 percent of teachers with average teachers could move the U.S. near the top of international math and science rankings with a present value of $100 trillion.

The Charitable Deduction

Richard Thaler takes on the tax deduction for charitable giving.  He suggests that there is little reason for it and that a refundable tax credit would be more justified.

I think there is a bit more logic to current policy than Thaler does.  Suppose you believe, as I do, that consumption is a better tax base than is income.  Then, starting with a measurement of income, it makes sense to allow deductions for "non-consumed income"--specifically, saving such as IRA and 401k contributions and charitable giving.

Some may argue that giving to charity is itself a form of consumption.  After all, the person who gives is doing so voluntarily, so there must be some utility to the giver.  Perhaps, but there seems something fundmentally different about consumption in the form of charitable giving and consumption in the form of large homes and fast cars.  But maybe that is the puritan, rather than the economist, inside me speaking.

The Cloud OS

My recent remark about the future of ChromeOS generated a surprisingly passionate response. Some said that my prediction was obvious and boring, but others disagreed, arguing instead that I am ugly and "don't get it". I won't disagree with either side, but I also noticed that my prediction was sometimes inaccurately characterized as me "hating" ChromeOS, Google, or The Cloud, all of which is false. Since there seems to be so much interest in this topic, and because people keep emailing me about it, I should probably explain my actual thoughts a little better.

First, what is a "cloud OS" and why should I want one? Actually, I don't even know if anyone calls it a "cloud OS", but I couldn't find a better generic term for something like ChromeOS. The basic idea is that apps and data all live on the Internet, which is has been renamed "The Cloud" since that sounds cooler, and your laptop or whatever is basically just a window into that cloud. If your laptop is stolen or catches fire or something, it's not a big deal, because you can just buy another one and nothing has been lost (except your money). Many people characterize this approach as using a "dumb terminal", but that's wrong. Your local computer can still do all kinds of smart computation and data manipulation -- it's just no longer the single point of failure.

To me, the defining characteristic of cloud based apps is "information without location". For example, in the bad old days, you would install a copy Outlook or other email software on your PC, it would download all of your email to your computer, and then the email would live on that computer until Outlook corrupted its PST file and everything was lost. If you accidentally left your computer at home, or it was stolen, then you simply couldn't get to your email. Information behaved much like a physical object -- it was always in one place. That's an unnecessary and annoying limitation. By moving my email into "the cloud", I can escape the limitations of physical location and am able to reach it from any number of computers, phones, televisions, or whatever else connects to the Internet. For performance and coverage reasons, those devices will usually cache some of my email, but the canonical version always lives online. The Gmail client on Android phones provides a great example of this. It stores copies of recent messages so that I can access them even when there is no Internet access, and also saves any recent changes (such as new messages or changes to read state), but as soon as possible it sends those changes to the Gmail servers so that they can be reflected everywhere else (such as my home computer). To the greatest extent possible, the information all "lives" in the cloud, and all other copies are simply caches which may be discarded at any time. (BTW, Apple is lame for not allowing a native Gmail app on the iPhone -- email is the one place where Android really outshines the iPhone for me)

Continuing with the Gmail example, it's not just your data that resides in the cloud -- the entire application lives there. This is the part that causes people to erroneously describe cloud based apps as a "return to dumb terminals". Just because an application "lives" in the cloud doesn't mean that your local computer isn't still doing work. When you use Gmail from your web browser, it downloads large chunks of Javascript code to run on your computer doing things such as rendering your inbox, handling keyboard and mouse events, pre-fetching messages, etc. The advantage of having this code run on your computer is that it can respond to your actions within a few milliseconds instead of the hundreds of milliseconds it could take to reach Google's servers (thanks to the relatively low speed of light). Which parts of the application run on your computer and which run on Google's computers? Ultimately, it does not matter, and can change over time (and in fact the split is different for different interfaces -- the basic html interface does not need any Javascript) As an end-user, you simply use the app, and let Google worry about making it all work, keeping it up to date, etc.

Because we're now treating the executable code and system configuration as data that lives in the cloud and is only cached locally, it also makes sense to do away with the old notions of installing and administering applications on your computer. And of course we also need a security and sandboxing system that prevents the code from breaking your computer (as is so common in the Windows world). In the web/Javascript world, this happened somewhat automatically because web apps evolved from simple web pages, and obviously you don't have to install or uninstall web pages -- your browser simply fetches what it needs to display, optionally caches parts of it for improved performance, and discards resources that it no longer needs (since it can always re-fetch them later on).

