A friend of mine, an aspiring ecologist with a blog of his own, sent me a link to Barry Schwartz’s 2005 TED talk on the paradox of choice. Schwartz, a psychologist, has written a book with the same title that I have not read. The video is entertaining [...]
A video circulating around the internet is disturbing. An aspiring NFL cheerleader had a negative reaction to a season flu shot. It activated dystonia disorder. If you haven’t seen the video you should look it up on YouTube. Note: Video previously embedded was removed from YouTube.
YouTube comments express skepticism, [...]
My university recently hosted a forum on rape for female college students. They emphasized that rape is a serious issue on campus using statistics.  Fact: 1 in 4 college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape. At least that is what women’s centers at colleges around the United [...]
Over Labor Day weekend I visited Chicago and spent Sunday afternoon watching Boston pummel the White Sox. Walking into the ballpark I had noticed a stand selling premium Chicago-style hot dogs with all of the fixings. While I was tempted, the ballpark level prices dissuaded me. Fortunately, [...]
In the current hard economic times, most businesses have been lowering their prices. Burger King reduced the price of their daily specials from $4.50 to $3.99. Car companies are offering to forgive your monthly payments if you lose your job. Frito Lay is putting more chips in their bags for [...]
I came across two recent articles in Wired that I found really interesting. Here’s a brief overview and commentary:
Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It’s Time to Manage for Abundance, Not Scarcity
It costs Netflix about a nickel to stream a 2 hour movie to your PC. Wired editor [...]
Google became the world’s most popular search engine by radically increasing the relevance of search results. It was able to do so by rewarding sites that received a lot of links from other sites. Links from popular sites were worth more than links from obscure sites. The popularity, or rank, [...]
The Freakonomics blog periodically solicits questions from it’s readers to ask prominent and interesting people. Most recently, Biz Stone, the cofounder of Twitter and entrepreneur responsible for Blogger and Xanga was featured . I submitted a question that was included in the interview. Below is my question and [...]
Eric Clemons over at Tech Crunch argues so in this thought-provoking article. His points are:
Consumers do not trust advertising. (References Dan Ariely of Predictably Irrational) Consumers do not want to view advertising Consumers do not need advertisingThe crux of his argument is that the internet has made information so widely [...]
When Facebook came out, I was intrigued by how people presented themselves. Initially, membership was confined to university students. When crafting a profile, students knew their audience well. Pictures from last night’s party were okay. Divulging your secret love of Hanson was not. In the real world, people act [...]
I just finished Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. These University of Chicago professors advocate “libertarian paternalism” which recognizes that people often act irrationally and recommends that governments “nudge” people to make better choices. In their own words:
Libertarian paternalism is a weak, soft, and non-intrusive type of paternalism [...]
I’m about to write another post, but first I wanted to to thank all of my readers for sticking with me recently over the past couple months. Between finals and traveling to see my family, December and January are always a busy time. This year I had my qualifying exams [...]
Say that economics isn’t a real science. Someone told me that over Christmas, and I have to admit that it rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t want to delve into what “science” really entails. I’d be the first to concede that economists don’t study the physical world. What bothers [...]
Fights are breaking out at Chuck E. Cheese’s (CEC) across the country. From the WSJ:
“In Brookfield, Wis., no restaurant has triggered more calls to the police department since last year than Chuck E. Cheese’s…. [I]n some cities, law-enforcement officials say the number of disruptions at their local [...]
Interesting stories I came across this morning:
Diarrhea kills more people than AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria:
According to the estimates of one sanitation specialist George cites, each of the 2.6 billion people who live without sanitation may ingest up to 10 grams of fecal matter a day. The consequence is often [...]
I’m about a month later than most to ponder the workings of our democracy. But, given that a few elections are still up in the air, the topic is still somewhat timely. The book I learned the most from this year, was “The Myth of the Rational Voter” [...]
When the cost of maintaining a boat exceeds it’s value, owners abandon them. From MSNBC.com:
Unlike cars, wooden and fiberglass boats have virtually no scrap value. So rather than pay the high cost of hauling their boats to the dump, people ditch them or sell them for as little as [...]
