Monthly Archives: March 2007
Taxing the poor to help the rich, or the other way around?
People have attacked Bush’s tax cuts as tax cuts for the rich. Many people seem to believe that the government helps the rich and disregards the poor. The notion is that some people think that the rich pay too little in taxes and not enough help is given to the poor. The questions of “how [...]
“Block this site!” say Economists
I got an email over yesterday that said: Block this site! Don’t let your students see this! This is humor only economists should hear…and no one else! Well, here is the site: Oh, and my students, no points for commenting on this one, you still might want to check out the link [...]
Smile, Your Car is on Candid Camera
One of the classic Econ 211 lessons (it is coming) is how problems are created in markets when buyers and sellers have different sets of information at their disposal. Economists call this situation “asymmetric information”. An important example is insurance markets. First, the background … Imagine there are only two types of drivers – “risky” [...]
A Conspiracy of Dunces: Rent Controls and Racial Conspiracies
It seems that New Orleans Mayor, Ray “Willy Wonka” Nagin, is at it again. If you haven’t noticed, he recently told a group of publishers that he believes that there has been some plot to change the racial makeup of New Orleans. Sure, the proportion of the city’s population that is African-American has declined. Let’s [...]
More Deal or No Deal
I know this article is old, but I hate it when people write articles about how people don’t understand probabilties when they themselves don’t understand probabilities. Plus, I love Deal or No Deal. If you are not familiar with how the shows work, click here for my first effort on the show. Here is an [...]
Smoke (two of) ‘em if you got ‘em
Read this article from cnn.com. In the article, the head of the Food and Drug Administration comments on whether the FDA should regulate the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. In a rare, sensible act from the head of the FDA, he suggests that the FDA should not regulate the amount of nicotine. What is this? [...]
Avoiding Muggers the Old Fashioned Way: Run
We know that when crime makes residents feel less safe, they often move away. This has certainly been the history of New Orleans over the last 30 years, with decade after decade of population loss. New Orleans was once a city of about 600 thousand. By 2000, the population had fallen to about 450 thousand. [...]
Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire: NASCAR, Safety Devices and Wrecks
In case you haven’t heard, NASCAR’s Daytona 500 finished down in Florida this year amid not just flags, but also flames, flips, flats and flying flack. Here is some Youtube footage of the final lap. What does this have to do with economics, though? It’s a matter of a certain type of substitution, something that [...]
Ed Lazear,Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors
I received this from Gary Blank yesterday. I wish I had time to look over the administration’s energy proposals right now, but I have a meeting to go to in the morning. Today Edward P. Lazear, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, testified before the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality of the [...]
Voter Intimidation or the Secret Ballot
A progressive measure that came to modern democracies in the last part of the 1800s was the secret ballot. If employers, landlords and others who held power could see how you voted, then they could retaliate if you did not support “their guy.” Imagine what it would be like if the local elected sheriff or [...]