Category Archives: Economics

What Percent are You In, and Will it Make You Happier

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Would you rather make $100,000 a year or $200,000 a year? You probably think that’s a dumb question, and in its current form, it is. Of course you would rather take home twice the money. You can make the argument that you’d have to work more, or work in a field you don’t like, but for this case, we’re assuming that for the same job, if you could either make 100,000 or 200,000 dollars, you’d pick 200,000. However, the answer may actually change based on what your peers make. Researchers have found people are happier based on their relative wealth Continue reading What Percent are You In, and Will it Make You Happier→

Why Negative Interest Rates Even Work At All

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Reading Lorraine’s post last week on negative interest rates, I did a bit of a double take. “Negative interest rates!?,” I wondered, “Why would any right-minded entity enter into such a disadvantageous arrangement?” Well, it turns out that having money–as in actually possessing currency–can be costly, especially if you have very large amounts of it. NPR’s All Things Considered put out a nice little exposition on this concept. One of my favorite parts of the story is a quote excerpted from a speech by Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer that lays out why holding currency can be costly: “It turns out that holding currency is Continue reading Why Negative Interest Rates Even Work At All→

Does it Cost More to be Female?

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It’s common knowledge that there is a disparity between men and women’s wages, but is there also a gap between the prices of products that we buy that serve the same purpose? Products marketed to women and girls on average cost 7% more than identical products sold specifically to men. The reason so many companies are able to do this is that neither gender searches outside products marketed to them, rather they make an economical choice between brands within their gender packaging. Most astonishingly a study found that Target sold three wheel scooters, one red for $24.88, and one pink for Continue reading Does it Cost More to be Female?→

Is Economics a Science?

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Two prominent economists, Russ Roberts from the Hoover Institute, and Noah Smith from Stony Brook University, partook in an insightful conversation on Roberts’ podcast EconTalk a few weeks ago. Though they covered many interesting topics, most provoking to me was their discussion regarding whether or not economics is a science (Found from approximately minute 14 to minute Roberts, a strong neoclassical liberal economist, fell strongly on the side that economics is not a science arguing that “economics is not much of a science in the way that people in everyday English think about it” because “it doesn’t produce reliable empirical Continue reading Is Economics a Science?→

Stoned Moms: The Marijuana Industry’s Greatest Untapped Market

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If you’ve seen this video of grandmothers getting high then you’re going to love this Granny who loves her weed too. Since the legalization of recreational weed use in Colorado in 2012 entrepreneurs and investment bankers have been looking for the next big push to get the legal marijuana industry profitable. Justin Hartfield is the creator of WeedMaps, a yelp for marijuana dispensaries that marries the marijuana and tech industries into a modern entrepreneurial dream. However the next untapped market that the medical and recreation marijuana industry needs are everyday people, you, me, and your mom too.   Contrary to popular belief, the majority of Continue reading Stoned Moms: The Marijuana Industry’s Greatest Untapped Market→

SoundCast – Episode 4: Valentine’s Day!

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Intro and outro music royalty-free from http://www.bensound.com, it’s great stuff! The economics of Valentine’s Day and other consumerist-holidays are explained, with special guests, sophomore Emily Walker and Professor Andrew Monaco. Hosts are Nicky Smit and Cole Driscoll.

Seasonal workers and the ever-sensitive immigration debate

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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the recently released seasonal worker visa program, or the H-2B.  While the purpose of the program is to enable seasonal staff to do jobs that American citizens typically don’t want, there has been significant backlash. Immigration is an extremely sensitive and controversial issue across the nation.  So really any program dealing with migrant workers, even if their visas are temporary, is bound to get attention (and some backlash). The WSJ article points out that new H-2B applies primarily to certain industries (landscaping, forestry, amusement, tourism and construction), and clarifies that many Continue reading Seasonal workers and the ever-sensitive immigration debate→

Your Neighbor Winning the Lottery Might Send You into Bankruptcy

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Most of us are familiar with the idea that winning the lottery can sometimes backfire: having so much money at once might not allow you to learn how to spend, friends and family can wear you down, the list goes on – but what about how it affects your neighbors? The Federal Reserve of Bank recently released a working paper showing how income inequality can cause financial distress, specifically if it’s caused by exogenous shocks (like winning the lottery). Researchers saw an increase in bankruptcy filings when someone in a neighborhood won a lottery (2.4% to be exact). Homes and cars Continue reading Your Neighbor Winning the Lottery Might Send You into Bankruptcy→

It’s a High Risk Business: Music Festivals

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In the past decade music festivals have become bigger and bigger as attendance at major festivals continuing to grow. One of larger festivals in the US is Coachella Music and Arts Festival located in southern California. Coachella started out with a crowd of 25,000 people in 1999 and has grown to more than 600,000 attendees in two weekends. It’s not just Coachella that has record breaking attendance, the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas recorded 400,000 attendees in a single weekend. With attendance numbers like this it is worthwhile to take a look into incentives for companies to organize these Continue reading It’s a High Risk Business: Music Festivals→

Cost Per Vote in New Hampshire

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This post is a follow-up to my original post a few weeks ago about campaign spending per vote in the US primary elections. When I wrote that post, only information about the Iowa causes was available. Now, New Hampshire data is available. NPR put together a great table tabulating the TV advertising expenditures of campaigns in that state for all the major candidates, in both parties. You should click over there and look at it. Some interesting tidbits from their analysis: Jeb Bush, like in Iowa, burned a lot of cash but it didn’t translate to votes. Spending over $30 million dollars Continue reading Cost Per Vote in New Hampshire→