Most modern markets operate on money. I sell my services as an economist, for example, and use the proceeds to buy Tazo Tea, vacation trips, and a surprising number of Apple products. But that approach doesn’t transplant well (so to speak) to living human organs. Many people find the idea of markets in organs repugnant. [...]
Archive for the ‘Microeconomics’ Category
The Miracle of Chained Kidney Transplants
Posted in Microeconomics, tagged Kidneys, Microeconomics, Organs on February 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Oil and Natural Gas Prices Move Even Further Apart
Posted in Energy, Environment, Microeconomics, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on January 9, 2012 | 3 Comments »
In 2010, I wrote a series of posts documenting how oil and natural prices had decoupled from each other (see here and here). For many years, oil prices (as measured in $ per barrel) were typically 6 to 12 times natural gas prices (as measured in $ per MMBtu). That ratio blew out to around [...]
How Do Consumers Spend Engine Efficiency Advances? On Bigger, Faster Cars
Posted in Energy, Microeconomics, tagged Auto, Energy, Gasoline, Incentives, Offsetting Behavior on January 5, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Auto companies have made great strides in improving engine efficiency in recent decades. But those improvements haven’t done much to improve the fuel economy of America’s passenger car fleet. Instead, consumers have “spent” most of those efficiency improvements on bigger, faster cars. MIT economist Christopher Knittel has carefully quantified these tradeoffs in a recent paper in the American Economic [...]
You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure Correctly, NYC Crime Edition
Posted in Data, Microeconomics, tagged Crime, Incentives, Measurement, New York City on January 2, 2012 | 2 Comments »
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. That’s good advice, as far as it goes. But it has a dark underside: managing the measurement rather than actual outcomes. Over at the New York Times, Al Baker and Joseph Goldstein recount a troubling example. To keep reported crime rates low, New York’s Finest may be under [...]
Will New Technology Help People Escape the “Sports Tax”?
Posted in Microeconomics, Technology, tagged Microeconomics, Pricing, Sports, Television on December 16, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Today’s exercise in everyday economics: Brian Stelter and Amy Chozick making the case that cable and satellite TV subscribers are paying a “sports tax” (ht: Jennifer R.). Writing in the New York Times, they say: Although “sports” never shows up as a line item on a cable or satellite bill, American television subscribers pay, on average, about [...]
Why Are Restaurant Dinners Pricier Than Lunch?
Posted in Microeconomics, tagged Microeconomics, Pricing on December 15, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Over at Quora, restaurateur Jonas M. Luster explains why he charges more for items at dinner than at lunch: Lunch isn’t prepared and served by my A-team. Many times waiters and cooks have to prove themselves during lunch before being allowed on the dinner line. This means I pay less in payroll. Lunch doesn’t usually serve [...]
Cuddle in Coach, But Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Posted in Business, Microeconomics, tagged Airlines, Microeconomics, Pricing on December 9, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had a fun article about Air New Zealand’s latest innovation: Cuddle Class. As “the Middle Seat” columnist Scott McCartney describes it: Steve Metz of Houston cuddled up with his wife Jackie and slept as they flew to New Zealand on a small futon. This flying couch wasn’t in a private jet [...]
The Behavioral Economics of Leftover Pizza
Posted in Life, Microeconomics, tagged Behavioral Economics, Humor, Life on November 30, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Jared would be proud of me. Whenever I grab lunch to eat in my office, I head over to Subway for a six-inch Veggie Delite with provolone. Just 280 calories. Yum. Depending on my mood and workload, I usually gobble down my Subway lunch between 12:15 and 1:00pm. On Monday, though, I started eating at [...]
Some Economics of Somali Piracy
Posted in International, Microeconomics, tagged Piracy, Somalia on October 9, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Jeffrey Gettleman has penned a fascinating piece about the 388-day ordeal of two British sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates. Writing in the New York Times Magazine, he recounts how Paul and Rachel Chandler sailed off course between the Seychelles and Tanzania and found their sailboat boarded by ten pirates. Their first order of business? [...]
What Should Economics Do in the Next Decade?
Posted in Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, tagged Economics on October 3, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Over at Economic Principals, David Warsh summarizes 55 short papers about the big questions that face economics. Among the suggestions: Most popular of the pitches, judging from the number of SSRN downloads, is, Why Don’t People and Institutions Do What They Know They Should?, by David Cutler, of Harvard University (a pungent exploration of the [...]
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