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Higher US Wages Do Not Cause Loss Of Domestic Manufacturing

My comment to Cafe Hayek, "Artificial Scarcities Are Not Wealth" by Don Boudreaux:

Lower wages in a foreign country are not the reason that manufacturing of a product declines in the US and increases in a foreign country and becomes an import.

Labor cost is about only 10-15 percent of manufacturing cost in the US. The US is a capital-intensive country. Each US worker, whether in farming or manufacturing, can produce a lot due to our heavy use of machinery. US worker productivity led to our high standard of living.

Capital and the complementary labor are allocated in the US to their most productive uses. These are the manufacturing and farming goods for which we have the highest international comparative advantages. The US exports these goods. It imports the remaining goods it wants after capital and labor are allocated to their most productive uses in the US.

Labor and capital in the US go to their most productive uses in a hierarchical fashion, until capital and labor are fully allocated. Goods for which it is not economically efficient to allocate capital and labor get imported.

The remaining manufactured goods, even if the US has an international comparative advantage (lower comparative wages, etc.), are not produced in the US, and are imported, because the US can more efficiently produce other goods for the world and domestic markets.

The market, labor and capital reallocations are the negative effects of this process. Government and union intervention can impose barriers to changes in resource use but it cannot stop it.

Certainly, since Ricardo's time, economists understood that a domestic economy benefits if it can allocate its resources to manufacture a good with a higher relative comparative advantage. Even if it is a low cost producer of goods it imports, as long as it has a bigger comparative advantage on the goods it manufactures, the domestic economy benefits from imports. See Wikipedia or any economics site on the web about comparative advantage and trade.

While unions are often blamed for high labor costs, it is their rigidity, their inefficient seniority linked demands, and other union rules, which causes the most problems. These union characteristics make other capital, labor investments more attractive, and impede the reallocation of union members.

Lower US labor costs for a doohickey do not guarantee a domestic US manufacturer, if there is a more productive use of those resources in the US. It can be beneficial to the US to import a good for which it is the low labor cost producer, if there is a better domestic use for that labor and capital.

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Various jobs by HPPSC Sep-2011

Published by government jobs for her blog governmentjobss.blogspot.com
Himachal Pradesh (HP) Public Service Commission (PSC)
Nigam Vihar , Shimla-171002 (HP).

Online OR  Offline applications are invited for the following posts :

1. Senior Planning Draughtsman, Class-II  : 03 posts  in the pay scale of Rs.Rs.10300-34800 + Grade Pay Rs.4200/- 
2. Planning Officer, Class-I, Gazetted : 02 posts in the on contract on the pay of Rs.10300-34800 + Grade Pay Rs.5000/-
3. Assistant Town Planner, Class-I, Gazetted : 01 post, Pay Scale: Rs. 15600-39100+ Rs.5400 Grade Pay
4. Principal (B.Pharmacy College), Class-I (Gazetted) : 01 post, Pay Scale: Rs. 18400-22400/-
5. Assistant Professor (Pharmacy), Class-I (Gazetted) : 0-1 post, Pay Scale: Rs. 12000-18300/-
6. Lecturer (Pharmacy) (B. Pharmacy College), Class-I (Gazetted) : 04 posts, Pay Scale: Rs. 8000 - 275 - 13500/-
7. Scientific Officer (Physics and Ballistics) Class-II (Gazetted) :  01 post, Pay Scale :  Rs. 10300 - 34800 + Grade Pay Rs 4400/- P.M.
8. Deputy Director, Zila Sainik Welfare Class-I (Gazetted) : 04 posts, Pay Scale : Contractual Amount Rs. 10300 + Rs.5400/- Grade Pay
9. Assistant Geologist, Class-I (Gazetted) : 01 post (On contract basis), Pay : Rs.10830/- P.M.
10. Assistant Engineer (Environment) Class-I : 02 posts, Pay scale : Rs. 7750-14500/-
11. Medical Officer (Dental) Class-1, Gazetted : 42 posts On contract basis, Pay :  Rs. 21000/- P.M.
12. Assistant Engineer (Civil) Class-I (Gazetted) : 08 posts, Pay scale : Rs. 15600 -39600 + Rs.5400/- 
13. Acharya (Sanskrit College Cadre) Class-I (Gazetted)  : 16 posts on contract basis, Pay :  Rs. 21600/- P.M.
14. Headmaster (School Cadre) Class-II (Non Gazetted) : 212 posts, Pay Scale: Rs. 10300 - 34800 + 4400 G.P.
15. Principal (College Cadre) Class-I Gazetted : 03 posts, Pay scale : Rs. 12000-18300/-
16. Assistant District Attorney Class-I Gazetted : 02 posts, Pay Scale : Rs. 7000-10980/-

