Adam Davidson

4.2 Million Americans Were Hired In January (And 4.1 Million Quit Or Got Fired)

Adam Davidson — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:41:00 +0000

One jobs number gets all the attention: The number of jobs lost or gained in the previous month.

That number is important. But focusing too much on the net change in jobs can be misleading. It gives the impression that a job is like a widget — it's something that gets made in a factory somewhere, and that we hope exists forever.

That's not how it works. Even in good economic times ,new jobs are constantly being created and old jobs are constantly being destroyed.

This Man Makes Beautiful Suits, But He Can't Afford To Buy One

Adam Davidson — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:23:00 +0000

Peter Frew is one of a tiny number of people left in the United States who can — entirely on his own, using almost no machinery — make a classic bespoke suit. He can measure you, draw a pattern, cut the fabric and then hand-stitch a suit designed to fit your body perfectly.

Frew spent more than a decade as an apprentice for a remarkable tailor in his native Jamaica. He now sells his suits for about $4,000.

Scandal That Cost Barclays Chairman His Job Threatens To Spread

Adam Davidson — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Every day at 11 a.m., a few big banks tell the British Bankers' Association what it costs them to borrow.

Why Matzo Makers Love Regulation

Adam Davidson — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:16:00 +0000

For more, see our video, Inside The Matzo Factory, and see Adam Davdson's latest NYT Magazine column

The matzo business may be the most heavily regulated business in the world.

The regulators are rabbis, who stand on the factory floor and make sure that everything adheres to kosher law.

Why Are Some Countries Rich And Others Poor?

Adam Davidson — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Why are some nations rich and others poor? In a new book called Why Nations Fail, a pair of economists argue that a lot comes down to politics.

To research the book, the authors scoured the world for populations and geographic areas that are identical in all respects save one: they're on different sides of a border.

The two Koreas are an extreme example. But you can see the same thing on the border of the US and Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and dozens of other neighboring countries.