Lynne Kiesling Adam Smith’s “man of system” is one of my favorite metaphors for a policymaker who is so taken with imposing his vision of society that he treats the individuals in it like pieces on a chessboard, ignoring the fact that each one of them has his or her own principles, values, and autonomy …
Friday Afternoon Video: Adam Smith’s Man of System Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Do you have a smart phone? If so, list the functions you use on it: phone, camera, video camera, alarm clock, calculator, notepad, address book, maps, music player, and so on. This list scratches the surface, and your list probably differs from mine. One small device that fulfills many roles, substituting for several …
Michael Giberson The bill isn’t signed into law yet, but New Jersey solar installers are probably breathing a little easier given reports that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to sign a law that would boost the state’s electric utility’s solar power purchase obligation from about one-half of one percent to over two percent …
Michael Giberson Buzzfeed columnist Russell Brandom explains, “Economists Are Taking Over the Game Industry: The game industry is hiring a new class of central bankers — but not in time to save Diablo III.” The post links to my earlier post on Diablo’s auction market design. Perhaps in support of Brandom’s title, the current (June 2012) Job …
Game-industry Market Design Job Openings for Economists Read More »
Michael Giberson My title is a little grand, at least the “and social progress,” but maybe it will be justified in some later, more carefully worked out version of the ideas clashing about in my head. As this is a blog, I’m sharing the more immediate, less carefully worked out version. 😉 I’ve been reading …
Doing What Seems Like It Should Work: Experiments, Tests, and Social Progress Read More »
Lynne Kiesling For much of the past year I’ve been thinking about experimentation and the role that experimentation plays in economic activity and value creation; my post on Jim Manzi’s book earlier this week is in keeping with my interest in this topic. When I reflect on the processes of value creation and economic change …
Economic Experimentation, Economic Growth, and Regulation Read More »
Michael Giberson Boone Pickens, among others, has been hot to have Congress devote taxpayers money to rolling out natural gas vehicles and refueling stations as a way of encouraging long-distance trucking companies and other folk to convert their fleets from diesel fuel to natural gas. A report produced by energy consulting group IHS CERA concludes …
The Natural Gas Revolution Need Not Be Subsidized Read More »
Lynne Kiesling The U.S. Olympic Committee is starting to beat the drum for the London 2012 Olympics, 36 days to go! But their long-standing aggressive enforcement of their “Olympic” trademark has alienated an unlikely group of potential Olympics fans and TV viewers: knitters. Yes, knitters (of which I am one). At the knitting social network …
Trademark Protection Gone Wrong, U.s. Olympic Committee Edition Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Felix Salmon has a very nice microeconomic analysis of a proposal for New York to lease out its parking meters and facilities to a concessionaire, with a contingent contract based on the lessee’s implementation of dynamic pricing. A sample of what makes the analysis good: The masters of variable pricing, of course, are …
More Frontiers in Dynamic Pricing: New York Parking Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Think consciously about a decision you contemplated recently. As you were weighing your options, how much did you really know that you could bring to bear, definitively, on your decision? Was the outcome pre-determined, or was it unknown to you? For most of the decision-making situations we confront regularly, we don’t have full …
Experimentation, Jim Manzi, and Regulation/deregulation Read More »
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