April 2011

The International Possibilities of Petroleum from Shale Will Reshape Markets

Michael Giberson There is a lot of natural gas locked up in shale in the world. Once shale gas was mostly a footnote to the energy industry, known about but inconsequential because mostly inaccessible. But the technology, and hence the economics, of shale gas development has improved. And those improvements are reshaping the world’s energy …

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Goose Island: What if Acquiring Capital Cannibalizes Your Market?

Lynne Kiesling Last week, Chicago craft brewery Goose Island agreed to be acquired by Anheuser-Busch, which purchased a 58% equity stake in the brewery. Goose Island founder John Hall argues that the deal enables Goose Island to make investments to increase capacity, an investment necessary for continued profitability. He recognizes that some may be skeptical …

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Market Design Helps People Attain Goals Effectively

Michael Giberson Harvard economic systems designer Al Roth is profiled in the Boston Globe: Academically speaking, Roth is a pioneer of so-called market design: finding situations where a market is failing — often, a place that most people wouldn’t even recognize as a market — and making it work better. Roth has influenced a cadre …

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Onion: Fruit, Vegetable, or Economics Rag?

Michael Giberson What is the deal with Yahoo Answers? Someone asks whether an onion is a fruit or vegetable, and the voted “best answer” says “An onion is a bulb.” What? Also, I’d be remiss in not sharing this: Continued Existence Of Edible Arrangements Disproves Central Tenets Of Capitalism WALLINGFORD, CT—Upending more than two centuries …

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