I just spent the last 30 minutes deleting over 2500 blog comments “Awaiting Moderation” because my filters indicated they might be spam. All of them were. I was deleting them 25 at a time through the WordPress interface, before a Google search showed me how I could delete them all [...]
He was consistently ignored by the economic graduate students at the department party.
In the United States, the victorious presidential candidate must win a majority of the electoral votes. Almost all states are winner takes all. The magnitude of victory or defeat is irrelevant, all that matters is the outcome. It is not surprising then, that presidential candidates spend most of their time [...]
I saw this ad on T.V. the other day. Obama may understand the benefits of free trade, but he preys off the average American’s fear of it. That is even more disgraceful than American-made laws.
Note: I try not to talk too much about politics on this blog, but this [...]
By 25%. I wouldn’t know we were in a “credit crunch” if I wasn’t reading the news. About 3 weeks ago Alex Tabarrok wrote a post pointing to evidence that consumer, industrial, and real estate loans are at all time highs. While these numbers don’t include [...]
I’m talking about my students. I have 45 of them and I’m still learning their names and faces. They see me around campus and know who I am, but I don’t always recognize them. The other day I was tying my shoe in the library and I heard someone say [...]
The following letter has been floating around the web. If you have ever received an email from a Nigerian scammer (i.e. if you’ve had email for more than a month) it’s quite funny.
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a [...]
I’m not a Macroeconomist. And, I’m conflicted about the Paulson plan. But, given the recent unprecedented events, I figure I should chime in. A few thoughts:
I had a Macroeconomics test today. In our models we assume No Ponzi Schemes. Representative agents aren’t allowed to pay off their debts by [...]
I’m preoccupied studying for a Macro test, but here are some interesting stories/sites I have come across recently.
Unigo.com: Provides uncensored student reviews of almost every college and university in America. Similar to the Princeton Review, except up-to-date, uncensored, and much more interactive. Prospective college students making a monumental decision [...]
Bottled water is immensely popular in the United States. And, while bottle labels display gurgling springs and mountain glaciers, most bottle water comes straight from municipal water sources. The two most popular brands of bottled water, Dasani and Aquafina, (owned by Coke and Pepsi respectively) both get their water right [...]
The SEC bans the short-selling of financial stocks. This is a sad day. Fear and politics triumph over individual freedom and sound policy.
Arnold Kling offers a primer on short-selling and why stock prices can fall even if no one is “shorting.”
Tyler Cowen notes that investors are still able [...]
As you problem know, someone recently hacked into one of Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! email accounts and posted a number of her messages on the web. As I suspected, the “hack” was nothing more than resetting the password on Palin’s account by answering her secret question. Apparently, Governor Palin didn’t [...]
From Will Wilkinson:
That Palin reminded my of my school teachers is a matter of her acquired manner and the assumptions beneath them, a matter of her Upper-Midwest-sounding accent. I’m from a small town. She’s from a small town! And damn straight: people who study at the University of Idaho [...]
No, we are not. From something I came across today:
Concerns about the science and engineering job market are not rooted in a classic labor market shortage. The earnings of scientists and engineers are not rising rapidly, relative to other highly educated workers. There are no massive job vacancies in [...]
This past weekend I attended a conference on online marketing. My brother sells cb radios online for a living and he invited me along to learn more about e-marketing. It was a lot of fun and really informative. Many of the speakers talked about search engine optimization (SEO). If you’re [...]
I’ve been preparing for the Intermediate Microeconomics class I will teach this fall. While working on my syllabus, I considered creating a blog and assigning each student in my class to contribute a post. I thought it would be a good way to get students thinking about economics in their [...]
Sports are fun, and awash in data. It shouldn’t be surprising then that economists love to study them. For example, the best-seller Freakonomics discussed cheating in sumo wrestling and academics recently examined point shaving in professional basketball. Blogs such as Sabernomics and The Sports Economist are devoted to the [...]
Fortune 500 CEOs are constantly criticized for their excessive salaries. Over the last few decades their wages have been rapidly rising while the median wages have been stagnating. See the graph that illustrates that:
“In 1965, U.S. CEOs in major companies earned 24 times more than an average worker…Since [...]
