Economics
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Sunday, February 10th, 2008Recently, 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 deemed too dangerous for the […]
Links: Immigration, Taxes, and Coffee
Saturday, February 9th, 2008Gary 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.
The Insufficiency of Efficiency
Friday, February 8th, 2008I 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 at Wal-Mart, it is very possible that […]
Negative Externalities: Double Dipping
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008I 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 some benefits to double dipping, […]
Recycling Christmas Trees: A Family Tradition
Monday, December 24th, 2007Many 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 banks on recovering such a […]
Thoughts from New Orleans
Sunday, December 16th, 2007I’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 the disparity in prices between […]
The Opportunity Cost of a Trip to Yellowstone…
Monday, December 10th, 2007Is 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 decline was news to me. Growing […]
Markets in Everything: “Mafia” Clubs
Friday, December 7th, 2007The 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 discovered and executed. If you’re […]
Causes of the Subprime Fiasco
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007I 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 appraisers to overvalue homes was […]
Carbon Emissions Fall
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007From 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 time since 1990, when the […]
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