Our Annual Scrooge Endorsement
From last year: an oldie, but goodie.: Before The Accidental Theorist, before Freakonomics, there was The Armchair Economist, and that’s Steven Landsburg. In this Slate piece, Landsburg makes the case...
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Jimmy John Responds to Incentives
The founder and big pickle behind the Jimmy John’s enterprise is threatening to take his fixins and go elsewhere, this according to the Champaign News-Gazette. Mr. Jimmy John (Jimmy John Liautaud) is...
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Econ 100 Preview, Complements
Click for Clucky! Suppose the NFL players and owners fail to agree to terms on a new contract, thus reducing (or eliminating) the number of professional football games this coming season. What are the...
View ArticleWhat’s the Wurst that Could Happen?
Today marks the opening of a summer ritual here at Lawrence, Griff’s Grill on Boldt Plaza. Mr. Griff will be out there grilling and spreading joy every Wednesday this summer, 11:30 AM – 1 PM. The...
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Abundance, not Stagnation, Characterizes the Future
If you believe that Tyler Cowen has appropriately declared the end of serious economic growth in the so-called “developed world,” check out the work of Peter Diamandis. If you fervently disagree with...
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Econ Dept Picnic, Wednesday at 4:30
Take the SuperChill Challenge The Department Picnic is an annual ritual at Lawrence, but one where we in the Economics Department haven’t quite mastered. This is partly because many of the faculty are...
View ArticleGriff’s Grill Reopens
If you happen to be walking across campus and you notice a guy in a hot dog suit (or maybe it’s a gal in a hot dog suit?), it’s because Griff’s Grill is making its triumphant summer reopening...
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“Spain is Doomed, Greece is Toast”
Here’s some more on the situation in Greece. When I see a blog post titled “The Scariest Chart in Europe Just Got Even Scarier,” I typically think the author is invoking some grand hyperbole. Perhaps...
View ArticleAmerican Capitalism as A Delicious Milkshake
One of the greatest films you are ever likely to see about the intensity, competition and dynamism in American capitalism, There Will be Blood, is the midnight movie tonight in the Warch Campus Cinema....
View ArticleThe Great Wines of New Jersey
Here’s a nice little piece on VoxEU from Orley Ashenfelter and his colleagues about how wine experts have trouble vertically differentiating wine quality. And when I say “have trouble” what I really...
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Goulash capitalism?
The Hungarian version of Soviet-style economy was often referred to as “goulash communism“—it was a more permissive, generally more prosperous variant than what existed in several other Warsaw Pact...
View ArticleSummertime Rolls: Flipping Out, Going Bananas, and Finally Tying the Knot
It’s been a while since we updated the blog here, so let’s kick off the summer by getting back to the basics. First, the Food Lab grills us on our grilling knowledge. Do you think you should only flip...
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I’m Lovin’ It. But if that Counter Guy Gets $15/hour, I’m Lovin’ Less of It
I see that McDonalds employees from around the country have been walking off the job to protest low wages, even causing some restaurants to shut down temporarily. What would happen, do you suppose, if...
View ArticleSome Trivial Matters
Congratulations to Addison Goldberg and Steve Wasilczuk for their stints as trivia Grand Master and trivia Grand Master’s sidekick, respectively, for this year’s edition of the Lawrence trivia weekend....
View ArticleGladwell Claims There is No Free Lunch
In his latest Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell gives us some food for thought about where we put our resources. He claims that small liberal arts that develop gourmet-level dining...
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