Plain Sense Economics

With a tip to the Freakonomics blog we learn that there is a stronger market for pressure cookers in The Netherlands. The likely reason – the higher cost of electricity there. Pressure cookers are, apparently, energy savers – I guess by reducing cooking times. Electricity in The Netherlands is not subsidized nearly to the extent [...]

Hundreds of supporters attended and performed at two benefit concerts this weekend here in Ashland. The money was being raised to help a local, beloved musical leader who has a degenerative and terminal neurological disease. The efforts will probably raise well in excess of $20,000. That won’t come near to paying his accumulated medical bills, [...]

Perhaps as a fitting sequel to our discussion on rationing healthcare, comes an op-ed piece in the Washington Post by Alain Enthoven and Denis Cortese. The authors point to the need for reform on the supply side of healthcare, as well as improving access on the demand side.
[...T]hese programs [technology, preventive care, and effectiveness research] [...]

As David Leonhardt points out in his article today in The New York Times, rationing has become an evil buzzword in the debate over healthcare reform. Leonhardt correctly points out that we have rationing now, and that all of the anguish over rationing in a new system is just wasted heat.
I commend the article to [...]

I’ve heard of lipstick sales being counter-cyclical (more sales when times are tough), but Gregory Mankiw’s blog posted a link to this item on MSN Money.
The central quote…
In fact, right now men’s underwear sales suggest that things have bottomed but not started to recover.
I dare you not to read more.

This post in Freakonomics is cool. Why kiwi fruit is cheap in New York City and other market imponderables.

State and local governments have a particularly hard time during economic downturns. The Wall Street Journal, in this article on June 3 reminds us how state tax revenues decline quickly and recover slowly during recessions. This graphic from the article shows that it can take as long as five years for revenues to reach pre-recession [...]