It’s not that we don’t manufacture anything anymore. We just need fewer manufacturing jobs because we are using more technology to increase output.…
The Importance of a Beer Pipeline
A perfect example of how capital makes a firm more efficient, Belgium’s beer pipeline displayed how new technology saves time.…
The Cost of Raising Children
Behavioral economists like Gary Becker say that the family is like a factory where land, labor and capital are combined to “produce” goods like children.…
The Economics of Checklists
I just took a relative to a local hospital’s emergency room. Like Atul Gawande described in his book, The Checklist Manifesto, a nurse first noted “four physiological data points–bod…
A New Cause of the Housing Bubble
In the 663 page report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (remember them???), the 2000-2011 real estate boom and bust is blamed on relatively predictable conditions. Just glancing at their c…
Monopolistic Competition: Cupcakes
The year was 2009, the GDP was sinking and unemployment soared to 10.1%. And yet, cupcakeries were proliferating. Why? And why now, with the economy far healthier and the consumer far happier, are gou…
Creative Destruction: 30 Years of the Music Industry
Does anyone remember LP records? In 1980, the music industry was dominated by LP/EP. With LP standing for long play and EP, extended play vinyl records, both represented almost 60% of the revenue gene…
Factors of Production: Organic Farming
Yesterday morning, my 4 mile walk seemed faster than usual because I listened to Lisa Turner talk about Laughing Stock, her organic farm. Interestingly, her conclusion focused on profit. Here are some…