Michael Giberson At EconTalk, Russ Roberts talks with experimental economics pioneer Vernon Smith. It is a friendly interview, Roberts doesn’t hit Smith with tough questions or challenge his explanations, but it is a good introduction to Smith’s views on the field and its development.
Lynne Kiesling Glen Whitman has a nice analysis of gasoline expenditure as a share of household income. Note that he shows, by income quintile, how the cost of traveling 25,000 miles in a year fell from 1981 to 2000, and that although it rose through 2005 and fell back a bit in 2006, it is …
Gas Prices: Mobility Cost As Percent of Household Budget Has Fallen Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Harvard economist Ed Glaeser has a nice column in today’s Boston Globe in which he proposes a “road map for environmentalism” (HT to Greg Mankiw). I think it’s a thoughtful and substantially correct analysis and pragmatic set of proposals; in particular, his emphasis on the importance of rethinking current policies and the extent …
Michael Giberson The folks that do technology site CNET have launched an online business magazine at www.BNET.com. Among the items of interest (at least to me) now on BNET: A discussion with the CEO of Erickson Retirement Communities which covers, among other things, practical applications of prediction market Inkling. A podcast that includes New Yorker …
Lynne Kiesling Three cheers for Tim Haab for saying what I’m often too lazy or too cowardly to say: So let’s take a look at the STUPID price gouging bill… So we’ve now proven that Democrats are idiots. We’re halfway there. … Republicans are idiots. Since independents don’t matter, I conclude my proof. All politicians …
Tim Haab on the Politics of Gas Prices: Get Over It Read More »
Lynne Kiesling I’m not being as productive this week as I could be, because I am trying to keep up with the Floyd Landis doping trial/arbitration taking place this week at Pepperdine University. I’ve been silent on this topic since October, when I wrote about Floyd’s “wikipedia defense” and the wisdom of crowds (back in …
Lynne Kiesling As economic growth continues to drive up demand for petroleum-based energy, foreign supplies are fraught with geopolitical costs, and concerns about the environmental effects of fuel use increase, energy prices rise and we naturally seek out alternatives to the oil we’ve become accustomed to using over the past century. One potentially attractive option …
Michael Giberson Now normally I wouldn’t be the kind of guy that looks to politicians for economic advice (e.g. posting on price gouging), but on his blog Alan Jewell points out an article from the December 2004 Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis showing that as a group senators have done abnormally well at picking …
Michael Giberson Price gouging has been all over the news lately. In Kentucky the state Attorney General has sued Marathon Oil for allegedly gouging customers in the months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Marathon is counter-suing the state, claiming the state’s law is unconstitutional on a number of grounds.) In Missouri the state has recently …
Michael Giberson At the suggestion of prediction market scholars Justin Wolfers and Eric Zitzewitz, InTrade is running a market on the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger. The apparent verdict? Market says, “maybe next year.” For the moment, the “The XM and Sirius satellite merger to close before the end of Dec 2007” contract most recently traded …
Prediction Markets on Xm-sirius Merger: Maybe Next Year Read More »
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