Cloud-based apps don't necessarily have to be written in Javascript and run in your web browser however. iPhone and Android apps behave in much the same way. Although they can be "installed" or "uninstalled", from a user perspective, that process isn't substantially different from adding or removing a bookmark, and in fact many of those apps are little more than a thin wrapper around an embedded web browser. A combination of technical and review policies prevent those apps from doing anything dangerous to your computer (unlike a Windows app, which could install a new device driver, replace a core system library, install a root-kit, etc). 

One way of understanding this new architecture is to view the entire Internet as a single computer. This computer is a massively distributed system with billions of processors, billions of displays, exabytes of storage, and it's spread across the entire planet. Your phone or laptop is just one part of this global computer, and its primarily purpose is to provide a convenient interface. The actual computation and data storage is distributed in surprisingly complex and dynamic ways, but that complexity is mostly hidden from the end user. For example, interacting with my FriendFeed page involves the coordination of thousands of individual processors and disks owned by a dozen different entities, including you, Facebook, Amazon, Google, your ISP, and many intermediate ISPs. The same is true of the services provided by thousands of other web apps.

This global super-computer enables us to do things that would have been impossible not long ago, such as instantly search billions of documents, access our email and other info from almost anywhere, easily share ideas with thousands or millions of people, collaboratively edit documents with people spread around the world, leak embarrassing diplomatic cables, etc. It also makes it easy to launch new services and applications with almost zero money, which has created a new generation of low-budget startups and expanded the world of high-tech entrepreneurship to many more people.

Inevitable, some curmudgeonly types will say this is all bad, and indeed it is not without some downsides and complications, but overall I believe the development of this global super-computer is one of the most important technological advances in history.

And what about ChromeOS? If my laptop is just one part of a much larger computer, what is the ideal design for my local node? It should be relatively cheap and reliable, secure (no viruses or anything), zero-administration (I don't want to be a sys-admin), easy to use, and fast. I believe this is roughly the design target of ChromeOS. They are building laptops that run the Chrome web browser and approximately nothing else.

I actually like the idea of ChromeOS, so why did I predict its demise? The answer is that we already have millions of devices that almost meet the same ideal, and they are running iOS and Android. In the 1.5 years since ChromeOS was announced, Apple launched the iPad, which quickly became one of the fastest selling new devices ever. Google will necessarily respond by building Android tablets, which means Android will be running on larger, more powerful devices. All of the benefits of ChromeOS (security, instant-on, etc) should apply to Android as well, and I expect that any new Chrome features (mostly under the umbrella of HTML5, but perhaps Native Client as well) will also be added to the Android browser, since platforms succeed by being as large as possible. Once Android has all the benefits of ChromeOS, the most obvious difference will be that ChromeOS lacks the thousands of native apps which are popular on Android. Android apps are closer to web apps than Windows apps in terms of security and manageability, so eliminating them doesn't seem like much of an advantage for ChromeOS. 

The other obvious difference between ChromeOS and Android is that ChromeOS assumes a mouse/track-pad while Android currently assumes a touch interface (many Android devices already have a keyboard). If my prediction is wrong and both OSs stick around, this will probably be the reason. However, I doubt that's enough of a difference to justify maintaining two separate OSs, and ultimately everything may end up with a touch screen anyway. Perhaps the tablet / laptop convertible will make a comeback.

Put another way, the ChromeOS laptops are awkwardly positioned between the established Mac/Windows laptop market, which isn't going away anytime soon, and the rapidly growing Tablet market, and it has approximately zero users. That's not a great place for a new platform to get traction and establish itself. But if it does, I will be happy for it. And even if it doesn't, it may still be a worthwhile experiment.

Econ Books for Young Children

Click here for five recommendations.  Just in time for Christmas.

I must confess that I have not read any of them with my kids, which makes me start to question my parenting skills.  (I have, however, read all seven volumes of the Harry Potter series out loud.)   By the way, here are some of my favorite childrens' books, which are not economics-related.

