Last year, Venezuela’s inflation rate exceeded 800%. For this year, the data conflicts. While the Wall Street Journal and the IMF say Venezuela is on its way to hyperinflation, Johns Hopk…
Why We Should Like Uber’s Surge Pricing
People who get angry with Uber’s surge pricing should be willing to accept the tradeoff. Without a higher price, the number of drivers would plunge.…
Why a Rain Forest Needs a Price Tag
We can increase rain forest value with a price tag because quantifying something that is priceless more tangibly conveys its worth.…
What Do Coffee and Pencils Have in Common?
Our freshly roasted cup of coffee is the result of a coffee supply chain that depends on prices that create production and distribution incentives.…
Weekly Roundup: From Free Trade to Expensive Airline Tickets
Our economic news summary includes Venezuela’s hyperinflation and Dutch Disease, the NFL’s gender deficiencies, free trade, and new marriage markets.…
The Strange World of Venezuelan Hyperinflation
Because of hyperinflation, Venezuela needs billions of bank notes so that businesses and consumers can pay the insane prices that rise daily.…
What Happens When You Pay What You Want?
Affecting a firm’s revenue, when consumers can determine price through pay-what-you-want, the amount they select depends on their unselfish self-signaling.…
Weekly Roundup: From Chicken Sandwiches to Budget Gridlock
Our economic news summary includes chicken sandwiches, reefers and the supply chain, the internet and the information infrastructure and the federal budget.…
The Most Expensive Way to Make a Chicken Sandwich
In a chicken sandwich are ingredients from around the world that one person can create but the price system gathered them for us at the local supermarket.…
The Restaurant That Lets You Pay What You Want
When “pay what you want” is used to determine restaurant prices, it creates incentives for consumers on the demand side that typically eliminates profit.…