Category Archives: Economics

In most microeconomics textbooks, perfect price discrimination is seen as more of a theory than an actual business method used by firms. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, perfect price discrimination, also called first degree price discrimination, is a form of nonuniform pricing in which a firm with market power sells each unit at each consumer’s maximum willingness to pay. The obvious issue with actually administering perfect price discrimination is that it is either impossible or financially infeasible for a company to acquire perfect information about each consumer, so they are unable to set a reserve price for each potential Continue reading Increasing Potential of Perfect Price Discrimination→

I am writing this post to follow up on a post from last spring, “Anecdotes at the Federal Reserve,” not–however much it may seem so–as an exercise in stalking Ben Bernanke. “Anecdotes at the Federal Reserve” examined Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes to evaluate the use of anecdotal evidence in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Those minutes shed light on the  the personalities and the institutional dynamics behind Fed policies. In that vein, I have three little snippets about the man who was Chair of the Federal Reserve in 2008 and the environment he worked in. 1) This BusinessInsider Continue reading A Three Piece Portrait of Ben Bernanke→

Hello, my name is Miranda Kraus, and I’m a coffee-holic. Ever since I thought it would be “cool” and “adult-like” to start drinking coffee my freshman year of high school, I’ve developed a physical and psychological need to drink at least a cup every day. Frighteningly, I’m not in the minority. The National Coffee Association reported that 54% of Americans over the age of 18 drink coffee every day. The United States alone buys more than 22% of world coffee imports, which shows an interesting wealth polarity between the consumers and producers of coffee. Coffee is the second most valuable Continue reading Coffee and Fair Trade→

For all of you Snapchat users, I’m sure you received a snap from the creators of the app informing you about their new direction for the app called Snapcash. This is the exciting new opportunity to send cash to your friends and have it disappear in 10 seconds!! Not actually, but thats what I thought when I heard of it first. Snapchat is teaming up with Square, the company who created the mobile credit/debit payment accessory for Apple devices, to offer a payment option through the Snapchat app. Snapcash will allow users to send payments from their account to their Continue reading What is Snapchat doing with Snapcash?→

This article continues a series of posts examining non-biological factors contributing to the Ebola crisis’s severity. This week’s angle on the outbreak is humanitarian. Beyond social and economic factors that contribute to the disease’s spread, the real reason why Ebola “is so bad” is its terrible human toll. Although empirical, detached analysis is a valuable approach to understanding and addressing social issues, I believe an empathetic approach is equally important. To that end, I am wrapping up this series with two pieces of media that establish a human connection to the crisis.  This NPR article delves into the disease’s human toll, especially Continue reading Ebola: Why is it so bad? (Part 7)→

Over the past couple weeks, the issue of Net Neutrality received a lot of attention due to a clash of opinions between President Obama and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. For those of you who don’t know what net neutrality is, simply put, it is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the government should treat all data equally, meaning that no Internet Company can pay money for preferential speeds on the side of the consumers. This concept has been the soul of the Internet since its creation, and it has lead to the booming levels of innovation and easy Continue reading Net Neutrality→

This article continues a series of posts examining non-biological factors contributing to the Ebola crisis’s severity. This week’s topic: red tape. Although bureaucratic inertia and hysterical political jockeying are usually mere annoyances, in this crisis they likely cost lives. Consider this disturbing headline from the Huffington Post: Sierra Leone Finally Moves To Use Ebola Aid Sitting Untouched In Port For Nearly 2 Months The article ran October 8th, 2014, days after the New York Times and other news organizations broke a story about how $140,000 of medical supplies were sidelined by missing paperwork and unpaid shipping fees. It appears that the disconnect had been brought Continue reading Ebola: Why is it so bad? (Part 6)→