Economics
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Sunday, January 18th, 2009Say 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 me is the all too […]
The Consequeces of Artificially Low Prices
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008Fights 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 outlet is far higher than at nearby […]
Diarrhea, Foreclosures and the American Dream
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008Interesting 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 diarrhea, which is a […]
Voting is Rational, but People Don’t Vote Rationally
Thursday, November 20th, 2008I’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” by Bryan Caplan, which I reviewed last […]
Sunk 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 who will […]
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 “battleground states.” Wikipedia […]
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. This […]
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 been sliding for […]
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