Application Fee : Application on the specimen form duly completed should be accompanied by examination fee of Rs. 250/- (Rs.63/- for candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories of Himachal Pradesh only), through Bank Draft payable in any branch of a Bank at Shimla to the Secretary, H.P. Public Service Commission, Shimla-171002 for Offline mode and for Online mode candidates pay Rs.250/- (Rs.63/- for SC/ ST/ OBC of Himachal) through a challan by cash in the branches of Punjab National Bank.

How to Apply :Either  Apply Online at HPPSC website upto 22/10/2011 or Apply Offline by sending the OMR application to the Controller of Examinations, Himachal Pradesh  Public Service Commission, Nigam Vihar, Shimla-2, along with above mentioned documents. Last date is 22/10/2011.

Please view further details, syllabus, scheme of exam etc. at  http://www.hp.gov.in/hppsc/file.axd?file=2011%2f9%2fAdvt-VIII.pdf  and for online submission of application, syllabus, details etc., please visit the website http://www.hp.gov.in/hppsc/ and please see left sidebar (bottom)

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HP PSC Clerk and Stenographer jobs Sep-2011

Published by government jobs for her blog governmentjobss.blogspot.com
Himachal Pradesh (HP) Public Service Commission (PSC)
Nigam Vihar , Shimla-171002 (HP).

Application are invited from only bonafide candidates of Himachal Pradesh for the following posts in on or before 21/10/2011,by 5.00 PM. Last date for receipt of applications for the candidates residing in Bharmour and Pangi Sub. Division of Chamba Distt., Dodra Kwar Sub Division of Shimla Distt., Kinnaur and Lahul Spiti Distts of Himachal Pradesh, whose applications are received by post from these areas is 05/11/2011. :

• Clerk : 07 posts on contract basis, Pay :  Rs 7810/- P.M. consolidated
• Junior Scale Stenographer  : 02 posts, Pay Scale : Rs. 8710 per Month consolidated

Application Fee : Application on the specimen form duly completed should be accompanied by examination fee of Rs. 250/- (Rs.63/- for candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories of Himachal Pradesh only), through Bank Draft payable in any branch of a Bank at Shimla to the Secretary, H.P. Public Service Commission, Shimla-171002 for Offline mode and for Online mode candidates pay Rs.250/- (Rs.63/- for SC/ ST/ OBC of Himachal) through a challan by cash in the branches of Punjab National Bank.

How to Apply : Application in the prescribed format should be send  to the Secretary, Himachal Pradesh  Public Service Commission, Nigam Vihar, Shimla-2, along with above mentioned documents. Last date is 21/10/2011.

Please view further details and application format at http://www.hp.gov.in/hppsc/file.axd?file=2011%2f9%2fAdvt+clerk.pdf

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CDAC Hyderabd Project Engineer jobs Sep-2011

Published by government jobs for governmentjobss.blogspot.com
Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC),
Plot- E2/1, Block- GP, Sector- V, Salt Lake city, Kolkata-700 091

Centre for development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) a scientific society of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Govt. of India. C-DAC Kolkata invites Online application for following posts of Project Engineer on contract basis :

• Project Engineer-I (PE-I) : 03 posts with a consolidated monthly salary of Rs. 22500/- per month, Age : 30 years
• Project Engineer-II (PE-II) : 04 posts with a consolidated monthly salary of Rs. 27000/- per month, Age : 35 years

How to Apply : Apply Online at CDAC Kolkata website upto 08/10/2011.

