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Tag Archives: Economics
Why do consumers still purchase GM cars? *
According to this working paper by professors Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson in the Harvard Business Review, GM’s market share in the US fell from 62.6% to 19.8% between 1980 and 2009 … In other words, a large fraction of US consumers … Continue reading
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Tagged Consumer Behavior, Economics, General Motors, Rational Choice
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Thoughts On Northwestern Football Unionization
Originally posted on Cheap Talk:
These are my thoughts and not those of Northwestern University, Northwestern Athletics, the Northwestern football team, nor of the Northwestern football players. As usual, the emergence of a unionization movement is the symptom of a…
The tragedy of the outer space commons?
Check out this fascinating paper Earth Orbit Debris: An Economic Model in which the problem of space debris is modeled as a negative externality. What is the optimal number of space satellites, and who decides? Do you believe there are already too many … Continue reading
Economists are not scientists
Sorry Professor Mankiw, but economics is not really a science. Economics is politics and normative value judgements all the way down, and you yourself end up admitting as much in your most recent essay in the Sunday Times. So why do … Continue reading
Do infants have preferences or utility functions?
This seemingly intractable question is easy enough to answer if you are an academic economist. All you need do is simply assume your answer is yes. But is this any way to search for truth? Doesn’t the economic approach fail … Continue reading
Why isn’t the Crimean peninsula worth defending?
She is certainly worth stealing and taking by force, which is what the Russian Federation appears to be doing as we write up this pithy blog post … If you were an advisor to Oleksandr Turchynov, the new (and unelected) prime minister … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Crimea, Current Affairs, Economics, Laws of War, Strategy
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What is the optimal speed limit on toll roads?
Is it 80 mph? 90? 100? You tell me …
Self-explanatory?
This is a “GDP map” of the US in which each State is renamed for a country with a similar level of economic output or GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Although GDP is an imperfect and crude measure of economic prosperity, this … Continue reading
The economics of Christmas
How “inefficient” is Christmas and the tradition of gift-giving generally? According to this paper, The deadweight loss of Christmas, published in the prestigious American Economics Review 20 years ago this month (and from which the figure above is taken), holiday gift-giving … Continue reading
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Tagged cheap talk, Christmas, Deadweight Loss, Economics, Gifts, scientism
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The law and economics of Star Trek
Several “Star Trek scholars”–including Matthew Yglesias, Rick Webb, and Joshua Gans–have recently speculated about the economics of Star Trek. How does the economy (and legal system, we would add) work in the world of Star Trek? Does the United Federation of … Continue reading
prior probability 