How Vinyl and Streaming Are Similar

Changes in recorded music sales were fueled by new formats that started with vinyl and eventually became streaming.

A Dilemma: How Much to Pay for Our Privacy Protection

There is a doll whose name is Cayla. She has a pink skirt, a denim jacket, and a bluetooth connection. Like many toys, she can have a conversation with us. While these dolls are all Caylas, their manufacturer says you…

February 2019 Friday’s e-links: From Jeff Bezos to Hurricane Katrina and Lyndon Johnson

Friday’s e-links: Today we share a podcast series that focuses solely on Amazon–from its origin to current issues that range from drones to trust.

How a Paper Jam is Like a Recession

Whether it’s the paper in your copier machine or the goods and services in a market economy, flows and jams can be rather similar.

The Surprising Significance of Ping Pong

Perhaps correlated with ping pong table sales, the venture capital that goes to technology startups is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Boston/NY/Washington D.C. corridor.

Weekly Roundup: From Venezuela’s French Fries to the Army’s Pizza

Posts Roundup Sunday 11.01.15 How to be inches away from getting hired…more Monday 11.02.15 Why one-child could be here to stay…more Tuesday 11.03.15 The army food we eat at home…more Wednesday 11.04.15 What a pizza can teach us…more Thursday 11.05.15 The tough part of deciding who…

Weekly Roundup: From Robot Servers to Shrimp Farmers

Our everyday economics includes wages, externalities, productivity, income, tradeoff, taxes, fiscal policy, gender, human capital and comparative advantage.

Where Have All the Milkmen Gone?

Structural change in the economy involves new technology replacing old and eliminating jobs like milkmen, icemen, gas lamplighters and typists.

The Robot Milkers That Cows Like

It appears that cows prefer robot milkers. Rather than following a human schedule of pre-dawn mornings and late afternoons, the robots respond to what the cows want. Perhaps 5 or 6 times a day, the cows line up in front…

How To Cope With (Water) Stress

Being water stressed means you are unusually vulnerable to a water shortage. Sort of like a household where one emergency can push it over the edge because it spends all it earns, so too with most water stressed nations. That one drought…