For more and complete details, please visit http://cdackolkata.in/Divisions.php?id=Careers&lang=English


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The IKEA Effect: Loving What We Make Ourselves

From Neoacademic, "Unfolding the IKEA Effect: Why We Love the Things We Build" by Richard N. Landers:

The IKEA Effect refers to the tendency for people to value things they have created/built themselves more than if made by someone else – in fact, nearly as much as if an expert had created the same item. ***asking consumers to do a little legwork, you can increase their belief in the value of the product they have created, even if it would have been better constructed by professionals. Perhaps the best-known application of this principle is the theory’s namesake, Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA. IKEA furniture is sold in boxes, with sometimes a great deal of assembly required.

Read the complete post here.

Hillary Clinton, Interviewed By Chelsea, Calls For An Economically Literate Public For More Fact Based Public And Private Decisions: Video

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, interviewed by her daughter Chelsea Clinton, calls for an economically literate citizenship.

Hillary stated that the media is at times alarmists and outrageous, too many public and political opinions are not evidence based or "tethered to facts" and better economic decisions could be made in the public and private sector if the citizenry were economically literate and economic decisions were based on economic facts.



Of course, one has to wonder if this is an indirect dig at Obama since one of the major complaints against Obama is his lack of knowledge and understanding of economics.

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Two-Thirds Say Maximum Tax Rate Should Be 20 Percent, According To Poll

From "Poll: What is the wealthy’s ‘fair share’ of taxes?" by Alexis Levinson on The Daily Caller:

The poll asked respondents: “What do you think is the maximum percentage that the federal government should take from any individual’s income?”***“Nearly two-thirds of voters — 65 percent overall, including 71 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of Independents, and 63 percent of Democrats — think the maximum tax rate should be twenty percent or lower,” writes McHenry [John McHenry, partner and vice president of Ayres, McHenry and Associates].

“And a quarter of voters — 27 percent overall, including 26 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of Independents, and 30 percent of Democrats — think the maximum percentage should be no more than ten percent.””***Twenty-seven percent of respondents said income taxes should be capped at 10 percent of an individual’s income; 16 percent of respondents said fifteen, 22 percent of respondents said twenty, 14 percent of respondents said thirty, just 4 percent of respondents said forty, and 3 percent of respondents said fifty percent or more. Thirteen percent expressed no opinion.

What Really Caused the Eurozone Crisis? (Part 1)

I've been doing some work on gaining a better understanding of the root causes of eurozone (EZ) debt crisis. As a point of departure, let's take a couple of dueling quotes. First, Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, from his recent piece in the Financial Times:

Whatever role the markets have played in catalysing the sovereign debt crisis, it is an undisputable fact that excessive state spending has led to unsustainable levels of debt and deficits that now threaten our economic welfare.

Next, here's an excerpt from a statement recently made by Greece's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Evangelos Venizelos:

We should not be the scapegoat or the easy excuse that will be used by European and international institutions in order to hide their own lack of competence to manage the crisis and give a definitive and complete answer to the attacks against euro, the world’s strongest currency.

These two statements capture the essence of two radically different views about the origins of the EZ debt crisis. Which one is right?


Local Causes or Systemic Causes?

Some believe that the crisis was fundamentally caused by profligate, irresponsible behavior by governments and individuals in the EZ periphery. (Note: by the "EZ periphery" I mean Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and maybe Spain. Italy has not really been accused of such behavior, to my knowledge, and it seems generally accepted that it is much more the victim of contagion rather than the cause of the crisis.) Let's call this the local causes point of view: government deficits and debt in the periphery were so large that once the Great Recession of 2008-09 hit, investors lost confidence in the ability of those countries to remain solvent. So they tried to dump the bonds from those countries, triggering the crisis.

An alternative point of view is that, while the crisis may have had some peculiarly local triggers (the Greek government's admission that it fudged some official statistics certainly didn't help), much of the current mess is the result of forces and decisions outside the control of peripheral Europe's governments. In other words, the crisis could have non-local, systemic causes.

For example, suppose that the adoption of the euro suddenly made it more attractive for investors in the rest of Europe to buy assets in the periphery. This could have caused a large, exuberant capital flow from Europe's core to periphery, much like NAFTA helped to spark a surge in capital flows from the US to Mexico in the early 1990s. In theory, that's a good thing, and should help the process of economic convergence. But we know that such "capital flow bonanzas" (so named by Reinhart and Reinhart) are notoriously susceptible to changes in investor attitudes, and can come to an abrupt halt. These sudden stops in capital flows, as they are referred to in the literature, typically trigger a financial crisis. (See this paper by Calvo, Izquierdo, and Mejia for much more about sudden stops.) As noted by Rudi Dornbusch in the context of the Mexico crisis of 1994, it's not speed that kills; it's the sudden stop.

