Driving to and from NYC, I have been listening to Part 2 of “America and the New Global Economy,” a Teaching Company course. Interesting in every way, the professor, Timothy Taylor, combin…
The GDP and Measuring Happiness
Ed Koch, when he was NYC…
Measuring Happiness
On September 27, I questioned whether anyone could develop a better measure of well-being than the GDP even when Dr. Stiglitz’s commission suggested the possibility. Perhaps confirming the chall…
Down to Earth and "Up in the Air"
Yesterday I saw “Up in the Air”, the new George Clooney movie that has been called a comedy. As Ryan Bingham, Clooney was a “transition specialist”. Firms hired his employer to…
More Than a Price
Listening to a wonderful Radio Lab (WNYC 10/09/09) podcast on Numbers, I started to think about a comment about what you can learn from a gas pump. $1.40? Maybe a teenager with little to spend. $10.04…
A Sick Health Care Bill?
Reading the Concord Colition’s 15 page assessment of health care reform provides a sound sense of the questions I would like to ask. http://www.concordcoalition.org/files/uploaded-pdfs/1223Final…
Should We Stop Giving Holiday Gifts?
According to Wharton School economist Joel Waldfogel, we might be better off if we stop gift giving. Dr. Waldfogel says that all too often, the value of the gift to the recipient is less than the pric…
Pleasing Ricardo
During the 1990s, ignoring the protests of horrified Italian cheesemakers, the US placed a tariff on Pecorino cheese. The reason was bananas. Favoring their former colonies, the EU taxed bananas comin…
Who Should Get A Kidney?
Some say that it is unethical to pay someone for a kidney while others say it is unethical to use a method (a government list) that makes fewer donor organs available. As always, choosing is refusing.…
Congestion Pricing in Israel
Run privately, guaranteeing 70kph (43.5 mph), a toll lane will be created on a busy Israeli road. More traffic–price up; less traffic, price drops. Another solution to the tragedy of the commons…