Death to Pennies

Here's a fun video about the usefulness of pennies. Harvard Economics professor Greg Mankiw agrees.

Harvard Economist vs Occupy Movement

Greg Mankiw, Harvard Economist, and professor of Introductory Economics had an interesting day in class on the 2 November. The 'Occupy' Movement came to his class. Rather, they left his class. Read all the details from his balanced account of the situation from his blog, http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-comes-to-ec-10.html

He was later interviewed by NPR. Listen below...



A student of mine sent me this video from College Humor about the 1% (instead of the 99% of the 'Occupy' Movement).

NBA, Netflix and RedBox...the Power of Pricing

Here are some recent news stories showing the power of pricing (or lack thereof...think Elasticity) and the corresponding consumer response. First up, you may have heard how Netflix (Wikipedia) tried to spin off its DVD mailing company as Qwikster (by Benny Envangelista in San Francisco) and raise prices at the same time. Consumers backlashed. Many thousands canceled their subscriptions. A good percentage of those customers switched to the non-subscription service, Redbox (Wikipedia). Redbox is the largest renter of DVD's in the USA. In 2008 they reached 100 million rentals. In 2010 they reached one billion!

Now, Redbox has raised prices too (news story from Marketplace.org). How do you think consumers will respond? What other options do they have, legally (i.e. not downloading torrents/P2P), Amazon, iTunes, Zune/Xbox, cable TV, Satellite (Dish network), SwissCom, T-Com, StarHub or SingTel?

Consider which factors increase the price elasticity of Netflix while at the same time decreasing the price elasticity of Redbox making it more price inelastic allowing the company to successfully raise prices.

How is Redbox, Netflix, and the NBA related? (click read more below)

Groundhog Day!

I love this movie. Groundhog Day!

Tax Havens

I originally posted this video back in March 2011. There is a story about GE not paying any taxes in 2010 included in that post.

USA TODAY - Unemployed?

USA Today - Unemployed? Go to North Dakota! Read this article to find out why so many jobs are in North Dakota.

The New Age of Exploration?

The new land grab. Artic here we come! Listen to this story from APM: Marketplace Radio about countries going to the Artic.

Should we allow countries and companies to go there? What are the implications?

Econ 1 Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Can GORE-TEX Waterproof Against Diseconomies of Scale?

This radio story by NPR discusses the company GORE-TEX and how the CEO Bill Gore limits his employees at each facility to 150 because he feels it allows everyone to feel part of a community. In other words, people will be more productive if they feel like they are a larger part of the company. Turns out that this "productivity" is related to our evolution. Listen to the story, Don't Believe Facebook; You Only Have 150 Friends.

Economics of Drug Dealers

This is the epitome of real world economics. Legalize drugs? Ask a drug dealer for the answer.

The World Bank's role in the Middle East | Marketplace From American Public Media

The World Bank's role in the Middle East | Marketplace From American Public Media

The World's Bank need to be reevaluated says Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab Politics at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. "It's time for international financial institutions to rethink neoliberal economic policies. It's also time to move beyond GDP growth rates when assessing 'human development'."

All food prices are not created equal | Marketplace From American Public Media

Yes, food prices are going up around the world, but it is experienced differently in developing countries versus more developed. Why you ask? Listen to the story here
All food prices are not created equal | Marketplace From American Public Media

Think about determinants of elasticity, food inelasticity, as well as Balance of Payments and Terms of Trade. Describe the difficulties of a becoming more developed when faced with higher food prices.

How Much for a Dinner date? You choose!

In London, some restaurants allowed the customer to choose how much to pay. Check out this video...

No Tax Liability for GE

GE made several billion dollars this past year. They are (or used to be) an American company. They paid zero American taxes on those billions of dollars. Should they?

Listen to this story at APM Marketplace

Turns out that GE is not the only "American" company avoiding U.S. taxes...Zug, Switzerland has been a tax haven for many multinationals (multibillionationals?). Lesley Stahl did this report for 60 minutes.

Inflation App / App Inflation | Economy 4.0 with David Brancaccio | Marketplace from American Public Media

Inflation App / App Inflation | Economy 4.0 with David Brancaccio | Marketplace from American Public Media

this story discusses Inflation and the market basket of goods used to calculate it. Apps are in, Pork shoulder is out...in your opinion, what else should be added or removed?

Coke vs Pepsi...

Turns out the number 1 soft drink is Coke. The number 2 isn't even Pepsi, it's...Diet Coke! Listen here

Some great advertising here...Pepsi Commercial

And Coke versus Coke Zero

AT&T buys T-Mobile USA

AT&T buys T-Mobile instead of Sprint. This is a follow up to the story below on 11 March. What does this mean for consumers, producers?

U.S., others in G-7 sell yen to support Japan - USATODAY.com

IB 2, try and graph this for Tuesday.

Read the article in USA Today...
U.S., others in G-7 sell yen to support Japan - USATODAY.com

or listen to a similar article from Marketplace.org...

G7 Rallies to Weaken Yen

Big Pharma, Oligopoly tactics?

Read for yourself...Suit claims Bristol-Myers bribed doctors to prescribe its drugs - USATODAY.com

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Legendary Shots

Monopolistic Competition or Oligopoly? This is Legendary (Ok, I really just wanted to post this because I thought it was cool).

Sprint merger with Tmobile?

Click the link to listen to the story, Sprint, T-Mobile Resume Merger Discussions

This Oligopoly industry is getting smaller. Is this better or worse for consumers? My quick take...likely higher prices but as the audio suggests, they will have more bargaining power and could bring the Iphone to this new larger mobile carrier.

Solar Panels for Lease

This story is about leasing solar panels for 20 years at $4000. That's about $0.55 per day or about $15 per month for the next 20 years for utilities. This reduces the owner's electricity meter to zero or negative, which means the owner is producing more energy than they are consuming. The tax credit made available by the government is signed over to the leasing company. To me this is a great example of a quasi-public/private endeavor. Public utility company + tax credit + private solar company + consumer + private investor = mixed economy. It is the government providing the proper incentives to encourage private investment by the consumer and producer, which over all reduces (or eliminates?) the negative externality of consumption of electricity.

Why buy a solar panel when you can lease it? | Marketplace From American Public Media

DoubleTree by Hilton To Debut In Slovakia’s Capital City | Business Wire

IB Econ 1, I found your chocolate chip cookies. Read this article...

DoubleTree by Hilton To Debut In Slovakia’s Capital City | Business Wire