Crucially, sudden stops may happen even when a country is following all the right macroeconomic policies. As a result, financial crisis may be largely outside the control of a country that's on the receiving end of a capital flow bonanza. Mexico in 1994 is a good example of that, I think. And it could be that some of the peripheral EZ countries also fit this characterization. If so, then it's not appropriate to lay the blame for the crisis entirely at the doorstep of the peripheral EZ's governments; while they may have done some things that contributed to the crisis, the odds were significantly stacked against them to begin with.


Evidence

Which view of the EZ crisis - the local causes view or the systemic causes view - better matches the evidence? There are a few different types of clues we can look for.

1. Which deficit predicted the crisis?
If the crisis is due primarily to local causes, then we would expect the best predictor of crisis to be government deficits and debt. On the other hand, if the systemic causes view is correct, then a better predictor of the crisis would be large current account deficits, which necessarily happen when there's a capital flow bonanza.

The following table shows both fiscal (i.e. national government) budget balances and current account balances during the period after the adoption of the euro and before the worldwide financial crisis and recession struck in 2008. All figures are from the OECD and expressed as a % of GDP.


The factor that crisis countries have in common is that, without exception, they ran the largest current account deficits in the EZ during the period 2000-2007. The relationship between budget deficits and crisis is much weaker; some of the crisis countries had significant average surpluses during the years leading up to the crisis, while some of the EZ countries with large fiscal deficits did not experience crisis. This is one piece of evidence that a surge in capital flows, not budget deficits, may have been what laid the groundwork for the crisis.

2. Which deficit grew after euro adoption?
If the crisis is due to the profligacy of governments in the peripheral EZ that took advantage of EZ membership to increase spending, we would expect to see budget deficits grow in the periphery after the common currency was introduced in 1999. But if the crisis was really the result of a post-euro adoption surge in capital flows from the EZ core that then came to a sudden stop, we would expect current account deficits (i.e. capital flows) to have grown more after adoption of the euro.

The following charts show the path of both types of deficits during the years before and after adoption of the euro. (Data from the OECD, expressed as % of GDP.)




Note: minor data discrepancies in the fiscal balance series above have been corrected.


Capital flows (i.e. current account deficits) increased substantially in all the EZ periphery countries in the period after adoption of the euro. Meanwhile, the peripheral countries generally tended to have tighter fiscal policies after adopting the euro than before euro adoption.

Note that the capital flow bonanzas in evidence in these charts were directly the result of the adoption of the euro by the peripheral EZ countries, which made it easier for capital in the core EZ countries to find investment opportunities in the periphery. In fact, this was exactly what the advocates of the common currency intended and expected, and has always been touted as a selling point for the euro project - it's called "financial integration". The problem is the sudden stop that frequently follows such a capital flow bonanza.

3. What did the periphery countries spend their money on?
If the crisis is due to irresponsible behavior by governments and individuals in the EZ periphery, then one indicator of that would be a rise in government spending and/or personal consumption after euro adoption. On the other hand, the systemic causes view would suggest that crisis could strike even if a country is behaving 'responsibly' (in a macroeconomic sense) by spending more on investment goods (i.e. capital formation) and less on personal consumption.

The next table shows the fraction of domestic purchases spent on consumption and investment goods in each of the EZ periphery countries. Germany is included in the table for comparison.


There is a clear tendency for investment spending to rise in the periphery countries (with the exception of Portugal), and for consumption to fall. This is consistent with the convergence story; capital flowed from the core to the periphery to take advantage of and fund investment opportunities there. Meanwhile, with the periphery countries experiencing fiscal contraction, a smaller share of purchases going to personal consumption, and a higher share of purchases going to investment goods, it is hard to see evidence for the story that the capital inflows were simply frittered away on a spending binge either by individuals or governments.


So... What Really Caused the Crisis?

Putting it all together, it seems that the EZ crisis is more consistent with the systemic causes view than the local causes view. In other words, while they didn’t necessarily make the right decision every time, the peripheral EZ countries were up against powerful exogenous forces - capital flow bonanzas and sudden stops - that tended to push them toward financial crisis. They were playing against a stacked deck.

