From sleeveless jackets to begging brides and young sports teams with no uniforms, the complexities of quotas can produce a slew of unpredictable results.…
The Travels of a Cashew
We seem to be going nuts for cashews. You can see below that the U.S. and India are eating the most. We like our nuts as a snack, in protein bars and as cashew milk. In India, a growing middle class c…
Where to Buy the Cheapest Big Mac
More than a list of hamburger prices, the Big Mac Index provides an easy way to see which currencies are undervalued and overvalued.…
The Reason There Are Fewer Russian McDonald's
Embargoing goods from countries that imposed sanctions, Russia included McDonald’s and ignored the benefits of David Ricardo’s comparative advantage.…
Hamburger Economics
Our Sunday Charts The 2014 Big Mac Index is out and not much has changed. Norway’s Big Macs are most expensive and Chinese Big Macs are cheap. As The Economist explains, starting in 1986, they w…
Our Weekly Roundup: From Traffic Lights to Sneakers, Everyday Economics Explained by 5 Great Economists
Our Econlife roundup for the week 7.14.14 An island without traffic lights displays the benefits of Adam Smith’s laissez-faire…more 7.15.14 Why David Ricardo would approve of where …
A Nutty Demand and Supply Story
Our almond story starts on the demand side in China with a name change. Just like apricot kernals, California almonds had been called xing ren until the apricot kernel growers accused the Americans of…
International Trade: The Story of a Subsidy
Oddly, some US farm subsidies go to Brazil. Imagine a safety net when you think of a subsidy. If prices are too low, then growers get money from the federal government. During the 1930s Great Depressi…
Election Economics: Assessing Outsourcing
Until November 6, at econlife, Mondays will be about presidential election economics. In 2004, when President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers chairman, Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, was lam…
Chicken Economics
Ten chicks. If I were teaching in Uzbekistan instead of Summit, NJ, I might have received 10 Serbian chicks as a part of my salary. According to Radio Free Europe, the Uzbek government partially paid …