Category Everyday economics
Can government intervention ever be sufficiently sensitive?
In South Africa the signs of AIDS are subtle, but ever present. Dispensers with free condoms in every university washroom. A red AIDS ribbon painted on the wall of the Knysna hospital. Another on the entrance to the Muizenberg cemetery, where wooden crosses and flowers in plastic bottles mark the resting places of those who […]
Baboons’ deathly rational calculus
Baboon checking out the buffet at Storms River Mouth restaurant Baboons are rational. They minimize the effort required to attain a given number of calories or, alternatively, maximize the amount of calories obtained from a given amount of effort. Given a choice between spending hours searching for fruit and seeds, or scarfing some left […]
Freedom, fried?
The message is clever, inspirational….
A plug for optimal currency areas
Pictured on the right is my current collection of plugs and chargers – North American-type plug for (locked) Canadian cell phone, UK type plug for UK phone, charger with Europlug for South African phone (not ideal, but the phone was only $15), plus a UK and South African adaptor thrown in for artistic effect. […]
Take that, Steve Saideman
My colleague, Steve Saideman, has a thing about milk in bags. On Saideman's Semi-Spew he claims that, as compared to gallon milk jugs, they're an "inferior technology." They're not even good for the environment because "bags in which milk may be delivered have no other purpose. A gallon jug, on the other hand, has a vast array […]
Why Is Manufacturing Special?
Andrew Coyne has an excellent piece in the National Post dealing with why there are no good reasons for corporate handouts in the wake of yet another round of assistance to the automobile sector. He asks what the economic rationale for this assistance is – that is, what is the economic value? He argues that […]
Harmless remedy or dangerous pharmaceutical?
In Canada, melatonin is deemed to be a "nutritional supplement." It's sold in most pharmacies and health food stores as a natural and healthy way of overcoming jetlag or ensuring a good night's sleep. In the UK, melatonin is a harder to come by. In 1995, its designation was changed from nutritional supplement to "medicinal product", which meant that […]
The Macroeconomics of Middle Earth
Smaug the dragon is typically viewed as a fiscal phenomenon, depressing economic activity by burning woods and fields, killing warriors, eating young maidens, and creating general waste and destruction. Yet peoples – whether elvish, dwarvish, or human – have considerable capacity to rebuild. Why did the coming of Smaug lead to a prolonged downturn in […]
Does not ship to this address
Dad wants a golf ball retriever for Christmas. I found the perfect one on Amazon – the #1 selling Callaway 15 foot golf ball retriever for $27.80. But when I went to check out my purchase, the dread message appeared: "Does not ship to this address." I had been browsing on amazon.com, not amazon.ca.
The Shopping Cart Puzzle, or Intermediate Micro takes on Behavioural Economics
Today's typical grocery store shopping cart is much larger today the shopping carts of yesteryear. The question is: why? A behavioural economist would observe that people buy more when shopping carts are larger. For example, an AER article by Wansink, Just and Payne notes: ….consumption can also be unknowingly influenced by environmental cues—benchmarks or reference […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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