Menu Costs during Hyperinflation

A reader sends this photo along, with the following explanation:

In January of 2009 I traveled to Africa and we took a side trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  I snapped the attached photo at the entry to the falls.  Notice how the price of entry in Zimbabwe Dollars is written in chalk.  This was so that they could change the price throughout the day as the ZW Dollar lost value.

The Economics of Seinfeld

Linda Ghent, author of the instructor's manual to accompany my favorite textbook, is also coauthor of an intriguing website that uses one of the best sitcoms ever to help teach the principles of economics. Check it out.

Avinash Dixit

A profile of the great economist.

merry christmas! see you in 2011

Do you know the trouble with having a craft blog in December? Everything you are making is likely a gift for someone.  It makes keeping secrets really hard.

Rather than fight it this year and try to craft double-time, I am crying uncle and going on vacation.  I hope you enjoy the stocking tutorial below - it is my last offering for 2010.  I'm going to spend the next several weeks enjoying my family.  Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

See you in January.  :)

ruffle stocking mini-tutorial

Ready to sew the world's fastest stocking?  Ok, maybe not the fastest ... but it is pretty darn quick and looks perfectly festive.

First, make a stocking template - a very simple shape.  You can sketch one out, or google one.  Make it whatever size you want!

• Lay the template on a felted wool sweater, leaving about a four inch border at the top.  Use the hem of the sweater as your top line for a polished look.  Cut two.

• Cut a 6 inch length of felt, fabric, or ribbon to use as your stocking's hanging loop.

• Pin the two felt pieces right sides together, inserting the hanging loop approximately 4 inches from the top of the stocking.  The loop should be on the inside and the ends should extend outside the stocking edges.

• Sew around the stocking, leaving the top open.  Set aside.

• Using the template, cut two pieces of ruffle fabric.  Do not leave an extra border at the top.

• Pin right sides together.  I recommend pinning at the bottom of each ruffle to hold them in place.  It takes some extra time, but ensures they will line up and not get bunched while sewing.  Sew around the stocking, leaving the top open.

• Turn the ruffled stocking right side out.

• Slide the sweater stocking inside the ruffle stocking.  The sweater stocking should extend approximately 4 inches past the top of the ruffle stocking.

• Top stitch along the top edge of the ruffle stocking to attach.

Fold the sweater stocking down to create a cuff.  Hang and enjoy!

Use your extra candy cane ruffle fabric to make a peppermint bark skirt:

mmm ... delicious

An Economists' Hanukkah Song

On Editing an Economics Journal

Reflections from Preston McAfee.

The Daily Show: Printing Money

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Big Bank Theory
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

The White House reads this blog

and cites it in a recent press release.

Fairness and Tax Policy

Readers of this blog may recall my recent essay Spreading the Wealth Around: Reflections Inspired by Joe the Plumber. 

For anyone interested in this topic, I recommend a new commentary on my paper by Northwestern University's Jonathan Weinstein.  Professor Weinstein makes some very thoughtful and thought-provoking observations.

Simon Johnson and Me on NPR

How Economics Saved Christmas

Art Carden retells the story of the Grinch and, in the process, reviews some basic lessons about Pigovian taxation and the Coase Theorem.

Gift Books for Econ Lovers

Recommendations from the University of Chicago's Allen Sanderson.

Hear Me Squawk

More on the Tax Deal

David Leonhardt says that, quantitatively, the President got a good deal:

Of its estimated $900 billion-plus cost over two years, roughly $120 billion covers the high-end tax cuts and the estate tax cut, $450 billion covers Mr. Obama’s wish list and $360 billion covers the tax cut extensions both parties favored.

CBO says that the payroll tax cut would be more stimulative if it went to employers rather than employees (an issue I discussed here):

A temporary reduction in payroll taxes—especially in the share of taxes paid by employers—would also have a significant positive short-term effect on the economy. This approach would boost output and employment both by increasing demand for goods and services and by providing an incentive for additional hiring.

Thanks to Felix Salmon for the pointer.

The Distribution of the Tax Deal

• Compared to current policy (that is, with 2009 tax law continued).
• Compared to current law (that is, with all the Bush tax cuts expired).

