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Category Archives: Economics
John Suh is not a lawyer
He is, however, a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the CEO of LegalZoom. So, will new business models like LegalZoom and new technologies like Watson Debater make lawyers and law firms obsolete? We’ve just read Susan Beck’s excellent report “Emerging Technology … Continue reading
The Mission Playground Incident
Does this four-and-one-half-minute video depict a Tragedy of the Commons? Does it falsify or confirm the main tenets of the Coase Theorem? After all, “transaction costs” are low, yet we don’t we see any Coasean bargaining in this situation, or do we …? At last count (12 … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Economics, Law
Tagged Coase Theorem, Property Rights, Tragedy of the Commons
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Nobel Prize 2014: Jean Tirole
Originally posted on A Fine Theorem:
A Nobel Prize for applied theory – now this something I can get behind! Jean Tirole’s prize announcement credits him for his work on market power and regulation, and there is no question that…
#EconomicsInThreeWords
Is Economics deserving of its own Nobel Prize*? Is Literature? In honor of Jean Tirole being awarded the 2014 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel — previous recipients include our intellectual heroes Ronald Coase, John Nash, and Thomas … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Philosophy
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Music Monday: Mexican Coke
Triple hat tip to Erin Geiger Smith for writing up this in-depth report about Mexican Coca Cola in the Sunday Times and for bringing this hard-core Mexican Coke song and this cool thing to our attention. Here is an excerpt from her report (emphasis … Continue reading
#LetGurleyPlay
The University of Georgia Athletic Association made $98.9 million in revenues during the 2013 fiscal year, according to this revealing report in the Athens Banner-Herald. The University of Georgia Athletic Association’s main income sources included $21.2 million in direct football revenue, $23.2 million in ticket contributions … Continue reading
The paradox of automation
Our student Mike Hildebrandt recently brought this mesmerizing essay (with the mysterious title “The Human Factor”) to our attention. The author of the essay, William Langewiesche, describes the last moments of doomed Air France Flight 447 in riveting detail, and he also makes the … Continue reading
The problem of reclining airplane seats
We forwarded our 3 October blog post “The Right to Recline?” to several scholars, including our gentle friends Terry Anderson, Christopher Buccafusco, and Chris Sprigman. (By the way, Professors Buccafusco and Sprigman, in particular, had previously published this thoughtful essay on airplane seat reclining.) In summary, … Continue reading
Posted in Current Affairs, Economics, Property Rights
Tagged Airplane Seats, Cattle Trespass, Coase Theorem, Ronald Coase
2 Comments
Should “The House” always win?
To be more precise, should casinos be able to use the law of negotiable instruments to get around the law of contracts? Or should gamblers be able to use the law of contracts to get around the law of negotiable … Continue reading
The right to recline?
Professors Christopher Buccafusco and Chris Sprigman describe their ingenious Coasean experiment (which at last count has garnered over 1500 comments!) to test how much people value the “right to recline” on airplane seats. Their findings? People’s valuation of reclining vs. not being reclined upon depend entirely … Continue reading
prior probability 