It’s useful to reevaluate the macroeconomic history of peripheral Europe in light of this interpretation. Rather than large current account deficits being the result of fiscal mismanagement or excessive consumption, the current account deficits were the necessary and unavoidable counterpart to the surge in capital flows from the EZ core. Rather than above-average inflation rates and deteriorating competitiveness being signs of labor market inefficiencies or lax fiscal policies in the peripheral countries, appreciating real exchange rates were inevitable as the mechanism by which those current account deficits were effected.

The eurozone debt crisis is big enough that there's plenty of blame to go around, and some of it certainly should go to the crisis countries themselves. But it must also be recognized that as soon as those countries adopted the euro, powerful forces were set in motion that made a financial crisis likely, and very possibly unavoidable, no matter what the governments of the peripheral euro countries did. Irresponsible behavior by the periphery countries did not set the stage for the eurozone crisis; the common currency itself did.


Coming soon: Part 2 of this series, in which I examine some policy implications of this analysis.

Germany is a Credit Risk?

Maybe this will spur politicians in Germany to take more decisive steps to deal with the eurozone debt crisis: today the spreads on credit default swaps (CDS) - those derivatives that effectively provide insurance against default - rose by 8% today on German government bonds. Anyone who wanted to insure their German bonds against default today had to pay over 100 basis points for the first time ever. That's the same as it cost to insure French government bonds less than 3 months ago, or Italian government bonds about 6 months ago. This week marks the first time that such insurance costs signifcantly more for German bonds than for those of the UK.


But the principal lesson that I draw from this is not that the risk of Germany defaulting on its debt has risen recently. Is Germany really that much more likely that the US or the UK to default? If we take a deep breath and think clearly about things, I doubt that many people would answer yes to that question.

Rather, I take this as a sign that investors are panicking, and panicking specifically about anything having to do with the eurozone. It may not be rational, but a pervasive and ill-defined fear is gripping the financial markets right now. In the current context, that is what contagion is all about.

There are certainly plenty of things for people to worry about right now, of course: stagnating recoveries in the developed world; political brinksmanship and paralysis in the US; endless indecision in Europe regarding how to help the struggling periphery economies; financial institutions that seem weak, opaque, and untrustworthy; slowing growth in China.

All of these factors are certainly contributing to the deep anxiety that currently grips financial markets. But I think that this is evidence that of all of these, the fear of what will happen in Europe looms largest. Which brings me to my own fear: that time is running out for the eurozone to take steps to get the market's fear under control and avert catastrophe.

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Teacher Eligibility Test by HPSSSB

Published by government jobs for her blog governmentjobss.blogspot.com
Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Board (HPSSSB)
District Hamirpur - 177001

Applications in prescribed proforma, are invited for the following posts so as to the reach the Secretary Himachal Pradesh, Subordinate Services Selection Board, Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh) - 177001 by 17/10/2011. The last date for the candidates residing in Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Bharmaur Sub-Divisions of Chamba district and Dodra kwar Sub-Divison of Shimla District of HP is 31/10/2011 by post only for the eligibility for the posts of Trained Graduate Teacher (Arts, Non-medical, Medical), Shastri and Language Teachers.

Please visit http://himachal.nic.in/hpsssb/welcome.html for details and application format.


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Blinder "Operation Twist" Video Interview: Says Marginal Impact On Economic Behavior

Former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder's interview, video below, about "Operation Twist." Blinder says the Fed's new intervention will have a "marginal, not revolutionary effect on economic behavior."

The video is from "Bernanke Will Never Give Up: Alan Blinder" by Jeff Macke | Breakout.

Election Markets Show Republicans To Take Commanding Popular Vote Lead In 2012 But Electoral College Still A Tossup

Price data for the 2012 presidential election voting share securities, from the Iowa Electronic Markets, shows that the Republicans are widening their lead in the popular vote for the next president. As it now stands, the public's vote for US president between the two major political parties, Republicans and Democrats, will be split 52.5 percent for the Republicans and 47.5 percent for the Democrats.

From Iowa Electronic Markets
2012 US Presidential Election Markets

Of course, it is the Electoral College and not the popular vote that decides which candidate will become the next President of the US.