The Tax Deal

I am generally pleased with the compromise over taxes the President and Republicans struck yesterday.  (The President should be too, but he seemed dejected at his news conference.  Buck up, Mr President!  You don't want anyone to start thinking of the word "malaise.")

One aspect of the deal struck me as worth discussing with econ students: The compromise includes a one-year cut in the payroll tax by 2 percentage points.  The tax cut will be entirely in the employees' share.  Why do you think they designed the policy in this way?  Was it the right choice?

One basic lesson of microeconomics is that it doesn't matter which side of a market the government taxes.  As a result, you might think it doesn't really matter which side of the payroll tax is cut.

But this standard analysis assumes that wages are flexible and thus can reach equilibrium of supply and demand.  This assumption might not hold in the short run.  Over the course of a year (the time horizon over which this policy is in effect), it may be better to think of the wage as given.  In that case, it matters which side of the market gets the tax cut.

As the policy was described yesterday, this payroll tax cut goes entirely to the worker.  This increases work incentives, but the main motivation is probably to increase take-home pay, consumer spending, and aggregate demand.  CEA chair Austan Goolsbee recently said, “We’re not saying that our long-term recovery ought to be built on trying to increase consumer spending.”  Maybe not, but the plans for short-run recovery are very definitely consumption-based.

An alternative would have been to reduce the employer's share of the payroll tax, at least to some degree.  Given a sticky wage, this policy would have reduced the cost of hiring and, to the extent labor demand curves slope downward, increased employment.  It would also have increased business cash-flow and, to the extent that firms are cash-constrained, increased business investment.

I should note that, as part of the deal, the President also got his proposal to allow businesses to expense investment spending.  As I have said previously, this is a good idea, but the impact is likely to be modest.

decorating

Oscar helped me decorate the tree today.

He still has a little ways to go to master the art of spacing ornaments.   At one point he had four ornaments hanging on the same branch.

I try to make a little something for the tree every year - this year's project was a candy cane felt garland - you can find instructions for it at Purl Bee.   It was so fast and easy (my favorite kind of project!) and looks fantastic on the tree.

200 Countries and 200 Years in 4 Minutes

My Agnosticism about UI

A few readers have asked me to opine on the current debate over the extension of unemployment insurance benefits.  I have avoided commenting on the topic because I am ambivalent on the issue, largely because I am agnostic about what economists know about optimal UI.  But perhaps it would be useful to explain my agnosticism.

UI has pros and cons.  The pros are that it reduces households' income uncertainty and that it props up aggregate demand when the economy goes into a downturn.  The cons are that it has a budgetary cost (and thus, other things equal, means higher tax rates now or later) and that it reduces the job search efforts of the unemployed.  To me, all these pros and cons seem significant.  I have yet to see a compelling quantitative analysis of the pros and cons that informs me about how generous the optimal system would be.

So when I hear economists advocate the extension of UI to 99 weeks, I am tempted to ask, would you also favor a further extension to 199 weeks, or 299 weeks, or 1099 weeks?  If 99 weeks is better than 26 weeks, but 199 is too much, how do you know?

It is plausible to me that UI benefits should last longer when the economy is weak.  The need for increased aggregate demand is greater, and the impact on job search may be weaker.  But this conclusion is hardly enough to tell us whether 99 weeks is too much, too little, or about right.  It is also conceivable that the amount of UI offered in normal times is higher than optimal and that a further extension would move us farther from what is desirable.

I should note, by the way, that economists who strongly favor the extension of UI benefits, such as those who signed this letter, also tend to favor more income redistribution in general.  I suspect, therefore, that the foundation of their support comes not from having weighed the specific pros and cons of UI per se, but rather from a more general desire to "spread the wealth around."  That issue is, as I tell my students, more a matter of political philosophy than it is of economics.

holiday cheer book wreath

I started decorating our apartment for Christmas this morning - the Glee Christmas album is blasting, all the boxes of decorations are out of storage, and I cracked open a box of chocolate covered peppermint Joe Joe's.  It is basically a perfect December day.

Do you have a trendy book wreath hanging somewhere in your home?  Give it a holiday spruce by adding some ornament balls.

So simple - you can poke metal ornament hangers right through the rolled book pages.  Make the holes deep in between the pages and you'll never see the hole when you remove the ornaments later.

My book wreath was already hanging in front of some green fabric (glued to the wall), so the red ornaments made it perfectly Christmas-y.

