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Posts Tagged ‘Microeconomics’

Why Free is a Bad Price, American Airlines Edition

Posted in Business, Microeconomics, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Companies often run into trouble when they offer a service at a zero price. Not always, of course. Many all-you-can-eat buffets continue to thrive even though the marginal cost of the next chicken nugget is zero. And many content providers manage to stay in business by selling radio, TV, or display ads against the free [...]

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Investing in Memories, Ocelot Edition

Posted in Microeconomics, tagged , on April 30, 2012 | 7 Comments »

A recurring theme of recent happiness research is that when it comes to seeking pleasure, people should “buy experiences rather than things.” People are happier when they skip the shiny baubles (or new high heels) and do something memorable. Over at the Atlantic, Garett Jones gives one economic explanation for this finding: memories are a [...]

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Advanced Game Theory, Golden Balls Edition

Posted in Microeconomics, tagged , , on April 21, 2012 | 3 Comments »

My Twitter feed is, quite rightly, full of links to this remarkable episode of Golden Balls, the British game show that puts contestants in a classic game theory dilemma of “splitting or stealing” the grand prize: If you have time for more, here’s another famous episode, with a very different display of strategy and tactics:

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Should We Blame TurboTax for Tax Code Complexity?

Posted in Microeconomics, Taxes, tagged , , on April 17, 2012 | 4 Comments »

After another grueling tax season, my colleague Howard Gleckman is understandably frustrated with America’s complex tax code. And with instructions like this, who can blame him?: Your ATNOL for a loss year is the excess of the deductions allowed for figuring the AMTI (excluding the ATNOLD) over the income included in the AMTI. Figure this [...]

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Long Spots, Short Stripes

Posted in Life, Microeconomics, tagged , , on March 31, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Ran into Felix Salmon out at the Kauffman Foundation’s economic bloggers confab. His latest Felix TV breaks the contemporary art market down into two simple metrics: $ per spot and $ per stripe. Feliz says buy spots. But a word of warning: Damien Hirst seems hellbent on flooding the dot market. Somehow I think the price [...]

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The Miracle of Chained Kidney Transplants

Posted in Microeconomics, tagged , , on February 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »

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. [...]

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Will New Technology Help People Escape the “Sports Tax”?

Posted in Microeconomics, Technology, tagged , , , 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 [...]

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Why Are Restaurant Dinners Pricier Than Lunch?

Posted in Microeconomics, tagged , 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 [...]

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Cuddle in Coach, But Don’t Get Too Comfortable

Posted in Business, Microeconomics, tagged , , 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 [...]

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The Supply and Demand for War

Posted in International, Microeconomics, tagged , , on July 13, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Wars are becoming more common. Writing at History Today, Kathryn Hadley reports (ht: The Browser): New research by Professors Mark Harrison from the University of Warwick and Nikolaus Wolf from Humboldt University has revealed that between 1870 and 2001, the frequency of wars between states increased steadily by 2% a year on average. “Steadily” might be [...]

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