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
delicious
How we buy plane tickets and why it's ruining air travel - FlightCaster
Funding the Church of England | Church of England
Where Church of England gets its money from.
The sting of poverty - The Boston Globe
How to Afford Anything
Mostly about ways to save money and be cheap with your personal finances. Some nice thoughts here. The guy does sound really cheap (uses coupons on first date) but there's some good stuff and ideas. "Never ask an insurance company to pay something you could afford to pay for yourself. You pay heavily for that privilege, if they pay out at all." "People who receive tips almost always appreciate the tip far more than you do, effectively magnifying your money. When I drop a $10 tip on a $40 meal, that $10 means more like $20 to the server. I've turned $10 into $20. You can't afford not to tip."
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