Asking if bitcoin is a security, a commodity, money, or property, we get a list of different answers that lead us to regulatory questions.…
Weekly Roundup: From Santa’s Salary to Holiday Spending
This week’s economic news summary includes Apple’s corporate taxes, Santa’s GDP connection, seasonal spending, the gender gap and the brain and shopping.…
Weekly Roundup: From Aging in China to Smiling in Denmark
Our economic news summary includes social welfare and Denmark, crowdsourcing and contests, hitting the debt ceiling, aging concerns and expensive lobsters.…
What We Can Learn from Venezuelan Inflation
Shortages, long lines, and panic buying are several ways that hyperinflation is creating chaos for local and foreign firms and consumers in Venezuela.…
Weekly Roundup: From Affluent Mates to Successful Names
Our everyday economics includes tradeoffs, deposit insurance, supply chain, bias, human capital, income inequality, marriage markets and Federal Reserve.…
Weekly Roundup: From Old Age to Old Signatures
Our Posts Roundup Sunday 12.14.14 The mystery of the missing magazines…more Monday 12.15.14 Where Italian needs a connection…more Tuesday 12.16.14 Which movie stars…
The Nudge Toward a Goldilocks Savings Rate
We need to raise the low U.S. savings rate with new incentives like a lottery on savings deposits because households and business investment need savings.…
Coin Matters
Hearing that Zimbabweans had a limited supply of coins, I recalled one person’s response to Starbucks’ price hike to $2.01 for a tall coffee in NYC: “I can’t believe it. Now I need to walk…
Should We Keep the Penny?
Because cost is up and use is down, the Royal Canadian Mint stopped producing pennies and, during the fall, will stop distributing those that exist. Should we also eliminate the penny? Pennies are exp…
Just Like Yap Money
To a Yap islander, in 1903, a 12-foot limestone wheel had considerable value. Described by NPR’s Planet Money, the wheels, as small as a foot in diameter and as large as twelve, composed the isl…