Freakonomics reports that an Oregonian politician wants to implement bicycle licensing and registration. He says that cyclists use the roads just like cars, but they don’t have to pay a cent towards maintenance. Cyclists’ comments reveal their disgust at the idea but, as an avid cyclist myself, I must confess that I have some sympathy […]
I couldn’t resist posting this chart linked byMegan McArdle. It is just SO appropriate given Matt’s recent post. If using graphs like this counted as proving a scientific fact then the world would be a whole lot easier to explain 🙂
It’s always seemed to me a bit over the top to block social internet sites at offices. I’ve wondered if people spend more time looking up free proxy servers that aren’t blocked than they would have if they’d been allowed to check their Gmail. Now a study says that most people do surf at work […]
I was surprised to read that are willing to pay more when they pay by credit card. Apparently they actually have a higher willingness-to-pay if a credit card is used, relative to a cash payment. Freakonomics reports an instance where a beggar made more money than ever by just holding a sign which solicited credit […]
Ezra Klein channels his econ-geek and laments that price signals don’t tell the whole story these days: …we hope that prices include the relevant information. That’s been the goal of the environmental movement’s effort to build the cost of carbon emissions into the price of goods. Rather than asking each consumer to act as a […]
At Obama’s recent online town hall meeting the most popular question was whether he favoured legalising marijuana. There are plenty of persuasive arguments in favour: the revenues from sales tax and taking drugs out of the hands of gangs to name but two. It was suggested to Obama that taxation of marijuana might be a […]