Encouraging businesses and consumers to interact productively as they pursue their self-interest, Adam Smith’s invisible hand moves a market’s participants.
An Econlife roundup for the week 7.06.14 The tough part of cutting federal spending…more 7.07.14 When a village in India got a new road, surprising economic changes quickly unfolded…more 7.08.14 Who ever thought that a reclining chair could resuscitate…
Just like technology stocks in 2000 and housing in 2005, the cupcake bubble has burst. In 2004 or so, many of us started buying the most amazing cupcakes. 4 inches tall, topped with sprinkles or a cookie, the cupcake might have been pistachio or strawberry…
I usually avoid going to my local AMC movie theater. Decades old, it has had a decaying lobby, saggy seats, and a rather worn-out feeling. Several weeks ago, though, as the only place with a good time to see Chef, I…
Yesterday morning, during my “rantum scoot” around a Nantucket cranberry bog, our group leader unknowingly presented a supply and demand story. This is the bog: Nantucket Cranberries Starting with some history, he said the island of Nantucket was ideally suited to growing…
No, we don’t mean monopoly. A monopoly is the single seller in a large or small geographic area. Monopsony, by contrast, indicates there is a single buyer. Where are we going? Whereas a monopoly has the power to charge too high a price, the amount…
Do you remember those milk mustaches? We first heard “Got Milk?” in 1993. I loved the campaign because, in class, it was the ideal way to illustrate a market that resembled perfect competition. Since firms are small and their products…
Our Wednesday Environment Focus Reporting that Prius was the top selling car in California, Bloomberg said the reason was tough emissions standards. I wonder… In a 2011 paper, economists Alison and Steven Sexton compared voting patterns and Prius ownership in Colorado and Washington…
NYC has lots of cheap parking spaces. The result? I (and many like me) have circled blocks, added to greenhouse gases, used precious hours and exacerbated congestion, all to find an empty muni-meter or free spot. As UCLA Professor Donald Shoup has said through…
Our Wednesday Environment Focus We have intentionally created some of the sounds that our technology makes. Take the beep… You know that beep..beep..beep sound of a truck in reverse. It all began during the 1960s in Boise, Idaho when Ed Peterson, an auto parts…
econlife®
Connecting economics with everyday life.
Located at the intersection of current events, history, and economics, econlife® slices away all of the layers that make economics boring and complex. We like economics and we would like for you to like it too.
