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Economics
« Previous EntriesSunk Costs: Literally
Thursday, November 13th, 2008When 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 $1 to anyone […]
Discouraging Spam
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008I 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 in one fell swoop using […]
Happy Halloween!
Saturday, November 1st, 2008He was consistently ignored by the economic graduate students at the department party.
Politics, Manufacturing, and Change
Saturday, October 25th, 2008In 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 campaigning in […]
Why I Won’t Vote for Obama
Thursday, October 16th, 2008I 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 video really disturbed me. […]
My Visa Credit Line Just Increased
Sunday, October 12th, 2008By 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 the latest data, housing prices have […]
Spies…Everywhere
Monday, October 6th, 2008I’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 “see you […]
Nigerian Bailout Satire
Saturday, September 27th, 2008The 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 transfer of funds of great […]
Interesting Links
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008I’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 are plagued by asymmetric information. Current […]
A New Take on Bottled Water
Friday, September 19th, 2008Bottled 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 from the tap. […]
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