I just got back from a trip to Florida. On the trip back to Kansas, I flew on American Airlines which has recently started charging passengers to check luggage. It costs 15 dollars for the 1st bag and 25 dollars for the second bag. I’m normally in favor of [...]
I got the book Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the mail the other day. I happened to pick it up this evening as the Tornado sirens blared in Manhattan, KS. Taleb argues that often humans attribute skill to outcomes that are really the result of chance. Successful [...]
It seems like just the other day that Bono was vilifying developed countries for flooding the world markets with cheap food. Consider this excerpt from a news article leading up to the 2006 G8 summit:
In Senegal, a resilient showcase of democracy in a continent otherwise pervaded by corrupt dictatorships [...]
In the wake of recent school shootings, a group on campus has been petitioning the university to allow students to conceal and carry hand guns on campus. I have never owned a gun but have shot guns with a number of friends. A fellow economics major at Idaho took me [...]
The end of the semester is always busy and I temporarily lost the urge to write. Hopefully, a few readers out there have weathered the lull and will keep checking back for content. While I’ve been a complacent writer, I haven’t been a complacent thinker. Now that finals are over, I’m [...]
It infuriates me when Congress calls on the CEO’s of oil companies to justify their profits. Economists routinely study gasoline prices and find no evidence of price manipulation. Washington State recently commissioned a report on gas prices (HT Knowledge Problem:
The report, written by University of Washington economist and [...]
Why you should read Wikipedia articles with a grain of salt. The open source encyclopedia is controlled by a small group of editors.
Protectionism in Ping-Pong (HT Ben Casnocha). My chances of representing the U.S. in the 2012 summer games increased dramatically.
[...]This last weekend my university campus was open to prospective students and their families. Following the spring football game, the university hosted a small carnival with amusement rides and traditional carnival games. I went with a couple friends who satisfied their inner thrill-seeker with a ride on the ferris wheel. [...]
The president of a regional liberal arts college gave a presentation at my university today about price discrimination in higher education. Private colleges almost universally set tuition at a high rate and then offer a combination of need and merit-based scholarships to students based on their willingness to pay. In [...]
A Japanese toymaker designed dolls for the elderly:
As Japan produces fewer children and more retirees, toymakers are designing new dolls designed not for the young but for the lonely elderly - companions which can sleep next to them and offer caring words they may never hear otherwise.
Talking toys have [...]
While grocery shopping with a friend of mine, she mentioned that she always buys the slightly more expensive eggs. The higher price signals that the eggs are of higher quality. If the pricey eggs are still on the market, someone must be buying them for a reason. In unfamiliar markets [...]
A little over a week ago, a superior court ruled that Starbucks was violating California law by compensating shift supervisors out of the tip pool. The judge ordered Starbucks to pay baristas over 100 million dollars in illegally distributed tips. Under California law, employers are not allowed to pay [...]
From an excellent Economist article surveying talent in the asset management industry:
Some quants have a long-term perspective, but many take advantage of the liquidity of modern financial markets to trade very frequently indeed; companies such as AQR, D.E. Shaw, Highbridge and Renaissance often form a substantial portion of daily [...]
I’m in a group in my economics department that discusses microeconomics literature and research ideas. During our last meeting we discussed “Does Social Capital Promote Industrialization? Evidence From a Rapid Industrialization” by Edward Miguel, Paul Gertler and David Levine. This 2005 paper used evidence from Indonesia to dispute an [...]
I’m reading Colin Camerer’s overview of Behavioral Economics. My mom doesn’t have an email address, so the following passage made me laugh:
Microsoft had a hard time getting its programmers to take customer complaints seriously (despite statistical evidence from customer help-lines), because the programmers thought the software was easy [...]
I’ve been reading up on the economics of fighting wildfires in the West. As an undergraduate, I had a few friends who fought wildfires during the summer. Most of them worked for the U.S. Forest Service, but one was employed by a private company which received government contracts. The use [...]
