EconTech

Every economist knows how important prices are. Lots of information can be backed into that one little scalar. Yet, in some areas, they just aren’t available. Certainly, a number of activities in ‘corrupt’ countries will cost a great deal more than their posted price due to tips, bribes, etc. This adds a great deal of [...]

Ok, it is bad enough that they require a ton of movement to accomplish anything and get in the way while typing. Luckily, I still have a thinkpad, so the trackpoint is still available to me, and with synaptics, disabling the touchpad is trivially easy. What remains? The extra distance to the keyboard from the [...]

Inflation is an interesting subject. The introduction to it is of the ‘pure’ kind which is very easy to deal with conceptually. The reality is much more difficult. The Chicago Fed has constructed a data set to disaggregate inflationary measures into various socioeconomic groups. Still, issues like volatile energy prices, divergent housing prices across regions, [...]

The article itself seems interesting. Jason’s summary is below. I want to make a point on the meta-issue here. This type of study is not possible without proper documentation and recording in a compatible electronic format. The cost of collecting the non-electronic data is simply too high. I have said before that EMR will allow [...]

I still haven’t seen last week’s episode!!
What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire? Part Eight
Where is Flavor?Readers of this blog may have noticed the absence of Flavor, the youngest member of “the Thugs,” from last week’s discussion. Shine wouldn’t tell me what happened to Flavor until he failed to appear for this week’s viewing [...]

He is kind of late to the ball game on this particular article, but I definitely want to post his thoughts (see below). When Andrew is confused, I usually consider myself lost. This is not necessarily an exception, but I think I see a way out. While there are definitely measurement issues, if, after [...]

I get asked the “which hard drive” question a lot, for whatever reason (and no, this is not in response to my own recent drive failure, but the same question asked of me by several people recently). Let me begin by saying that I am no expert on hard drives. They are extremely complicated, sensitive [...]

Apologies for the lack of posting (for the 2.2 peole who care, and the 1 person who noticed). I woke up to my laptop’s hard drive going click-click. It is still ‘functional’ and I have all the important data off of it. However, after having used the same Debian install for almost 8 years, I [...]

Ok, I’m not usually into these campaign squabbles, but the plagiarism accusation is serious ground, especially for a former academic. Of course, it wasn’t, as Obama explained that the plagiarized himself suggested he use the phrase, and Clinton still tried harping on it in the debate. Maybe that will backfire given her own ‘lifting.’ There [...]

The downsides of ethanol are obvious to anyone familiar with large-scale farming practices, plus there just won’t be enough. And yet, I STILL keep hearing people proclaiming the wonders of ethanol and other biofuels. Look, I’m all about protecting the environment. But it is going to be harder than burning corn. PK:
Demon ethanol

I’m almost never [...]

I STILL haven’t seen the latest episode. However, after reading the first sentence (how could I not?), I know my co-Wire-istas felt the same way:
What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire? Part Seven
The Thugs were bored. Episode 7 failed to move them.
“Too slow,” griped Shine.
“They’re making us wait,” said Orlando. “See, that’s when this [...]

I bring up social welfare functions relatively often. There is not a whole lot written about them these days; they have serious theoretical issues; they have more serious practical issues; and yet, in my mind, it is one of the most important topics in policy oriented economics. Many have accepted the proposition that the social [...]

Not much to add here. Economic forces are powerful indeed, and the drive for the ‘American Dream’ has never been particularly bounded by borders. People will move to where there is economic opportunity. If that is here; so be it. If it can be brought to them, all the better. [Why better? Transaction costs.] And [...]

Ok, they get PAM wrong and that is disappointing, to say the least. However, I have to agree with the substance of some of the criticism of Hanson, though NOT the claims of hyperbole (again, SA are ad hominem attacks really necessary. Let your arguments speak for themselves please).
First, some criticism against SA. The idea [...]

I would contend that this is an excellent[1] way of solving the ‘languishing value’ of out-of-print but socially valuable material problem. The objection “If I have something in my house with sentimental value - a real piece of property worth something to me but worth nothing to anyone else - people shouldn’t be [...]