Category Everyday economics
Elinor Ostrom, you were turtley right
Mother turtle laying eggs on banks of Rideau River Elinor Ostrom, Nobel-prize winning political economist, died on June 12, 2012. That same day, a mother turtle pulled her way out of the Rideau River, and made her nest on the river bank. A turtle's idea of a good nesting place is somewhere with soft, loose […]
Economic Forecasting: Is Google Trends the Future?
Google Trends is a quick and popular way to assess the importance of ideas, events and trends by looking at the results of people’s web searches. In fact, as is well known, it has been used to study flu activity based on searches for flu related terms. And, right here on WCI, it has been […]
Taxpayers need warm glows too
Charles Sonnibank, D.D. by deed dated October 1635, bequeathed a reserve rent, out of land at Broome in the Parish of Hopesay, of 13 pounds, 6 shillings, 8 pence to be paid quarterly at the Rectory to Ten Poor Widows of Ludlow, the Rector to retain 6 shillings 8 pence for his care in receiving […]
No, you may not speak to my class
Because I would be abusing my authority if I said "yes". So you shouldn't even ask. [Updated: see below] This post is about teaching economics, though it could be about teaching anything else. It's also about allocating scarce resources between competing ends, which is the subject matter of economics.
Oil, art, and silver plate
Damian Ortega's sculpture False Movement (Stability and Economic Growth) consists of three oil barrels perched upon a rotating platform. It's a politically motivated art work – "Stability and Economic Growth" was a Mexican election campaign slogan – with an unsubtle message. An oil-based economy is precarious and vulnerable to collapse; the appearance of economic growth is false […]
A libertarian at liberty
Laura Ingalls Wilder left the royalties from the Little House in the Prairie series to her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Rose had no living children of her own, so she bequeathed the rights to the Little House series to Roger MacBride. One account of why Wilder left everything to MacBride is the adopted grandson theory: MacBride was […]
Eliminating milk quotas: a thought experiment
There are three ways to reduce the price of a product. The first is through technological innovation – the reason why the price of computing power and memory storage is now so low. The second is to cut wages, or the price of other inputs. Even though the basic technology of sewing t-shirts has not […]
Modern medicine, warts and all
Warts epitomize the dilemmas of modern medicine. They are pervasive – Verruca Vulgaris is called "the common wart" for a reason. They're not life threatening, but they diminish life quality. They can be treated with the latest high tech laser weaponry – or left to their own devices, as warts not infrequently go away without treatment. […]
Why is JSTOR so difficult (for idiots like me) to use? (Updated X2 with good news)
[Update 1: see the response from Brian Larsen, User Services Manager, JSTOR, in the comment below. I commend them for reading, responding, and for trying to make JSTOR easier to use.] [Update 2: IT WORKS! Brian has done it (for Carleton anyway, and I think he's working on the rest). And I don't even have […]
Rat choice theory
The magnificent edifice of modern microeconomics is built on a simple model of human behaviour: rational choice theory. The rational person has goals; things she wants and values. She makes choices; she acts to achieve her goals. Saints can be rational, and so can sinners. What matters is having preferences and making choices, whatever those choices […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments