Econ70

Unintended Consequences

01/24/2012

Since the first of the year, planes landing in or departing from Europe must pay a carbon tax based on the length of the flight, even if the flight does not originate or terminate in Europe. To reduce the tax,…

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Have a Heart

01/23/2012

Many individuals needing organ transplants die waiting for a donor. Therefore, nlarging the pool of donors would save lives. But, paying people to donate organs is distasteful as it encourages the poor to sell organs for money. The solution, grant…

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Quarterbacks Make Winners

01/20/2012

The Friday File: With the Packers losing last Sunday, they are the 8th straight team with the best regular season record not to win the Super Bowl. Moreover, wildcard teams have won 3 of the last 6 Super Bowls. Why?…

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Chilling at Google

01/19/2012

Server farms need lots of energy to cool servers. In ’10 cooling server farms consumed 1.5% of global electricity, and may jump to as much as 5% by ’17 as internet traffic continues to explode. With this in mind, Google…

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Wrong at the Reserve

01/18/2012

If you didn’t predict the housing bust, don’t feel bad, the Fed totally blew it too. Reading just released minutes from the ’06 meetings, is hysterically funny were it not so tragically sad. Bernanke was confident of a soft landing…

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It’s All Greek

01/17/2012

Greece is adopting severe austerity measures yet is not making enough structural changes to its economy to boost log-run growth to “grow out” of its problems. If Greek growth remains weak, and with Europe in a recession bank on it,…

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The Sound of Music

01/13/2012

The Friday File: US album sales rose 3% in ’11, to 458 million; the first rise since ’04. Digital sales are why. They rose 20% (or by 20 million) to 103 million albums while CD sales fell 6% (14 million)…

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Delayed Demography

01/12/2012

As standards of living in industrializing nations improve, their population soars. Here’s why. As better sanitation, food and healthcare are introduced death rates in industrializing countries rapidly fall. But, birth rates remain stubbornly unchanged as it usually takes at least…

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Money for Nothing

01/11/2012

The Federal Reserve transferred all $76.9 billion of its profit to the Treasury in ’11 down from the record $79.3 billion in ’10. The Fed is profitable because rather than borrowing money, it simply creates what it needs. Thus all…

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Lobbying Pays

01/10/2012

There are tons of lobbyists in DC because it pays to lobby. A paper out of the University of Kansas shows that lobbying for The American Jobs Creation Act of ‘04, which reduced taxes to 5.25% from 35% on repatriated…

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