Economists Do It With Models

By econgirl - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Business & Investing

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

In Case You Are Bored And Want To Revisit Econ 101...

Because I start teaching a "boot camp" type summer course starting on Friday, I've gotten a number of emails from my colleagues regarding sources of examples and whatnot for our students. (We teach midcareer graduate students, so they always insist on understanding how concepts are used in... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ever Wonder Where All Of Your Money Goes?

I'm not sure how my RA does it, but he manages to find the most randomly awesome nerdy links and articles for me...it's not even that I specifically ask, he just stumbles upon great things when perusing the world wide webiverse. (He can also play the hell out of a keyboard, but that is another... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Follow Up: I Can't Afford To Save Money At Costco...

Last month I wrote about how it is actually kind of expensive to be poor. This is clearly not helpful when the goal of a lot of policy is to help poor people stop being poor, or at least to be less poor. A reader friend of mine (thanks Dan L) noted that this concept, in his opinion, is blatantly... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Never Underestimate The Power Of Sex As an Incentive...

(Not that I ever would, given the title of the site...:) ) I love this...Leymah Gbowee of Liberia seems to have figured out the power of incentives better than most corporate executives ever will- she, among other things, organized a sex strike in Liberia in which Liberian women refuse to sleep with... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Reader Question: How Much For A Kidney?

I figured it was only a matter of time until someone got to this point, since you lovely people really seem enamored by the organ market conversation. From my Facebook page: David Plumb: how much for one of your kidneys? At first I wanted to give a flippant answer that this question was irrelevant... Sign in to see full entry.

And You Wonder Why Coordination Failures Happen...

I've written about coordination failures a couple of times recently- see here and here. As such, I give you the following illustration, courtesy of xkcd: Baaaaaaaaaa.... (sheep noises) I wonder if these are lesbian sheep*... * If you don't get the lesbian sheep reference, so a search in the right... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Follow Up: Add Kidneys To The Apples And Livers...

Here is a great article about organ donation and the market for kidneys- it's both carefully thought out and well-written. The downside of the article having those qualities is that I don't have a whole lot to add. But obviously I will try anyway... Here's what confuses me a little, not so much... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A Game Theory Lesson, Or A Treatise On My Desire To Win Stuff...

I wish I had a cartoon for the following, so drop me a line if you know of any. Anyway, from the "Economics is Everywhere" desk: So it's Sunday morning (well, afternoon I suppose. It's Sunday, ok?) and I am catching up on my Twitter feed while watching the Red Sox game. I follow the Major League... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Incentives and The Land Of Unintended Consequences, Charity Style...

Today's economics mantra: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Actually, that should be every day's economics mantra. As someone who writes about incentives, I end up hearing a lot of stories about various compensation and pay for performance schemes in organizations (and in households, relationships, etc.,... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Beware Of The Marriage Trajectory, Or A Lesson On Extrapolation...

I figured, since you liked the last post so much, I would give you another one on marriage. What I had neglected to take into account with the last post is that two very dear friends of mine got married last weekend, so I am currently working on digging my way out of a literary hole. As such, I am... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

I think a quote from a conversation I had with a friend says it best: Peter: So, you want to combine urbane cultural discourse with economics and social criticism in a witty, mature, interesting way that people will read and pay you for? Jodi: Correct. (You can tell which of us here is actually trained in writing. I will also admit that not all of my jokes are of the mature variety.) Because hey, who doesn’t want to do it with models? Seriously though…my original blog grew out of a need to address student questions that were of economic relevance but somewhat outside the scope of an “Economics 101″ type course. Since then, my postings have gotten more broad and less technical in order to appeal to a wider audience.