Economic Thinkers

January 4, 2015

What a Blind Taste Test Showed About Beer

Behavioral economic ideas show that product differentiation and consumer preference are more from branding than the taste of colas or beers.

December 22, 2014

The Seven Ways We Pay For Free Parking

Including congestion, wasted gas, time and emissions, cheap parking creates negative externalities that variable pricing of parking spaces can eliminate.

December 16, 2014

Why Academy Award Winners Might Live Longer

Relating income inequality to the stress felt by low status Bolivian Tsimane men and academy award losers, researchers said that stress that harms health.

December 11, 2014

Is Your Favorite Economist Biased?

Illustrated through word use and data selection in research, politically liberal and conservative economists display a tendency toward confirmation bias.

November 27, 2014

A Bigger (Thanksgiving) Pie or Equal Slices?

Increasing income inequality by moving from communal farming to individual plots, Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford changed income redistribution.

November 25, 2014

What An Unemployment Rate Does Not Tell You

A single statistic like the unemployment rate for Japan, the European Union and the U.S. can be misleading until we look more closely at what it represents.

November 4, 2014

The Benefits of Perpetual Federal Debt

Very long term federal debt that has no date for redemption like UK First World War bonds and U.S. Revolutionary War debt depend on good public credit.

October 29, 2014

How Chinese Economic Growth Relates to Restaurants and Pilots

China might not fuel world economic growth if instead of a 7 percent real GDP growth rate forecast, we use a regression to the mean of 3.9 percent.

October 26, 2014

An Economist’s Definition of Misery

While a misery index shows a nation's inflation and unemployment rates, the eurozone's high unemployment might create disproportionate unhappiness.

October 21, 2014

Why There is Less Marriage

New attitudes that value marriage less and new economics through which women have more pay and education and men work less have changed marriage markets.

October 12, 2014

When Does Practice Really Matter?

Since education creates positive externalities that fuel economic growth, understanding how to develop expertise through human capital formation is crucial.