Grading Econ Textbooks on Climate Change

A report card from Yoram Bauman.  One book "shakes [his] faith in capitalism."  Can you guess which?

Advent Complete!

Did you finish?  I almost didn't make it.  Jared and I bought a X-box Kinect over the weekend and I have been busy trying to perfect the dance moves to Salt n' Pepa's "Push It."  I need a lot of practice.

It was 2 a.m. last night before I wrapped things up with the advent.  Here are my ornaments for this week:

Christmas light, gingerbread man, holly leaves, and a snowman (Oscar's favorite!)

Then I made an ornament ball for each member of the family:

When more kids come along, we'll have to switch some ornaments out.

All together now ... ta-da!

I bound the edges with white double fold bias tape and added red felt tabs for hanging.   The trick has been where to hang it.  I want Oscar to have access, but not too much access.  He really likes to stuff the ornaments in those pockets, so fingers crossed that they hold up over the holidays. 

Want to see more from the Flickr pool?

I love this Nativity Advent by sahm3:

Vivian from Craft with Confidence came up with some more great ornaments, including this slice of pumpkin pie.  See all of her ornaments on her blog.

And I can't leave out Katie of So Happy, everyone's favorite Advent Sew-Alonger.  Her ornaments from this last week are more beautiful than ever (more on her blog):

Perfection!

Be sure to check out all the Advent Inspiration in the Homemade by You flickr group.  Thank you so much for sewing along with me!  I doubt I would have finished without your support.

If you didn't sew an advent, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate Christmas everyday.  I am Momma - Hear Me Roar has a great idea for a Good-Deed Advent, with one act of service every day until Christmas.  She has the good deeds strung in super cute buckets, but you could just as easily put all the service slips into a mason jar and draw one each day.

My longtime friend, Ellen, makes Gingerbread Countdown Chains with her family every year.  It was one of my favorite holiday traditions growing up, because they always gave one as a gift to my family.  What better way to celebrate the season than with a delicious cookie?

And I am following Jordan's lead by adding a daily holiday activity to our advent calendar.  Today we are walking through the annual Holiday Market downtown.

If all else fails, go out and buy a $2 chocolate advent calendar from Trader Joe's.  Or if you are me, buy two so you don't have to share with your kids.  :)

1/2 Math + 1/2 Faith = ???

Click on graphic to enlarge.  Source.

A Mono Mandate for the Fed?

Along with Congressman Paul Ryan, economist John Taylor calls for a revision of the Federal Reserve's mandate:

Quantitative easing is part of a recent Fed trend toward discretionary and away from rules-based monetary actions. The consequences of this trend are clear: The Fed's decision to hold interest rates too low for too long from 2002 to 2004 exacerbated the formation of the housing bubble. And while the Fed did help to arrest the ensuing panic in the fall of 2008, its subsequent interventions have done more long-run harm than good....

Congress should reform the Federal Reserve Act, particularly the section of the act that establishes the Fed's dual mandate. The Fed should be tasked with the single goal of long-run price stability within a clear framework of overall economic stability. Such a reform would not prevent the Fed from providing liquidity, serving as lender of last resort, or cutting interest rates in a financial crisis or a recession.

I am skeptical. If the Fed's mandate were different, monetary policy today might well be the same. That is, with inflation now below its target, the Fed could be pursuing QE2 even if it were operating under the proposed mono mandate. Looking ahead, the Fed believes that inflation too low, even deflation, is a larger risk than inflation too high, so it is engaging in expansionary policy to get inflation back on target.

2010 Martha's Circle Holiday Gift Guide

Check out the Martha's Circle 2010 Holiday Gift Guide, which includes some Gifts for Crafters picked by yours truly.

There are great gift ideas in every category, but I especially like some of the Family Stocking Stuffer picks.

The Simpson-Bowles Social Security Plan

Chuck Blahous identifies the winners and losers.  The three main groups of winners:

1) Low-income workers (and their advocates);
2) Fiscal conservatives concerned about the growth of system costs;
3) Advocates of bipartisan accomplishment.

