Support the Freedom to choose, support more choice, support a known cure for hangovers. Become a fan of the group “Bring KFC Double Down to New Zealand“. I don’t particularly want a Double Down, I’m not a big fan of cheese and I like to have a bun. But I do support more choice. Update: […]
The Freakonomics blog provides another perplexing picture (the last one was discussed here). This time we have a situation where it costs LESS to buy two of something then to buy just 1. So they are PAYING people to take the second unit. What gives? The way I see it, there are two likely explanations: […]
From Aaron Schiff: A model should not be judged solely by its assumptions (although highly dubious assumptions are not a good thing). Rather we should focus on the model’s ability to teach us something, and its ability to explain the economics of something in a plausible way. To summarise, a model does: Highlight the incentives […]
One thing I have noticed in my time is that people on the political left and right both attack “mainstream economics” with abandon. This is good, as a discipline has to be able to explain itself widely and be willing to face criticism. However, it is one of the elements of these attacks that interests […]
Via Scott Sumner we saw the following article that mentions economic data and economic predictions. The statements that stood out to me were: (Economic) predictions are, of course, the bread and butter of economic institutions. But can we believe them? In recent years, some economists have begun to express doubts over predictions made from huge […]
This time on how Economics as an academic discipline will not have to have the wholesale changes some peoples are suggesting. He is right when he says the focus of economists and economic teaching is not on prediction. However, I would also say that economists HAVE sold the idea that they can predict when talking […]