Economics

Another Day, Another Tyler Cowen Sighting

Michael Giberson The Washington Post Food section ran an article with Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at GMU, blogger at Marginal Revolution, and author of Discover Your Inner Economist. An economist at George Mason University, Cowen has rather unusual criteria for restaurant selection. He doesn’t first look at the menu, the ambiance or the reviews. …

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Nayan Chanda’s Book On The History Of Trade

Lynne Kiesling Last week’s Economist had a writeup and synopsis about Nayan Chanda’s new book, Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization. I have not yet read the book, but given that he starts from the premise that globalization started the moment that humans left Africa, I am certainly intrigued. The rise …

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Stubhub Becomes Major League Baseball’s Official Online Ticket Resale Marketplace

Michael Giberson Major League Baseball has entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with StubHub, an online ticket resale marketplace now owned by eBay. Radio news program Marketplace had a brief story that was far too breezy in the introduction for my tastes: Scott Jagow: In pro sports, ticket scalping is — let’s face it — part …

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Supreme Court Patent Decision Trickles Down Into Precedent

Lynne Kiesling Remember in the spring, when the Supreme Court decided in KSR v. Teleflex that courts should use more flexibility in determining whether new ideas are “obvious” and therefore not patentable? Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article discussing the ramifications of that decision (sub. required): “The Supreme Court has made it clear what …

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Competition + Technology = Business Model Innovation

Lynne Kiesling Recently I mentioned Zappo’s as an example of an innovative business model that defies preconceptions about consumer behavior. Here’s a coda to that observation: the success Zappo’s has seen has brought both imitation and innovation. Hello, perennial gale of creative destruction! Exhibit A: Endless, a new shoe and handbag site with free overnight …

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