Tag Archives: Market Failures

The Economics of Coffee Shop Art

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Credit to “.nate” and the twitter emoji project If you have entered into a non-chain coffee shop in the last decade you have likely encountered an interesting phenomenon: ridiculously over-priced art from unknown artists. These pieces of art from postmodernist takes on the human form, to classical paintings of a bowl of fruit. However, they all share the common characteristics of costing enough to give any reasonable person sticker shock, and being the creation of an artist no one has ever heard of. Now you might suggest that the price of art is simply a way to signal value, and Continue reading The Economics of Coffee Shop Art→

Long Lines at the SUB: A Market Failure Worth Addressing?

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The more time we spend at UPS, the more obvious patterns of student behavior become. Among these behaviors is the congestion of the SUB at predictable times of day. As such, the following question is worth asking: Might there be an economic solution to the long SUB lines at certain times? Waiting is a cost, and economic theory has a lot to say about dealing with such inefficiencies. Consider everything that comes with getting lunch at noon. Bodies fill up the diner, all the best food options have what seems like a mile-long line, it takes longer than usual to Continue reading Long Lines at the SUB: A Market Failure Worth Addressing?→

Moral Hazard and Health care

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Moral Hazard is a term that Economist are familiar with when discussing market failures, or the inefficient allocation of resources. The definition of moral hazard is when there is hidden action taken by one party that incurs costs of another party. But this is just the definition of the term, what does moral hazard truly mean in everyday life? One example that is brought up a lot is when an auto mobile owner becomes more of a reckless driver and justifies it by saying, “It’s fine, I have car insurance.” Obviously auto insurance doesn’t quite work this way, but moral Continue reading Moral Hazard and Health care→