Category Archives: Economics

Wizard World:

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My ticket through the front gate is a bright yellow plastic bracelet, “hold your hands up high, so we can see your tickets,” the volunteers advise. I hardly lift my wrist as I pass through the crowd of costumed people, on my left is an endearingly cheerful young Pikachu, on my right is a Spiderman only slightly past his prime. Some would think, either absent minded-ly or based on stereotype or other, that the individuals who go to comic con conventions would be more of a strange and astonishing. Or some others would say, that they met a man selling Continue reading Wizard World:→

Are Economists “Feeling the Bern”?

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Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has taken America by storm, and for good reason. A year ago few could have predicted the relatively little known junior Senator from Vermont would be entrenched in what has become a very interesting race with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination. His charisma, willingness to seemingly always speak his mind, and socialist views have attracted Democratic voters, particularly younger ones, looking for something other than the malaise that has followed Hillary Clinton since her days as Secretary of State. Though the exact reason for Sanders’ success is difficult to pin down, as a student Continue reading Are Economists “Feeling the Bern”?→

Big Bills = More Crime

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Imagine two shady characters, making a swap over briefcases. One ends up with cocaine or something, but the other opens his briefcase to reveal $100,000 in cash. Probably happens more frequently than you think. Now imagine that the $100 bill no longer exists and they want to make the same transaction. That dude’s got to lug around five briefcases now and that’s not suspicious at all. I’m making light of the situation, but a recent study by Peter Sands of Harvard gives a good argument that terminating big denomination notes would hurt criminal activity, and have little to no negative effects Continue reading Big Bills = More Crime→

No one knows how to make a pencil: Globalization and interdependence

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Consider the following question: If you…wanted to…go into the forest naked and create something from scratch, anything, what do you think you could pull off? The latest Freakonomics podcast points out something very unexpected; no individual knows how to create a pencil.  While it may seem unimportant that we won’t have artisanal pencils in the future, it raises some interesting questions about globalization and the interdependence that it has created in the production processes of even simple goods. We have evolved into a highly specialized and widely globalized society.  Each piece of a pencil, for example, is made in different places Continue reading No one knows how to make a pencil: Globalization and interdependence→

Negative Interest Rates

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On January 29th, Bank of Japan announced that they would lower their interest rate past the traditional 0% – into the negatives (-0.1% to be specific). I initially wrote this off as more Abenomics, but as I looked further into the concept I discovered that Bank of the Japan was not the only bank to adopt a negative interest rate. The US Federal Reserve had a near 0% interest rate for about a decade to encourage growth and take the edge off the 2008 recession. But what does a negative interest rate mean for banks? Bloomberg asked 63 economists, that focus Continue reading Negative Interest Rates→

Venezuela’s Crisis

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Since 2005 Latin American countries have seen an increase in economic growth, but now there seems to be a stall in poverty reduction. One country that is experiencing disastrous poverty and inflation rates is Venezuela. The country has been devastated from inflation rates at 140% and a poverty rate that jumped up to 32.1% in 2013. On top of economic distress, the extremely low price of petrol oil has been hurting Venezuela and it is now becoming apparent. Due to this economic decline the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, has increased the price of exported petrol oil from $0.01 to $0.60 Continue reading Venezuela’s Crisis→

Campaign Spending Per Vote: Part II

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After last week’s post on cost per vote figures last week, I decided to keep the ball rolling. Here are some more figures, compiled from various sources. US Presidential Elections 2012 The Cato institute estimates that, in the general election, the Obama and Romney campaigns directly outlaid $10.37 per vote received and $7.11 per vote received, respectively. Factoring in allied spending, these figures rise to $16.73 per vote received and $20.09 per vote, respectively. Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 The BBC reports that a total of £6.7m was spent by campaign groups in the lead up to the referendum. Around 3,620,000 people cast Continue reading Campaign Spending Per Vote: Part II→

Internal Effects of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price Decline

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If you’ve been following recent market trends, or if you drive a car, you know that petroleum and petroleum products (gasoline) have been getting cheaper for the past 18 months or so. The reasons for the decline are complicated to say the least involving OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and are a story for another time, but the truncated story is that Saudi Arabia is forcing prices down because they can produce oil much cheaper than any other country, causing other oil exporting countries to lose money for producing oil. However, this seems to have been having an Continue reading Internal Effects of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price Decline→

Should We Ban Tipping?

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Returning to US after having been abroad for six months required me to retrain my mind in a number of different ways regarding social norms. One of the main things I noticed while traveling was that tips are not a mandatory part of eating out, and were sometimes even seen as rude. They serve more as a signal to the waiter to convey out of the ordinary, outstanding service. This made me think about how in America the price that is advertised to us is often never the price we pay, while in most parts of Europe taxes are incorporated Continue reading Should We Ban Tipping?→

100th Year of Daylight Savings Time!

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The 100th year anniversary of daylight savings time will be on March 13th, so to celebrate I thought that it would be helpful to gather a few fun facts about the event and also ask some important questions as well. Like most people, on Monday March 13th at 6:59 a.m. I will be asleep, and I will not recognize when the minute passes and the clock jumps an extra hour ahead. At the premature 8:00 a.m. I will be groggy, disoriented, and dissatisfied with our modern society. And as I drink an unusually large cup of coffee I will ponder along with the rest of Continue reading 100th Year of Daylight Savings Time!→