Rdan David Zetland at Aguanomics had some fun with a lecture and thought exercise. 02 November 2009The Political Economy of Lobbying Last week, I taught my students about different auction techniques. After I auctioned four books under different rules, I auctioned $1.00 for $3.75. Now before you say “WTF?” (or perhaps I am too late!), […]

Robert Waldmann I am eager to learn from this blog again. A problem with solar and wind generation of electricity is the sun isn’t always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing and it is costly to store energy. I don’t see why energy can’t be stored using hydroelectric dams. They store huge amounts of […]

by Bruce Webb Divorced One and I are having what I think is a useful exchange that started with my post on Eligibility and Enrollment which he followed up with More on the Public Option. If you haven’t read that please do as this piece won’t make much sense otherwise. DOLB and I now agree […]

It took me many years to understand the phrase “moral hazard.” It’s a fundamental tenet of economics, usually used to explain that, since consumers are untrustworthy, businesses need to charge them more.* It was finally cleared up for me in the midst of a presentation last year about how it’s a “moral hazard” issue that […]

By Spencer, The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2%. Except for the peak rate of 10.8% after the 1982 recession this is the highest in the post WW II era. The overall tenor of the report was very similar to the past three months reports and sent the message that the economy is no longer collapsing […]

lifted from comments by run 75441 These are comments that I found interesting describing change to manufacturing processes over tha last few decades. It made for a foil next to Martin ford’s projections and our understanding of past events. It is not a post but I learned a few things. “The key example is stamps […]

Rdan Martin Ford offers one man’s look into the future of a world in the USA of the results of continued increasing productivity, increasing income inequality, declining wage compensation, and consumption supported by debt. Robert touched on the issue recently, and Sandwichman has developed a range of thoughts on labor at Econospeak. One post cannot […]

by Divorced one like Bush Bruce Webb put up a post titled “Health Care Exchange: Eligibility vs. Enrollment“. I have gained some clarification on the subject and have shared it with Bruce. I have asked him to comment also. There is a concern as to whether access to the Public Option (PO) was limited. Bruce’s […]