An Uber economist tells us that people are more likely to schedule a ride during a surge when their cell phone battery is low. Where are we going? To the supply side of Uber. Uber Driver Behavior A typical taxi…
Chips and Cheese Insight
For complementary goods and services like cheese and chips, peanut butter and jelly or weddings and bridal gowns, their demand rises and falls together.
Caffeine Highs and Lows
Among the biggest coffee drinkers in the world, euro-zone consumers are cutting back. As one Milan café owner explained, “Since the beginning of the year most of our regulars cut their coffees from around four to two a day. Sometimes,…
A Top Selling Artist
At a Christie’s auction, a painting of a candle by German artist Gerhard Richter sold for $16.5 million. A recent documentary on this 80-year-old artist shows him painting in his studio and attending gallery and museum exhibitions of his work. Neither the…
Paying the Simpsons
Rather than accept a 45% salary cut, the voices of Bart, Homer, Marge and Lisa have said this might be their last season. Reportedly paying close to $8 million a season to each of the major voices, 20th Century Fox…
The Power of the Market: Part 1
Maybe the market is more powerful than the Congress. First, some history… Hoping that farmers would earn a living wage, in 1933, the U.S. government decided to subsidize crop prices. The goal was “parity,” a level of purchasing power that…
Oil Dilemmas
The good news? We are driving more again–more miles than any year since 2007. The bad news? We are driving more again–more miles than any year since 2007.. Here are the facts from a WSJ article. With the recession and higher…
The Afghan Votes Market
In Kunduz Province, the price of a vote was $15 while in Kandahar, it was closer to $1. Do we have a market? Just like shoes or shirts, it appears that the price of an Afghan vote was determined by…
A Demand and Supply Lesson
A recent NPR report on the changing status of marijuana in California is also a supply and demand story. The story begins in 1983 when the Reagan administration sought to decimate pot production in California. As a result, supply would…
Hot Wing Markets
Opening on April 1 in NYC, the Exchange Bar & Grill has food and drink prices that respond instantaneously to demand. As described in a Reuters article, if everyone wants hot wings, then, in $.25 increments, the price increases; if…
