Category Frances Woolley
The concrete impacts of taxes
Between 1695 and 1851, the English government levied a tax on windows. The window tax was relatively easy to administer. A person's tax liability could be calculated by counting their windows. It had progressive elements. People with higher incomes had larger houses, and more windows, thus paid more in taxes. Houses with fewer than 10 (later […]
Most liked posts of 2011
What WCI readers liked on Facebook in 2011 (number of likes in parentheses): The mathematics generation gap (205) This is what a balance-sheet recession looks like, and it's not pretty (89) No, we really don't want to reduce inequality (73)
Does Christmas Really Create Deadweight Loss?
"I want a baby doll and a waterproof [coat] with a hood and a pair of gloves and a toffee apple and a gold penny and a silver sixpence and a long toffee." Annie Howard, Christmas 1911. In 1993, Joe Waldfogel asked his undergraduates to estimate the total amount paid by the gift-givers for all […]
Books for budding economists
"Magrathea is a myth, a fairy story, it's what parents tell their kids about at night if they want them to grow up to be economists, it's…" Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What books should you give your children (nieces, nephews, friends) if you want them to grow up to become economists?
Pigou and Paternalism
Here is a question from the final exam for my public finance course: A typical person’s demand for potato chips is given by p=5-q where q=the number of packages of chips purchased, and p is the price of chips in dollars per package. The marginal cost of producing potato chips is $1 per package. The […]
What not to wear, economist edition
What should you wear for an academic job interview? Ariel Rubinstein suggests casual attire: I would argue that wearing jeans and a t-shirt is your dominant strategy: If you are a good student, then a department that will not give you a job because of your "sloppy" appearance does not deserve to have you. If you […]
Why “great teacher” doesn’t get you on the short list
I'm spending today doing course outlines, meeting with students, and reading letters of reference.* Carleton is hiring this year. I'm on the labour/behavioural economics committee, which so far has received over 100 applications. A candidate's letters of reference are a key part of the package. Generally I skip to the end and read the last […]
Could periodontal competition make root canals more expensive?
On the right, the evil representative of the dental industry, seeking to maintain dentists' monopoly on the provision of all dental services. On the left, the noble entrepreneur, who only wishes to make the world a brighter place by providing safe, affordable teeth-whitening services. This image is taken from a video created by the libertarian […]
What is actuarially fair insurance?
Actuarially fair insurance has an expected net pay-off of zero. From a consumer's point of view, an insurance contract is actuarially fair if the premiums paid are equal to the expected value of the compensation received. This expected value is, in turn, defined as the probability of the insured-against event occurring multiplied by the compensation […]
What could we do better?
We're sending the blog in for a tune-up. We're planning to tidy up the side-bar, make the "search" function easier to find, and do a few other small tweaks. What changes (if any) would you like to see?
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