There are some good reasons that most of us are contributing to a reputation inflation that diminishes the meaning of an Uber driver rating score.…
Business
Formally called the theory of the firm, the business category focuses on ownership, production and competition. Our goal is to understand business behavior. For ownership, topics include the corporation and sole proprietorships. For production, the focus involves maximizing profits. With competition, topics relate to a continuum that spans the 4 basic market structures: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly.
What We Don’t Know About Dirt
MLB stadium infields might look like dirt but really, firms have competed to prove that their combination of clay, silt and sand is unique.…
Why the Retail Apocalypse Could Be a Renaissance
Even with mall traffic declining and stores closing, retail restructuring might lead to a renaissance fueled by creative destruction rather than an apocalypse.…
McDonald’s Soggy French Fries Problem
Because of their new delivery partnership with UberEats, McDonald’s has a soggy French fries problem that they need to solve.…
What Economists Say About Roller Coasters
In a top ten list of roller coaster economics, we can include everything from the cost of a kidney stone to world trade and queueing.…
The Hopportunity Cost of the Craft Beer Name Shortage
Craft brewery competition got tougher as the number of craft breweries went up and the number of available beer names went down.…
New Figure Skating Music…But Who Pays?
Now that music with words can accompany Olympic figure skating, there is less classical music, more hip-hop and Beyoncé, and some questions about intellectual property rights.…
The Unusual Ad That Sells Washing Machines
Samsung’s washing machine competition demonstrates typical oligopoly behavior through a 66 minute ad that stars red socks.…
The Downside of Winning the Amazon Race
Requiring a multi-billion dollar package of tax incentives and other inducements, winning the contest for Amazon’s HQ2 might not be as good as it sounds.…
The Newest Battle in the Washing Machine Trade War
The U.S. tariffs that target South Korean washing machine imports have created new incentives on the supply and demand sides of the market.…