Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Why do Millionaires Love New Jersey?


Greg Mankiw points out that, if you are wealthy and only care about taxes, then:

The worst place to die is New Jersey with a combined effective estate and inheritance tax rate of 54.1%.

According to the article he cites, Maryland has the second highest estate and inheritance tax rates.

But according to CNBC, these two states have more millionaires than any other state in the country except Hawaii.

Revealed Preference Speaks

New Jersey may be a bad place to die, but apparently it's a popular place to for the wealthy live.

I can understand the appeal of Hawaii, but what's the appeal of New Jersey?.

Lawmakers may have strong incentives to raise estate taxes in these states, but millionaires get the last move: it's pretty easy to move from one state to another within the U.S. So what makes the high tax states so appealing to millionaires? Are millionaires created there in disproportionate numbers?

What benefits are they getting that outweigh the costs, and what lessons, if any, can we draw?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Technology Review Interview about IT and Innovation

Despite the vast amounts of computing and communication power in corporate hands, companies are at the early stages of using IT to revamp business practices, become more efficient, and drive the next wave of national productivity growth.


That's the intro the an interview that David Talbot, Technology Review's chief correspondent, did with Erik Brynjolfsson last week. The first installment is online now, and I'm told video will be posted.