Two iconoclastic pieces from the NYT. The first argues that nutritional science has largely been a waste of time and the second looks at the counter-view to the notion that we should be getting people to save more.
MAGAZINE January 28, 2007 Unhappy Meals By MICHAEL POLLAN Thirty years of nutritional science has made Americans sicker, fatter and less well nourished. A plea for a return to plain old food.
BUSINESS January 27, 2007 Your Money: A Contrarian View: Save Less and Still Retire With Enough By DAMON DARLIN Some economists say that Americans could be saving less — and spending more — while they are younger
3 comments:
Re Savings:
I don't think we have good micro data in Ireland on savings? One important issue is that the aggregate savings rate is probably not very useful in predicting a pensions crisis since there is huge individual variation.
In any event housing equity is a large part of people's assets here.
On whether folk are over-saving: pension & life assurance contributions are presumably influenced by life tables.If these are chosen by the pension funds actuaries then they have an incentive to over-estimate life expectancy. I have heard informally that this happens & that the black hole in certain pension funds is largely a myth (I can't say where,alas).
micro data on savings includes:
Household Budget Survey and bits and pieces from other things such as the European Social Survey and QNHS.
SHARE will represent the best data of its kind and should allow some interrogation of whether the low-savers are covered by their housing equity
micro data on savings includes:
Household Budget Survey and bits and pieces from other things such as the European Social Survey and QNHS.
SHARE will represent the best data of its kind and should allow some interrogation of whether the low-savers are covered by their housing equity
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