The other day I lifted weights for the first time in months. There are some tangible benefits to larger muscles. I would enjoy being able to dunk a basketball with authority. And, stronger arms would have been useful when I removed my refrigerator yesterday. However, if we are honest, looking [...]
My university has a good basketball team that has been consistently ranked this season. A few weeks ago we played our arch-rival at home. Student tickets were only available in season packages at the beginning of the fall semester. If you didn’t have season tickets and wanted to go to [...]
I didn’t get my first credit card until I was 22 years old. Up until that point, I had no need for one. I had adequate savings and paid for most of my expenses with scholarship money and part-time jobs. However, when my savings dwindled I wanted some credit in [...]
I’m not really qualified to be giving Valentine’s Day advice. But, you should check out self-described aspiring economist Glen Weyl’s Valentine’s Day guide to going to the movies.
Valentine’s Day reminds me of how important signaling is in our relationships with one another. We put such an emphasis on [...]
The Logic of Life, Tim Harford: Harford uses rationality to explain everything from the Cold War to increased divorce rates. If you read many economics blogs, you will undoubtedly be familiar with some of the academic work he references. Nevertheless, what the book lacks in novelty is more than [...]
I’ve been thinking about marriage a lot lately. Maybe, it’s because my brother is in a serious relationship where marriage is a very real possibility (my mom is sure pushing for it). Maybe, I’m kind of a sap and think about my future plans more than most guys. I’m sure [...]
Recently, my Uncle and his family flew to Idaho to visit for for the weekend. They switched planes in Salt Lake City and were half-way to Idaho Falls before their plane was turned around at about 9:00 p.m. Rain was freezing on the runway in Idaho Falls and it was [...]
Gary Becker proposes that immigrants should be allowed to buy their amnesty.
Mike Moffatt on why the poor pay the highest marginal tax rates.
The American reports on the rise of Starbucks and it’s impact on American culture.
[...]I recently came across the book No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart, by Tom Slee. I didn’t purchase it, but read the first chapter which is available for free at Slee’s website. Slee’s title is a bit misleading. He argues that while no one makes you shop [...]
I have always been critical of double dipping. Seinfeld-inspired research out of Clemson University finds that double dipping shares a surprisingly large amount of bacteria:
On average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip.
There are [...]
Many cities host Christmas tree drop-off sites where used trees are picked up by city officials and mulched up to be used for compost and landscaping. Most trees are dropped off after Christmas. However, a few families leaving town early for the holidays drop off their tree early. My family [...]
I’m done with my first semester of graduate school and am spending the day in New Orleans before driving with my brother back to Idaho. We visited Bourbon Street last night. What a place. Drinking in public is allowed (no glass containers though), and it was really interesting to see [...]
are keeping me occupied. I should be back to posting in a few days.
[...]Is all the Wii you could have played if you stayed home. In a 2006 paper, Oliver Pergams and Patricia Zaradic come to the conclusion that the increase in electronic media is responsible for the decline in national park attendance since 1988. That national park attendance was on the [...]
The game that involves 10 to 20 players role-playing townspeople and members of the mafia is phenomenally popular in China. The game is based on deceit and deception. A few players are secretly designated as the mafia and attempt to kill off the other players (townspeople) before they themselves are [...]
The unemployment rate in the Idaho Falls/Blackfoot greater area is currently 1.4 percent (as of September). The data is courtesy of Economagic.com, a great site that compiles all sorts of interesting economic data. It is worth checking out. And, if you’re looking to relocate to a small western town [...]
I tutor a Principles of Macroeconomics class and today I helped some students prepare for a final exam question on the causes of the subprime housing meltdown. We discussed how the packaging and sale of securities on Wall Street provided the wrong incentives for banks granting loans. The tendency of [...]
From the December 3, Wall Street Journal opinion page:
The Bush Administration announced last week that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide fell by 1.8% from 2005 to 2006. Output of all greenhouse gases was down 1.5% last year. All this while the American economy grew by 2.9%. It’s the first [...]
Voters rejected the proposed amendments to the constitution 51 to 49 percent. The new constitution would have eliminated term limits, making it possible for Chavez to rule indefinitely. The United States is still the single largest buyer of Venezuala’s oil. However, much of the oil is consumed internally.
