Lynne Kiesling Oh, yes, the old 80s girl in me loves the image on what just came in the mail: And the substance behind their point is equally, well, pointed: Yet within its first 100 days the Con-Lib coalition has emerged as a radical force. For the first time since Margaret Thatcher handbagged the world …
The Economist: (Sing with Me!)”Dave and Nick/are Punk Rockers” Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Megan McArdle offers an essay assignment: Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry has an essay question: Tainter’s story goes like this: a group of people, through a combination of social organization and environmental luck, finds itself with a surplus of resources. Managing this surplus makes society more complex–agriculture rewards mathematical skill, granaries require new forms of construction, …
Michael Giberson Preston McAfee and Tracy Lewis introduce Coasian bargaining in their economics textbook with the question, “Can I just bribe my neighbor to stop being annoying?” The complementary question, perhaps asked by the neighbor in question, “Can I just bribe my neighbor to stop being annoyed (or at least not to complain about me)?” …
Michael Giberson From Michael Hiltzik, in the Los Angeles Times, “The false promise of Hoover Dam.” Hiltzik provides a good summary of the political promises and pretenses that allowed the dam to be built in the first place. He then examines the competing demands for the current and future use of the dam. I liked …
Michael Giberson At Constructive Economics, Abe Othman discusses a purported manipulation attempt in Intrade’s Health Care Reform bill market. The nut of the story is that early on March 17th a trader apparently poured a bit of money into the market, briefly driving the price from around 60 down to 35. After a few hours …
When Will Manipulation of Public Prediction Markets Begin to Work? Read More »
Michael Giberson The New York Times ran an editorial on the election of Rand Paul called the “Limits of Libertarianism.” I haven’t been paying much attention to Paul’s campaign or related politics, so don’t comment on Paul’s views or the Times response to them. But I have to draw attention to for the purpose of publicly ridiculing …
Government, Slavery, Jim Crow, The New York Times Read More »
Michael Giberson Fall 2008 was a time of rapidly falling wholesale and retail gasoline prices throughout the United States, interrupted briefly due to the market disruptions of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in early September. In Tennessee, retail price increases surrounding Hurricane Ike resulted in more the 4,000 complaints to the state government. Resulting investigations by …
Tennessee Ag Settles Price Gouging Claim Against Knoxville Gasoline Retailer Read More »
Michael Giberson From Aguanomics: I was talking to a friend, and he mentioned that he’d hired an extra guy under the stimulus program. “Yeah, they are paying 80 percent of his wages and overhead. It’s a win-win for him and me…” “…but then I fired another guy; he just cost too much compared to the …
Anecdotal Evidence on Employment Effects from Stimulus Spending Read More »
Michael Giberson I don’t know the answer, so someone let me know if you do, but has the President of the United States ever declared a state of emergency over a local water main break before? According the the announcement, “The President’s action authorizes … Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief …
Michael Giberson A significant water main break affecting over 2 million people in the suburban Boston area has lead the Massachusetts Governor Patrick Duval to declare a state of emergency. A boil water order is also in effect. Subsequently, the Governor directed the state’s Division of Standards “to closely monitor bottled water prices in areas affected …
Is Price Gouging on Bottled Water Against the Law in Massachusetts? Read More »
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