And three main groups of losers:

1) Advocates of making substantial tax increases inevitable through prolonged inaction;
2) Advocates of improving intergenerational equity via personal accounts;
3) Senior-scaring political opportunists.

giveaway week winners and reader discounts

Thanks for a great giveaway week!  I hope you enjoyed it as well.  A big congratulations to all the winners, who are listed below.  Enjoy your prizes!  For everyone else, check out the awesome online discounts listed from the giveaway vendors.

Congratulations, Lexi!  I hope you're able to change the world with your new Silhouette SD.  :)

If you are bummed that you didn't win, you can always take advantage of the amazing Cyber Monday deal that Silhouette has going on today using the discount code: Jill.

The Cyber Monday deal is only valid today, Monday, November 29, 2010, starting at 4 am and ending at midnight Eastern Standard Time.

Here's the deal ...the Silhouette will be sold for $199 (originally $299). Silhouette America has NEVER sold these cutters for this cheap! This is the newest version with more capabilities and newest technology - the Silhouette is now Mac compatible.

It gets better ... the Cyber Monday deal will also include:

1 Roll of Cream vinyl ( $7.99)
1 Roll of transfer paper ( $7.99)
1 Home decor CD (Value $55)
Total ($70.98)

All for only $199 - almost $200 in savings!

The discount code is: Jill

Silhouette is also having a great black friday sale in their online store, which lasts until midnight tonight.  Everything (except for the Silhouette cutter) is 40% off using the code: FRIDAY.  Now you can really go crazy with those temporary tattoo stocking stuffers.  :)

 

Congratulations, Kate Flick!  Your baby girl will love her new holiday blankie.

Komfort Kids is offering 20% off your total order using the code "homemadebyjill20."   Snatch up your favorite prints before they're gone.

Congratulations Steve and Nikki and Robert and Cassie!  Enjoy your ruffle fabric and elastic.

Planning to add some Ruffle Fabric to your holiday projects?  I'll be posting a tutorial for a Candy Cane Ruffle Stocking in early December, if you'd like to sew along.

Use promo code: Jill, to receive 10% off your order through December 5th.

 Congratulations, cjameliamom!  Enjoy your cute-as-can-be Scoomer accessory!

Scoomer is offering 20% off your order through December 3rd using the code: homemade20.

Congratulations, Meghan!  Your baby girl will have the most stylish baby head wear in town.

Winners:  Please email me at homemadebyjill@gmail.com to claim your prize.  Thanks! 

How to Improve Dodd-Frank

Oliver Hart and Luigi Zingales have a suggestion about how to improve the financial reform law.  Their goal is to "spare the most vibrant financial institutions from the rigidities and bureaucratization that a strict application of the Dodd-Frank bill would entail."

Miss Plunkett Giveaway (CLOSED)

If you love over the top baby hair accessories, this is the giveaway for you.  Miss Plunkett caught my eye because these hair accessories are interchangeable ... meaning you can create the perfect hair accessory over and over again.

Here's how it works:

When you need a new accessory, you can take it apart and start all over again.  All Miss Plunkett items are handmade, so each piece is as unique as your little one.

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

Love it?  Leave a comment on this post by midnight tonight (November 26th).  One lucky winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to Miss Plunkett.  

The winner will be randomly selected and announced November 29th.  This giveaway is available to U.S. and international readers.

The Rules:

1. There is only one entry per person.  If you accidentally enter more than once, please delete your duplicate comment(s).  
2. Make sure I have a way to contact you!  Your profile must link to your public blog or you can leave an email address.  Anonymous comments will be deleted.

I hope you've enjoyed giveaway week!  Next week I'll return to crafts-only.  :)

Scoomer Giveaway (CLOSED)

If the etsy shop, Scoomer, doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will.  The owner, "Scoomer" (a nickname since childhood), created her shop from her love of felt and making accessories for her daughter.  Hmm ... she sounds like a kindred spirit!

Scoomer currently sells headbands, hair clips, and the most adorable felt brooches you'll ever see. Each item is completely handmade, and is created in her home studio with occasional help from her husband.  I wonder what her secret is ... how do you convert husbands to crafting?

My favorite item in the Scoomer shop is definitely the pinwheel bobby pins.  Ruby might need a set in her Christmas stocking.  And I might need to borrow them until she has sufficient hair growth to wear them.