Petróleos de [...]
Is the first question I usually get when I show my blog to others. I tried to make an A out of a mountain by using clouds. Unfortunately, no one realized it was an A. I outlined the clouds and the mountain in black to make it more clear. But, [...]
Two things caught my attention. On oil subsidies in developing countries:
In India, as in many countries, the government dares not allow the rising price of crude to be felt in the common man’s pockets. Only a third of the 48 developing countries studied in an IMF review let the [...]
Video game players apparently have a very high price elasticity of demand for the Playstation 3. According to Bloomberg.com:
PlayStation 3 sales have quadrupled since the company cut the price to $499 from $599 and introduced a $399 model, Otzman said. Wii has been the top-selling console since its introduction [...]
My undergraduate university had a very large Greek system. There were 19 fraternities, 9 sororities, and 45 percent of students were in the Greek living system. I had some Greek friends, and was recruited by a couple friends to join there respective fraternities. The idea of buying into a group [...]
I’ve been working on an essay about corporate social responsibility recently. It reminded me of a local debate a couple years back about whether Wal-Mart should be allowed to open a supercenter in my college town. Proponents of “smart growth” fervently argued that Wal-Mart lowers wages for workers and hurts [...]
I haven’t blogged for the last few days because I was out of state visiting relatives for Thanksgiving. While there, I read this Newsweek story by Rod Nordland on the improving situation in Iraq:
The capital’s neighborhoods have calmed in large measure because each is now dominated by one [...]
The anticipation was too much. Discover Your Inner Economist, by Tyler Cowen, wasn’t available through interlibrary loan and I couldn’t wait. I went ahead and bought a used copy off Amazon. My expectations were really high going in. I had read and listened to a number of favorable book [...]
Economists don’t agree on many things. When they do, they almost invariable face strict opposition from the public. From free trade to Pigou taxes, good economics collides with good politics. So, I was very surprised to find that educational vouchers are widely supported by economists and the general public, yet [...]
According to an early October WSJ poll, 59% of Republican voters think that foreign trade is bad for the economy. These voters agreed with the statement:
“Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, because imports from abroad have reduced demand for American-made goods, cost jobs here at home, [...]
In the comments section of Asymmetric Information: Car Trouble, laura notes that:
“…the extra money they [mechanics] charge may be a reasonable part of return of the work they did for getting the information we do not have”
She makes a valid point that mechanics need to be compensated for their [...]
I’m always a little suspicious of research studies looking for discrimination in a competitive market. So, when I read Tim Hartford’s piece over at Slate examining research out of Middlebury College on whether coffee shops discriminate against women, I wanted to take a look at the study.
Caitlin Myers [...]
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar by Joshua Goodman on [...]
This past summer, I drove to Mt. Rainier to visit my sister who was working at the gift shop there. Outside of Puyallup, WA my car wouldn’t start. I took it to Sears and they informed me that I had a bad starter. They replaced the starter. It still wouldn’t [...]
The cover story in the most recent copy of my campus magazine, Statements, highlights the Fair Trade movement. The article, by Sara Kentzler, begins:
“Imagine farmers struggling every day to sell their crops. Their families go unfed, and for their young children school is an outlandish dream. The products these experienced [...]
The latest Economist reports:
“A price this high should also temper demand for oil. Motorists’ thirst for fuel does indeed seem to be faltering in rich countries. But as Francisco Blanch of Merrill Lynch notes, most of the incremental demand for oil comes from China, India and the Middle East, [...]
I would be at this event this weekend. Maybe, a video or transcript will be available.
[...]I haven’t posted for the last few days because I was out-of-state competing in an ultimate frisbee tournament. I’m a member of my college’s club team. As a club team, we get very little financial support from the school and have to pay for traveling expenses out of pocket. After [...]
…caught my attention when I was looking through the Economics section at Barnes and Noble last May. The book was More Sex is Safer Sex, by Steven Landsburg. In the bookstore, I made it through the first chapter which uses economic logic to support the title’s provocative claim. Landsburg [...]
