Category Everyday economics
Are faith and health care substitutes?
"Every single 1st world nation that is irreligious shares a set of distinctive attributes. These include handgun control, anti-corporal punishment and anti-bullying policies, rehabilitative rather than punitive incarceration, intensive sex education that emphasizes condom use, reduced socio-economic disparity via tax and welfare systems combined with comprehensive health care…" Gregory Paul and Phil Zuckerman. People in […]
The MX6 bitch bolt and technical progress
I need a mental health break from macro/money. It's stressing me out too much. Plus, things like the MX6 bitch bolt are just as important in the big scheme of things. On the rear ("right") side of the V6 engine on a Mazda MX6, next to the firewall, is a small metal bracket. It's about […]
Bulgarian snapshots: An economist on holiday
It's been 20 years since the Soviet Union collapsed, taking the Bulgarian economy with it. Twenty years of transition and rebuilding. Bulgaria has (mostly) abandoned communism, (mostly) embraced capitalism and, in 2007, joined the European Union. All of which makes it a great place for an economist's holiday…
An unintended consequence of minimum wages?
I have a theory. Employers offer a wage consisting of monetary compensation plus non-monetary benefits. Non-monetary benefits include, for example, free or discounted coffee, flexible work hours, breaks, a safe working environment, and so on. They choose the combination of monetary and non-monetary compensation that allows them to hire the required workforce at the minimum […]
Wife jokes as an indicator of marital discord
Last night I was watching a Best of Dave Allen DVD. I like the funny wordplay, but some of the wife jokes are lame. A wife joke is a joke like this one: "First guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!" Second guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."
Canadian mortgage debt
I feel bad about writing too many abstruse theory posts. How many angels can dance on the head of a monetary pin? Here's something more practical. Think of it as a companion to Livio's post about Canadian house prices. Why would we worry if Canadian house prices are overvalued? One important reason (though not the […]
Are Quebec-born NHL coaches more likely to win the cup?
Historically French Canadians have been underrepresented on English Canadian NHL teams, relative to their representation on U.S.-based teams. The underrepresentation of people from Quebec is particularly dramatic behind the bench, in the coaching staff.
Adverse selection and single-blind peer review
The American Economics Association has announced that, as of July 1, 2011, its journals will be moving from double-blind to single-blind peer review. The identity of a paper's author will now be revealed to any potential referees. The Association gives three reasons for its decision: "Easy access to search engines increasingly limits the effectiveness of […]
Literary You-genics
In days of old, literature was subject to strict population controls. As John A Hobson put it back in 1910: "Before the arts of printing and of reading became common, most of the great deeds of man, his finest thoughts, his noblest feelings, perished for lack of enduring record and easy accurate communication…. Almost all that […]
Asset Management
My brother thinks of himself as a farmer, which he is. But I think of him as an asset manager. He has chosen to hold his assets in land, tractors, ploughs; and that's him, driving his tractor, pulling his plough over his land, fixing the tractor, fixing the plough, managing his assets. He earns his […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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