Month: May 2019

For my blog post, I had the privilege of interviewing fellow graduating senior Jack Gries about his Economics Thesis. Look below for more information about his work! I would like to thank Jack Gries for his time and energy in answering the questions below. What is the topic of your thesis? De-risking private investing into smart grid infrastructure. Basically, I looked at different ways to make investing into smart grid infrastructure more appealing to the investment community. I looked at ways to de-risk smart grid technologies so there is less variability in return. I also looked at to what threshold Continue reading Thesis Corner – Jack Gries→

Arguably the most famous central banker of all time, Alan Greenspan is frequently referred to as “the maestro” for his work as the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Despite his renown, he was also known to use quite an obscure index to assess the overall health of the American economy. Understanding the index is simple, decreasing sales of men’s underwear indicate a poor overall state of the economy at large while increasing sales suggest health. His reasoning: only in times when people are comfortable and confident in the economy will the spend money on something they do not necessarily need. Continue reading The Men’s Underwear Index→

As a young woman my dad always told me when getting my oil changed never to buy any of the extra services they offer. Instead, he said I should tell him about it about it and he would talk to the mechanic about anything serious.  While this follows some harmful gender stereotypes it does highlight the asymmetric information between myself and the mechanic.  Although my dad is by no means a car expert, he at least knows a smidge more about cars to lessen this gap between the information that the seller and buyer have.  When the seller has more Continue reading Some Economic Wisdom on Wisdom Teeth→

Living with lots of housemates is a necessity for many people today, from those in college to professionals living in pricey cities. When moving to a new place for a job, your roommates are often your first “family.” Beyond this, finances force many people to live with several roommates for longer periods than in the past. An Atlantic article comments that what was anticipated by some as a cyclical phenomenon actually stuck with us. Living with a handful of strangers is still common, often across the country from family members, as people become increasingly mobile. The economic benefits are pretty Continue reading The Economics of Living with Roommates→

  One of my favorite game theory topics is matching markets. Matching markets are the markets in which both sides of the market have preferences.  Examples of these markets include college admissions., job searches, and dating. I love the intersection of dating and economics because I think it is a cool easily accessible front for which to understand some Econ concepts. This paper, which is targeted towards an audience with a pretty solid economic background walks through some of the applications of Gale Shapley and Adachi model to talk about how this market functions. They then break down some of Continue reading Matching Sorting Dating Oh My! →

When two people have different understandings of a payout matrix then the option that is one persons thinks are the option then it is not really an option.  I am constantly irritating my friends by making them sit down and draw out our arguments as payout matrixes. They hate when I do this but I always have a great time.  This weekend I was sitting on the couch with my friend and future housemate Nate when he made the “joke” that he was going to put water in my cast iron pan. Now if you have never invested in cultivating Continue reading Turning Fights into Matrixes→

Recently, I was listening to the podcast “This American Life.”  You have probably heard about it, it’s a podcast given by Ira Glass where he tells someone’s story.  The particular one I was listening to was a unique one. it was called “Not Fair!” and its focus was on referees.  No one likes referees, at one point in your life they probably made a call in a sport you cared about against a team you cared about.  Even if you have never watched sports in your life, you probably are aware of peoples’ distaste for referees.  Recently, hatred for refs Continue reading Social Media Enabling Loss Aversion→