The Intrade security for which political party will win the 2012 presidential election shows that the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, are virtually tied as to who will win the US Presidency in 2012 based on Electoral College votes. Intrade gives the Republicans a 49.1 percent chance of winning in 2012 and it gives the Democrats a 49 percent chance of winning the presidency.

SHAME

To let Troy Anthony Davis be executed. Shame.

The Twist

Today the Fed announced that it would embark on 'Operation Twist', as the business press has dubbed it. To be a bit more precise, here's the actual text from the FOMC press release:

To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee decided today to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities. The Committee intends to purchase, by the end of June 2012, $400 billion of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 6 years to 30 years and to sell an equal amount of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 years or less. This program should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate.

What does this mean? Basically, it's an effort by the Fed to bring down long term interest rates. Typically the Fed moves interest rates by changing the intercept of the yield curve, i.e. by shifting the entire curve up or down. It can do this because it has control over short term interest rates, and that anchor can shift the rest of the yield curve up or down.

But one of the many odd things about being at the zero lower bound on interest rates, as we have been in the US for a couple of years now, is that the Fed no longer has the ability to shift the yield curve down. So the 'Twist' is an effort to bring down long term interest rates despite this handicap. As shown in the picture below (which is meant to be schematic, not exactly accurate), by selling short-term bonds and buying long-term bonds, the idea is to change the slope of the yield curve instead of its intercept.


Some observers, like Mark Thoma, have suggested that while laudable, this effort won't actually accomplish very much. And I'm sympathetic to that point of view, because I agree that in an ideal world, the Fed would be doing much more than this to try to help spark an economic recovery in the US.

But as I've argued before, I do think that any reduction in long-term interest rates can only help -- and the US can use all the help it can get right now. But more importantly, we have to recognize the fact that the Fed is now operating under the cloud of very real and very dangerous political threats.

Those threats are now being made, contrary to all historical precedent in the US, because of the way the American public has voted over the past few elections. And those threats impose real constraints on the Fed's ability to act.

Given those constraints, this is a pretty good response, I think: it embodies a balance between doing something that would actually help the economy (which is, I'm convinced, what the FOMC would do much more of if politically unconstrained), and not doing so much that it creates a political backlash that would have serious negative consequences for the Fed's long-run independence.

So if we are unhappy that this is the extent of the Fed's efforts -- and I think we have every right to feel that these efforts are inadequate -- then I think it is important to explicitly recognize that these actions by the Fed are insufficient due to political constraints. The conduct of monetary policy should clearly be added to the list of victims of the current toxic political environment in the US.

Connection Between High Medical Costs And US Productivity

A comment I posted on Code Red, "Why Aren’t Medical Prices Infinity?" by dranove:

Potential productivity and per capita GDP loss to the household measured from the onset of the medical condition's negative impact on production, and not first doctor visit, set an upper bound on the value (price, opportunity cost) of the medical service.

For example, suppose a member of a household has a bad knee, which would improve with proper medical care. The bad knee either directly negatively affects the worker's output or if it occurs in a non-working family member, requires a working family member to lower his/her productivity by devoting time to the ill family member for care, transportation to doctor, etc, as would be the case for a child, elder parent, severely ill family member.

The opportunity cost of the lost production starts from the onset of the condition, and not from time of first doctor visit, and ends when the condition is sufficiently resolved to allow productivity to go back to its pre-symptom level.

The US has high productivity and GDP per capita.

Delays in getting doctor appointments, delays in diagnostic tests, delays in accurate diagnosis, delays in EFFECTIVE treatment (specialists), need for retreatment and long recovery times are opportunity costs to the affected worker.

Comparative medical access and recovery times are shorter in the US than in other countries. You cannot have short access times to medical care without excess capacity.

In other countries, the costs of delayed doctor appointments, diagnoses and treatments are not captured in the prices paid for medical services. In the US, the costs of avoidance of the social costs, the opportunity costs of delayed or incorrect medical care is captured in US medical prices.

Even if other countries captured these costs in their medical care prices, the higher US per capita GDP and productivity would still make the US medical services prices higher.