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

What's your favorite item in Scoomer's shop?  Check it out and then leave a comment on this post by November 26th, and you could get exactly what you wish for.  Scoomer is offering a lucky winner their choice of any item from the shop!


The winner will be randomly selected and announced on November 29th.  This giveaway is available to U.S. and international readers (yay!).


I hope you know the rules by now:

1. There is only one entry per person.  If you accidentally enter more than once, please delete your duplicate comment(s). 
2. Make sure I have a way to contact you!  Either your profile must link back to a public blog, or you must leave me an email address.  Anonymous comments (with no contact information) will be deleted.

I plan to eat copious amounts of sweet potatoes and a variety of pumpkin desserts today.  How about  you?  Happy Thanksgiving!

advent sew-along: week 4 - crunch time!

Fellow advent sewers ... we have one week until December 1st.  Can you make it? 

Here are my ornaments from last week: a bell, wreath, bow, snowflake, peppermint candy, candy cane, mitten, and Santa Claus.

I have to admit, though, I fell behind on my button sewing.  I have about half the buttons sewn on, and will have to catch up on the rest this week.

Here's what I'm loving from the flickr group this week:

Nativity Ornaments from Vivian Crafts - so cute!

Flickr user Igjcunha is finished and I love her quirky ornaments which include a garden gnome, mushroom, and hedgehog.

Kirsten W. is making us all look bad by cranking out two advent calendars.

Katie's ornaments are, of course, perfect. They look like they came straight from a pottery barn catalog.   She has mad skills.

Ready for your final assignment?  This week you need to ... finish your advent!  If you've been using my assignments, here's a list of what's left to do.

• Make 8 ornaments
• Sew any additional embellishments to the main calendar pieces.  I am embroidering a little note to my kids and the year it was made on the back side.
• Sew the front and back pieces of the calendar together.
• Add tabs to the top to hang.  You'll also need a dowel to hang it from.
• Put it on display and enjoy!

Can't wait to see your finished calendars.  Happy stitching!

Barro on QE2

Via the Economist.

Ruffle Fabric Giveaway (CLOSED)

If you are a fan of craft blogs, I'm guessing you have noticed that ruffles are kind of big right now.  I love them.  So maybe you've seen Ruffle Fabric cropping up here and there, or maybe this is your introduction.  Either way, feast your eyes:

Ooooh, yeah.  Ruffles as far as the eye can see, without all the work!

I had the pleasure of trying out the new Mini Ruffle fabric and I have to say ... it is delightful.  It is making my wish of covering every inch of my baby in ruffles come true.

First, I made a very simple baby hat.

As if the ruffles weren't cute enough on their own, I attached a little hair clip ... just clipped it to one of the ruffles ... for an instant, but changeable update.

Of course I couldn't resist making some leggings:

(pattern by Lil' Blue Boo)

Ruffle Fabric is surprisingly easy to work with.  It is nice and stretchy, sews easily with a ballpoint needle, and doesn't fray on the cut ends.  Hooray for not having to finish your edges!  That's my kind of fabric.

Do you think my daughter will ever forgive me for plastering her butt on the internet?  It is a very cute butt.

Need more ruffles in your Christmas decor?

I also made this fun Christmas stocking with the ruffle fabric and some felted wool from an old sweater.  The cuff folds over, so you can clip any decoration onto it.  Wouldn't this be perfect for the Candy Cane style fabric and a red sweater for the lining/cuff?

Stockings are super easy sewing ... like 20 minutes, start to finish.  Is this something you'd be interested in seeing a tutorial for, or is that too basic?

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

On to the giveaway ...


TWO lucky winners will receive one yard of ruffle fabric and one yard of elastic of their choice.  Fun!  So get those creative wheels turning, because I'd love to see what you'd make with this fabric.


If you would love to win, visit the Ruffle Fabric website and leave a comment on this post by November 26th telling me your favorite color (or print) ruffle fabric.


The winners will be randomly selected and announce on November 29th.  This giveaway is available to U.S. readers only.


You know the drill:

1. There is only one entry per person.  If you accidentally enter more than once, please delete your duplicate comment(s).  You may have to scroll to the end of the comment pages to view yours.
2. Make sure I have a way to contact you!  Either your profile must link back to a public blog, or you must leave me an email address.  Anonymous comments (with no contact information) will be deleted.