The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price System on Sep 14th, 2011
Josh Wright reproduced a chart used recently in a piece by David Leonardt. Here is the chart: The article (and chart) is lamenting the fact that healthful foods prices (relative) have been increasing faster than for “unhealthy” calorie dense foods. Folks might be tempted to look at this chart to demonstrate that the relatively high cost of [...]
Posted in Price System on Sep 13th, 2011
Economists have long known that there are often disparities between what a consumer would be willing to pay to purchase a good he has yet to own versus how much he would be willing to accept to part with that same good. Here is a simple example. Imagine you purchased a delicious box of processed [...]
Posted in Price System on Sep 7th, 2011
I was working up an essay topic the other day in which I wanted to ask my students why they think oil companies catch as much grief as they do when I stumbled upon this chart: What a great chart and what a great touchstone to have students write essays on supply, demand, prices, capital [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price System on Aug 24th, 2011
In a mostly excellent book from Bill Bryson (At Home) we read the following: Just at this time, sugar prices went into a depression and Beckford ended up uncomfortably exposed to the downside of capitalism (wintercow emphasis added). Falling prices are a signal that the marginal value of a good (in this case sugar) is [...]
Posted in Environment, Fun Facts, Price System on Jul 31st, 2011
According to the National Research Council of Canada: LEED buildings used 18-39% less energy per floor area than their conventional counterparts. However, 28-35% of LEED buildings used more energy than their conventional counterparts. I am sure that LEED building standards are favored by the construction and contractor lobbies as such standards raisethe cost of construction. By the [...]
Posted in Personal Finance, Price System on Jul 3rd, 2011
Once graduation hits and the students go home, I rarely head into my office. Many of my class-notes and books are there, and that is a true cost of not heading in, but I generally really dislike my commute for a whole host of reasons. “Pick up and move!” you might say to me. I’d [...]
Posted in Price System on May 25th, 2011
According to the BLS, “law enforcement” is the 12th most dangerous occupation in America. It stands behind garbage collecting, truck driving, farming and ranching and taxi0cab driving. Firefighters are much lower down that list. Among the policemen, half of all deaths (as regrettable as they are) come from automobile and motorcycle accidents. The point of [...]
Posted in Price System on May 18th, 2011
DISCLAIMER: Most of the next 10 days’ posts were written a week or more ago. A few weeks ago this company reported record 2nd quarter revenues of $24.67 billion and record second quarter profits of $5.99 billion. That is $67 million per day of profits! It’s net profit margins were an astounding 24.3% for this [...]
Posted in Price System on May 10th, 2011
I enjoy reading our local parenting magazine, but in every issue there are one or two articles that I am better served by not reading carefully, or simply skipping. I need some way to tie myself to the mast. But I was getting low on blog material for the day, and thought this would be [...]
Posted in Price System on Apr 17th, 2011
Gas prices have risen nationwide by roughly $1.00 per gallon over the previous 12 months. In Rochester, we pay about $3.90 per gallon right now. What does this mean for a typical family? I’d argue that my family is pretty typical. I commute about 22 miles per day to work in our fuel efficient Mazda [...]
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