This is intended as a super-basic introduction to one of the first steps in understanding basic economics: learning how we use curves to model market interactions. This piece only discusses from where supply and demand curves are derived, in super-simple terms. I’d really appreciate editorial comments on its clarity and accuracy; I have also written [...]
It’s not a mystery that most introductory economics courses are of poor quality. I was lucky; my first economics course was taught by Mark Witte, a well-loved lecturer at Northwestern known for his ability to communicate clearly. Most aren’t so lucky, and the discipline as a whole suffers both internally and in reputation as a [...]
Analysts are saying that gas prices should climb to between $3.50 and $4.00 a gallon in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Here’s a quick-and-dirty calculation as to how that could happen (without any references or explanation– sorry, like I said before, I’m short on the time I can spend on these things this week): Capacity [...]
James Hamilton beat me to the analysis, and gave the the issue his usual high-quality treatment. One passage worth noting: “one measure that will help cope with that problem is today’s announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency that it is exempting all 50 states from federal fuel volatility and sulfur standards through September 15. Those [...]
John Whitehead at Environmental Economics offers some links to extra information about the size of an efficient gas tax, and scolds me and everyone else who defends CAFE on practical grounds: “I’ve read several places, not at Vox Baby, the excuse that since gas taxes are politically infeasible and CAFE standards are feasible then we [...]
Reading through Brad DeLong’s weblog today, I noticed a link to Vox Baby (a post titled “Don’t Linger in this CAFE”, showing once and for all that it’s not just me who cannot resist a cheap play on words), wherein Andrew Samwick says most of the same things I said in my previous post. All [...]
After writing that last, slightly vitriolic post regarding a certain breed of leftist, I’ve been thinking about how difficult it can be to critique even the worst arguments of that type, as they’re completely lexical in nature and are typically very good at avoiding the use of concrete definitions. Such loose definitions allow the writer [...]
Over at Knowledge Problem, Lynne Kiesling argues that electricity is not a commodity, but rather a highly differentiated technology service: [warning: vast overgeneralization ahead] Engineers and so-called consumer advocates like to call electricity a commodity, because thinking of it as such serves their interests. Thinking of electricity as a commodity maintains the focus on the [...]
Aptly named “Environmental Economics“. Hat tip to Knowledge Problem.
Even after criticizing the Tax Foundation’s weblog, I still read it from time to time, as it does occasionally provide some useful insights. A particularly good one is Andrew Chamberlain’s post on “The $919 Per Person Deficit Tax“, which does a good job of describing in short form the real cost of the federal deficit. [...]