Economic Theory
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Selling a House in Jersey: a Personal Story of Transaction Costs
“Sellers see fewer dollars from their sales while dealing with time-consuming headaches. Buyers see higher home prices.” ~Paul Mueller
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Public Goods in a Free Society
“Even under this supposed solution to a market failure, we’re getting less public goods than we get shafted for. Like many other well-intentioned public finance policies, in time they turn into pure money grabs.” ~Joakim Book
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Price Theory and Portion Sizes: Why Chipotle Got Cut for Cutting Costs
“Chipotle leadership could try the risky option of waiting out the bad PR, but the brand may not be willing to take that risk. It’s not expensive for customers to switch to a Chipotle substitute.” ~Andrew den Boggende and Thomas Savidge
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Government Failure in One Lesson
“Perhaps the easiest way to explain government failure in one lesson is to remember that there is no such thing as ‘the state.’ Instead, essential decisions about resource use will be made by political actors.” ~Michael Munger
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The Origins of The War on Prices
“The past decade…has normalized the view that tampering with specific prices is no big deal. An unexpected inflation, arbitrarily redistributing income as it does, creates a fertile environment to justify controlling more prices still.” ~Ryan Bourne
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Does Market Concentration Signal Monopoly?
“The Coasean theory of the firm is noticeably absent from antitrust discussions. Failure to understand that firms arise to lower costs can lead to incorrect conclusions.” ~Jon Murphy
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Economists’ Advocacy for a Carbon Tax Is Misguided
“The reality is that bureaucrats and politicians would likely choose a metric aligned with their self-interest or with the interests of those who currently hold power.” ~Kenneth W. Costello
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Correlation Is Not Enough
“The ‘look here, too’ method provides a valuable check on statistical interpretations adopted because they advance someone’s agenda, rather than accuracy.” ~Gary Galles
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Congress Could Unload the Fed’s Weapon
“If Congress could balance its budget, which hasn’t happened since 2001, it would remove a bullet the Fed could shoot at the economy.” ~Vance Ginn
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Wendy’s Won’t Use Dynamic Pricing – But Should They?
“The discount shelf in your lower supermarket is emblematic of the same process as well, albeit in the opposite direction. Variable pricing permits improved resource allocations, including of labor, by responding to real-time conditions.” ~Peter C. Earle
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•
Selling a House in Jersey: a Personal Story of Transaction Costs
“Sellers see fewer dollars from their sales while dealing with time-consuming headaches. Buyers see higher home prices.” ~Paul Mueller
-
•
Public Goods in a Free Society
“Even under this supposed solution to a market failure, we’re getting less public goods than we get shafted for. Like many other well-intentioned public finance policies, in time they turn into pure money grabs.” ~Joakim Book
-
•
Price Theory and Portion Sizes: Why Chipotle Got Cut for Cutting Costs
“Chipotle leadership could try the risky option of waiting out the bad PR, but the brand may not be willing to take that risk. It’s not expensive for customers to switch to a Chipotle substitute.” ~Andrew den Boggende and Thomas Savidge
-
•
Government Failure in One Lesson
“Perhaps the easiest way to explain government failure in one lesson is to remember that there is no such thing as ‘the state.’ Instead, essential decisions about resource use will be made by political actors.” ~Michael Munger
-
•
The Origins of The War on Prices
“The past decade…has normalized the view that tampering with specific prices is no big deal. An unexpected inflation, arbitrarily redistributing income as it does, creates a fertile environment to justify controlling more prices still.” ~Ryan Bourne
-
•
Does Market Concentration Signal Monopoly?
“The Coasean theory of the firm is noticeably absent from antitrust discussions. Failure to understand that firms arise to lower costs can lead to incorrect conclusions.” ~Jon Murphy
-
•
Economists’ Advocacy for a Carbon Tax Is Misguided
“The reality is that bureaucrats and politicians would likely choose a metric aligned with their self-interest or with the interests of those who currently hold power.” ~Kenneth W. Costello
-
•
Correlation Is Not Enough
“The ‘look here, too’ method provides a valuable check on statistical interpretations adopted because they advance someone’s agenda, rather than accuracy.” ~Gary Galles
-
•
Congress Could Unload the Fed’s Weapon
“If Congress could balance its budget, which hasn’t happened since 2001, it would remove a bullet the Fed could shoot at the economy.” ~Vance Ginn
-
•
Wendy’s Won’t Use Dynamic Pricing – But Should They?
“The discount shelf in your lower supermarket is emblematic of the same process as well, albeit in the opposite direction. Variable pricing permits improved resource allocations, including of labor, by responding to real-time conditions.” ~Peter C. Earle