A commentator [1] has recently concluded that excess mortality due to austerity in Puerto Rico exceeds that attributable to Hurricane Maria and its aftermath. I take issue with that conclusion.
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Chinn-Ito Financial Openness Index Updated to 2016
Trade Policy Uncertainty
My guess [1] is it’s gonna rise again (not that it’s particularly low right now)
Figure 1: Categorical Economic Policy Uncertainty — (blue), Trade Policy Uncertainty (red), 2005-2010=100. Source: PolicyUncertainty, accessed 9/3/2018.
An American Apocalypse in Puerto Rico: 2975 (95%CI, 2,658-3,290)
From Ascertainment of Estimated Excess Mortality from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, commissioned by the government of Puerto Rico, released today:
Total excess mortality post-hurricane using the migration displacement scenario is estimated to be 2,975 (95% CI: 2,658-3,290) for the total study period of September 2017 through February 2018.
Consumption under SuperSimple MicroFoundations
I’ve recently read some commenters talking about consumption behavior as if it’s a settled matter, particularly with respect to theory. Let me just put that idea to rest.
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Comment policy
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Implications of Pre-Maria Population Decline for Estimated Excess Mortality in Puerto Rico
In this post, I used IMF estimated data for predicting the counterfactual mortality levels, necessary to calculate excess deaths. It is important to note that by not taking into account the recent population decline, one is probably biasing down estimates of excess deaths.
Predictions With and Without Confidence Intervals: Puerto Rico Post-Maria
Compare this assessment (5/31/2018):
Thus, the data suggests that the hurricane accelerated the deaths of ill and dying people, rather than killing them outright. I would expect the excess deaths at a year horizon (through, say, Oct. 1, 2018) to total perhaps 200-400. Still a notable number, but certainly not 4,600.
With a contemporaneous prediction:
From the survey data, we estimated a mortality rate of 14.3 deaths (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.8 to 18.9) per 1000 persons from September 20 through December 31, 2017. This rate yielded a total of 4645 excess deaths during this period (95% CI, 793 to 8498), equivalent to a 62% increase in the mortality rate as compared with the same period in 2016.
Call for Papers: West Coast Workshop in International Finance
Submission Deadline: August 17th, 2018
The 7th annual West Coast Workshop in International Finance will be held at the University of California, Santa Cruz on Friday, November 9th. (Past workshop agendas can be seen here.)
PoMo Micro
A reader writes (in discussing the Taylor rule):
Like [the] price elasticity of demand, we have an analytical approach that is appealing in theory, but so ill defined as to be useless in practice.
Wow. I haven’t read anything like that since I read Anti-Samuelson. Believe it or not, this was written by a person who purports to do policy analysis.