Content tagged economics
Blog Entries
Nobel Prize for Literature committee is still fucking up citations. The subjugating power of cliches? What? (Compare them to the citations for … gulfstream/1584
New Yorker article on the ethics and economics of AIDS research. This is blurbed as being on whether it’s appropriate to subject AIDS research … gulfstream/1117
There’s a great article in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review about how Washington—which in 2001 convinced Vietnamese officials … gulfstream/1165
the economics of drug distribution (amusingly academic). Many other good, related, articles: see the "In this Survey" sidebar. gulfstream/483
"My Life as a Nontraditional Ticket Reallocation Special." The alternative economics of ticket scalping. gulfstream/681
Slate is now making money. (Also discussion of how being an arm of Microsoft helps, general analysis of the economics of web publishing.) … gulfstream/1130
Overview of time-sensitive road tolls. Economics prof: “Everyone accepts that if your car is stationary, it’s fine to pay for parking. But if you … gulfstream/2230
“The Iraqi who saved Norway from oil.” The surprising story of an Iraqi who moved to Norway and apparently became instrumental in establishing the … gulfstream/2640
Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air: very educational and informative (free) book by David MacKay (Cambridge professor of physics) on how we can reduce … gulfstream/2611
More newspaper doom and gloom: it’s likely that soon, major US cities will be without a daily paper. See also David Simon’s recent article pointing … gulfstream/2596
Why the state of the stock market is not necessarily indicative of the state of the economy as a whole. gulfstream/2592
Surprising: positive story about Wal-Mart in Boing Boing, from a writer who worked undercover as an associate. Sounds as though he might’ve started … gulfstream/2581
“Cash-strapped American Airlines announced a new series of fees this week that will apply to all customers not currently flying, scheduled to fly, or … gulfstream/2559
Chris Anderson on the Long Tail: “I’ll end by conceding a point: It’s hard to make money in the Tail.” gulfstream/2554
James Surowiecki ever bit as good a blogger as you might expect. Shame about the lack of RSS feed. [Update: A few people pointed out that there is one … gulfstream/2541
James Surowiecki: “All companies, of course, worry about how their stock is doing. But for most the stock price is a product of performance, rather than … gulfstream/2528
Lehman and AIG FAQ, from two of Levitt’s UChicago colleagues. gulfstream/2525
Excellent timeline of the chain of events that led United Airlines’ stock to plunge from $12 to $3 on the strength of a false news story that it had … gulfstream/2516
Negative, rather political review of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: “But Klein was intellectually unfazed. Rather than re-think the economicist … gulfstream/2483
delicious
How Paul Krugman found politics : The New Yorker
A parable about how one nation came to financial ruin. - By Charles Munger - Slate Magazine
Why cable companies bundle their channels : The New Yorker
"Bundling eliminates the problem of fretting about small expenditures, which may be one reason that flat-rate pricing is very common in the vacation industry (cruise ships, all-inclusive travel packages, and so on). It also offers what economists call option value: you may never watch those sixty other channels, but the fact that you could if you wanted to is worth something. Many consumers also perceive bundles as bargains; getting a bunch of things for one price feels like a deal, even when it’s not."
SourceMap - Open Supply Chains
"Sourcemap is an open source project dedicated to tracking, documenting, and mapping where all of the components for our everyday goods come from."
Where Does My Money Go?
Infographic showing how the UK budget is distributed.
Why you can't get iPods at a discount. - By Sean Cooper - Slate Magazine
"And how come some gadgets, like the iPod, cost the same no matter where you shop?"
The Economics of Pinball « Cheap Talk
"Eventually, to keep the pinballers playing, the games became so advanced that entry-level players faced an impossible barrier. High-schoolers in 1986 were either dropouts or professionals in 1992 and without inflow of new players that year essentially marked the end of pinball. In 1992 The Addams Family was the last machine to sell big. By this time, pinball machines used a free-game system called replay boost. After any replay, the score required was increased by some increment. Apparently, only hardcore pinballers were left and this was the only way to prevent them playing indefinitely for free."
why delhi’s buses are so deadly: an economic analysis « Our Delhi Struggle
"The Blueline’s grim numbers stem entirely from two perverse economic incentives: the driver’s salary is wholly dependant on how many fares he picks up, and each bus is in direct competition with every other bus on the route"
Why We Must Ration Health Care - NYTimes.com
rationing healthcare--of course you need to do this!
OECD Factbook eXplorer for analysing country statistics
Gapminder-style statistics for the OECD. Actually maybe it's pretty much the same data.
The Case for Working With Your Hands - NYTimes.com
Eric Rosenfeld Talking LTCM, Ten Years Later
long video of a lecture by eric rosenfeld, one of the principals of ltcm.
Knightian uncertainty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
distinguishes between risk and uncertainty. originally applies to economics, but i think it applies to project management as well. i think the difference, for him, uncertainty is a "risk that is immeasurable, not possible to calculate." (i guess the uncertainties you usually care about are low probability, high impact events.)
Why money messes with your mind - science-in-society - 18 March 2009 - New Scientist
list of some of the ways in which we're irrational about money: more concerned about a different of $10 in buying a meal than in buying a house, for example. (i suspect that part of this is due to necessity ... it's somewhat true that if you look after pennies, the pounds look after themselves ... buy only somewhat.)
Economics of POW Camp
on the surprisingly sophisticate economy that spontaneously sprung up in a wwii prison camp.
Datawocky: The Real Long Tail: Why both Chris Anderson and Anita Elberse are Wrong
What Makes People Give? - New York Times
Kiva.org - Loans that change lives
MicroPlace, an eBay Company: Make an investment, help relieve global poverty.
Behind the Fiendish Complexities of Airfare Pricing
The Pirates’ Code: Online Only: The New Yorker
james surowiecki on the surprisingly democratic nature of pirate ship governance
Pigovian tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
tax levied to change behaviour, rather than raise revenue
Stocks -- Coach Class of Capitalism: Michael Lewis
Myths about the developing world (Amazing graphics) (TEDTalks, Hans Rosling) - Google Video
Esquire:Feature Story:Three Things You Don't Know About Aids In Africa
Mind the Gap
arch-capitalism! kinda lazy economics here too, but provoking nevertheless.
Factsheet - Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
strange unit of currency used by the imf. (someday i'd like to understand this.)
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | What's a little debt between friends?
cityofsound: London hasn't changed
Sample Chapter for Manning, A.: Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets.
The Dark Side of China’s Rise
chinese economy about to do not so well?
Introductory Economic Analysis