Economic Ideas

May 16, 2012

Learning From the Low End

Sometimes it’s better to be at the bottom than the top. Explaining, Harvard’s Clay Christensen starts his story with the huge integrated steel firms and ends […]

November 28, 2011

The First Credit Default Swap

Some of the euro zone’s problems actually started with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez calamity, when an Alaska jury said that […]

November 27, 2011

Happy Pecan Farmers

With soaring demand from China and less supply in the U.S., you have some very happy pecan farmers. However, they have one big problem. Theft. Armed […]

November 24, 2011

A Plymouth Plantation Reprise

Perhaps even more relevant today, this was our blog for last Thanksgiving: In 1623, two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford was worried about […]

November 23, 2011

College Matters

Assume you are an 18 year-old high school graduate with $102,000 to use for a lifelong investment. These are your choices: triple-A rated bonds housing common […]

November 21, 2011

If You Were the Supercommittee…

This simulation from Pew is a great way to understand what the supercommittee is trying to do. Called “the Pew Budget Challenge,” it presents close to […]

November 20, 2011

California and Kentucky

Could we compare California’s relationship with Kentucky to Germany and Greece? Somewhat like Germany and Greece… California and Kentucky share the same currency. California has a […]