Category Teaching
Public Enemy and public goods
Once upon a time, musicians made money by selling albums. Now that people download music, this strategy doesn't work well. But what is the alternative? In 2007, Radiohead thrilled fans and economists alike with a new approach to music distribution. They distributed their album In Rainbows electronically, allowing fans to pay any price they chose […]
Remembering prisoners of war
For those of us who have not known war, the words of soldiers can help us understand what Remembrance Day is about. Richard Radford is one such soldier. When war broke out in 1939, he left his studies at Cambridge and joined the British army. Captured in Libya in 1942, he spent the remaining war […]
Confessions of a central planner
"So Nick, how come a free-market economist like you is acting like a central planner?" I heard that a lot when I was an associate dean. Sometimes it was said to tease me. Sometimes out of genuine annoyance. I had my reply ready. "There are three ways to allocate resources. The market is best; soviet […]
Firefighting is not a public good
In economics, public goods are ones that are (a) non-excludable and (b) non-rival. Non-excludable means that it is impossible to stop someone from enjoying the public good. For example, radio broadcasts can be picked up by anyone with a receiver. Non-rival means that one person's consumption of the good does not limit the amount available […]
Should we teach supply and demand in French?
A simple post, mainly aimed at people like me who teach Intro Economics. For decades I've been puzzling over the problem of how best to explain to first year students exactly what "quantity demanded" and "quantity supplied" mean. Then it suddenly struck me: it must be so much easier in French! (Can anybody who teaches […]
Why we should stop talking about inventories when teaching macro
Nothing earth-shattering here. This post is about teaching macroeconomics better. But there's just a chance it might help some of you understand macro a little bit better. Whenever we teach the Keynesian Cross (income expenditure) model, and the distinction between National Income Accounting identities and equilibrium conditions, we always talk about inventory accumulation. Planned vs. […]
Some implications of thinking of trade as a form of technology
Mike's post reminding us of the wonderful story of the Iowa car crop – and its message that trade is best thought of as a form of technology – has gotten me thinking about just how powerful an insight this is, and how we probably should be using it more often when we think of […]
Greg Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics — the tourist platter. And math and PC.
When I first read Greg Mankiw's "Ten Principles of Economics" I thought they were embarrassing. But I really liked the rest of the book, and decided to become a Canadian co-author (along with Ron Kneebone and Ken McKenzie of The University of Calgary). I thought that when teaching I would just skim over the 10 […]
Remembering the ballentine
Peter Kennedy passed away suddenly on August 30, after a bicycle ride and swim near his Whistler home. He was the best teacher. His ability to remember students' names was legendary. He did it by association "I remembered your name was Peter because you have a red coat, and my hair is red and my […]
The house price fairy
The house price fairy visited me last night. She offered me three choices: she would instantly double all house prices; she would instantly halve all house prices; or she would leave all house prices the same. "You stupid fairy!" I replied. "Don't you know i already own this house, and I have no plans to […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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