Job of Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist in Us Army

Job Title: Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

Department: Department Of The Army

Agency: Eighth U.S. Army

Job Announcement Number: FEFD11167401523272

SALARY RANGE:	$71,674.00 - $93,175.00 /year
OPEN PERIOD:	Wednesday, August 31, 2011 to Wednesday, September 21, 2011
SERIES & GRADE:	GS-1035-13
POSITION INFORMATION:	Full Time Career/Career Conditional
DUTY LOCATIONS:	1 vacancy - Korea
WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED:	US Citizens and Status Candidates

Additional Duty Location Info:

1 vacancy - Korea

Serve as the Deputy, Public Affairs Officer (DPAO) for the United Nations Command, ROK-US Combined Forces Command and United States Forces Korea (UNC/CFC/USFK) in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Responsible for all aspects of the UNC/CFC/USFK Public Affairs Office (PAO) program to include coordination with the combined joint and interagency public affairs staffs of the US Embassy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, US Pacific Command, ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff and ROK Ministry of National Defense. PA advisor to the Commander and Component Commanders for theater strategic and operational PA operations; chair of civil-military relations Status of Forces Agreement subcommittee; assists in the development and execution of theater-level Strategic Communication activities; and leads, trains and mentors 25 US military, Korean Augmentees to the United States Army soldiers and US and Korean civilians.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:
1. Your resume: If you submit a resume with inappropriate material e.g. photos, you will not be considered for this vacancy. Your resume may be submitted in any format. For qualifications determinations your resume must contain hours worked per week and the dates of employment (i.e., HRS per week and month/year to month/year or month/year to present). Resumes that do not contain this information will be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position.
2. Your responses to the questionnaire
3. Additional required documents (see Required Documents section below)
The complete Application Package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

To begin the process, click the Apply Online button to create an account or log in to your existing USAJOBS account.  Follow the prompts to complete the questionnaire. Please ensure you click the Submit My Answers button at the end of the process. 

To fax supporting documents you are unable to upload, complete this cover page http://staffing.opm.gov/pdf/usascover.pdf using the following Vacancy ID523272.  Fax your documents to 1-478-757-3144.
If you cannot apply online:

1.    Click the following link to view and print the questionnaire View Occupational Questionnaire,
2. Print the 1203FX form to provide your response to the questionnaire http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/OPM1203fx.pdf, and
3. Fax the completed 1203FX form along with any supporting documents to 1-478-757-3144. Your 1203FX will serve as a cover page for your fax transmission.

AGENCY CONTACT INFO:

Central Resume Processing Center Phone: 4103060137   Email: APPLICANTHELP@CONUS.ARMY.MIL

Agency Information: USFK PAO PSC 303 Box 42 APO, AP 96205 For more information visit

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=102028071&JobTitle=Supervisory+Public+Affairs+Specialist&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&AVSDM=2011-08-31+00%3a03%3a00

Vacancy of CIVIL ENGINEER in US Department Of The Interior

Job Title: CIVIL ENGINEER, GS-0810-12

Department: Department Of The Interior

Agency: Bureau of Indian Affairs

Job Announcement Number: CHR-11-D-028

SALARY RANGE:	$72,204.00 - $93,261.00 /year
OPEN PERIOD:	Wednesday, August 31, 2011 to Wednesday, September 21, 2011
SERIES & GRADE:	GS-0810-12
POSITION INFORMATION:	Full Time Career/Career Conditional
DUTY LOCATIONS:	1 vacancy - Anchorage, AK
WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED:	United States Citizens

JOB SUMMARY:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is the lead agency for the United States in carrying on a government-to-government relationship with the tribal nations. A challenging and dynamic place to work, it enhances the quality of life, promotes economic opportunity, and carries out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. CIVIL ENGINEER, GS-0810-12, #3700012A, Alaska Region, Office of the Deputy Regional Director-Indian Services, Branch of Transportation, IRR Engineering Team Alpha, Anchorage, Alaska HOW TO APPLY: To Apply Online Click the Apply Online button and follow the prompts to register Answer the Questionnaire and click on SUBMIT my answers UPLOAD all required documents and other supporting documents To return to your saved application, log in to your USAJOBS account at www.usajobs.gov Click on Application Status Click on the position title and select Apply Online to continue  For more information visit

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=102078981&JobTitle=CIVIL+ENGINEER%2c+GS-0810-12&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&AVSDM=2011-08-31+00%3a03%3a00