A few weeks ago, I posted a Planet Money poll involving cute animals and refused to let you speculate on what the experiment was about in the comments. Apparently at least some of my readers are quite well read, since I got a number of emails and other notes informing methat the experiment results [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Buyer Beware'
Follow Up: More On Cute Animals, Surveys, And Bubbles…
January 14th, 2011 · 13 Comments
Buyer Beware · Decision Making · Macroeconomics
Tags: Buyer Beware · Decision Making · Macroeconomics
When Economists Who Do It With Models Do It With Real Estate…
January 12th, 2011 · 13 Comments
Buyer Beware · Fun With Math
Fact: NYU professor Nouriel Roubini correctly predicted the housing crisis. From Wikipedia:
In 2008, Fortune magazine wrote, “In 2005 Roubini said home prices were riding a speculative wave that would soon sink the economy. Back then the professor was called a Cassandra. Now he’s a sage”.[1] The New York Times notes that he foresaw “homeowners [...]
Tags: Buyer Beware · Fun With Math
An Economist’s Guide To Holiday Gift Giving…
December 15th, 2010 · No Comments
Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Decision Making
My latest Huffington Post column talks about how to avoid inefficiency in gift giving and why hypothetical gifts are awesome. In related news, EDIWM merchandise makes a lovely (though potentially inefficient, by my argument) non-hypothetical gift.
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Decision Making
The Most Compelling 5.882% Discount Ever…
August 15th, 2010 · 8 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Fun With Math
Consider the following problem from Choices, Values, and Frames*:
Imagine that you are about to purchase a jacket for $125 and a calculator for $15. The calculator salesman informs you that the calculator you wish to buy is on sale for $10 at another branch of the store, located 20 minutes drive away. Would [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Buyer Beware · Fun With Math
Dilbert Exposes The Logic Of Complements And Loss Leaders…
July 21st, 2010 · 7 Comments
Buyer Beware · Econ 101
When economists talk about supply and demand, they usually discuss prices of “related goods” as one of the determinants of demand for an item. (see here for a video.) Related goods can be either substitutes- things that are consumed instead of one another- or complements- things that are consumed together. In other [...]
Tags: Buyer Beware · Econ 101