Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with economics

Help me decide what to research.

acidic — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:46:10 -0800

I'm in need of ideas for a year-long research topic in economics, preferably relating to feminism, technology, or both. I'm about to embark on a sort of informal thesis, which will occupy about 1/6th of my academic time for the next year, relating to economics. Since it's a bit of a capstone project, I'd like it to involve my other main interests, feminism and the internet. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to take many classes which involve either of those interests as my program is quite standardized, but I'm eager to learn and throw myself into a passion project.

Certainly labor economics is a possibility, e.g. the wage gap, but I thought I would open the question up to the hive mind to see if there are any unanswered questions, creative viewpoints, or any other ideas which might be interesting.

A good example, which I'm already exploring, is a the research exploring the effect of online pornography on the incidence of rape. My perspective is somewhat snarky, a little bit "Freakonomics," and I just really don't want to spend a year, like, rating index funds!

Latin American Geopolitics

symbollocks — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:02:22 -0800

Help me learn more about recent/current Latin American geopolitical turmoil. Books, documentaries, good online articles, etc. etc.

Specific Topics: free trade agreements, revolutionary groups/movements, the oil trade, the drug trade, economic downturns in specific countries, poverty, US involvement, etc. etc.

I'm not totally clueless, but want to improve my knowledge of the situation and get a general picture of what forces are at work in the region.

The shortbook on macroeconomics

dead_ — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:23:17 -0800

What is the best primer on macroeconomics? I would like to buy a short (non-textbook) book on macroeconomics. I am comfortable with economics as a discipline but will be taking a macro placement test this fall and would like something to read as a refresher during the next month or so.

Is it really illegal for a company to act ethically?

divabat — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:20:30 -0800

"[Companies] have a legal responsibility to make their shareholders lots of money, which means they *MUST* rip you off for as much as they can get away with." Really? I've heard that sentiment many times (the above is a direct quotation) and it doesn't make sense to me. According to Carrotmob, "It's illegal for a corporation to behave in a socially responsible way -- unless that socially responsible behavior happens to be identical to the behavior that maximizes profit."

Proponents of the above argue that if a company shows "record profits", that's a sign that they've been ripping off customers. According to them, companies only think about their shareholders and the Board, and therefore must make as much money as possible regardless of ethics.

Is this true? Is it really illegal for companies to act ethically unless it makes money?

To me, it seems that if the above sentiments were true, social enterprises would not be able to exist. Also, it would make Corporate Social Responsibility illegal.

When shares are bought in a company, they are traded away very quickly, and aren't share prices usually determined in large part by the public perception of the company? Surely shareholders and Boards would notice if the customers are being ripped off or if the companies are acting unethically, and respond negatively to unethical corporate behaviour?

It seems to me that these notions come from the idea that "for-profit" = "evil bad conglomerate", but I can't seem to find any actual legal or economic basis for saying that companies must be unethical to profit.

Is there actually any basis to those points? Is it really illegal for a company to act ethically?

Most important social psychology books of past 50 years?

Malad — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:31:00 -0800

What have been the most important books in social science (including psychology, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, "applied" social sciences like marketing, and so on) of the past 50 years?

Why are hybrid vehicles so scarce?

middleclasstool — Sat, 31 May 2008 09:45:18 -0800

Why are hybrid vehicles so hard to find? My wife and I are new car shopping and have set a limit of ~30mpg as the minimum for fuel efficiency. Thing is, it's hard to find a non-hybrid that gets that unless it's small, and we've got one baby with a rear-facing seat and another planned for next year, so we'd like some extra leg room to accommodate them.

Enter the Ford Escape Hybrid. 34/30 mpg, the only hybrid SUV that gets mileage that good and is decently priced, appears to have decent room, and could actually be used to haul some stuff from time to time, which is a plus. We love the idea, want to test drive one.

Except nobody has them. I've checked dealers in Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Tulsa, and even Dallas. No dealer websites show them in inventory. My wife called a local dealer to ask about this, and was informed that they couldn't even order one for us if we wanted. They are literally nearly impossible to find in the US. Some cursory Googling tells us that other hybrid vehicles ain't much better.

So here's the question: why? Especially in a market where US automakers are struggling, if there's demand that high for your product, why are you not making more of them? The economics of this evades me -- what does creating artificial scarcity do for them financially, when they could just flat-out sell more cars? Is it artificial scarcity, or are they just seeing a bigger run on their vehicles than they anticipated? If it's the latter, why not ramp up production pronto?

Is Economics a science? If so, in whIs there a rational basis for making large-scale (world/country) economic decisions?

grumblebee — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:29:04 -0800

Is it possible to rationally settle on an economic theary? I'm pretty ignorant about (world) economics, though I've read a few books. It strikes me that there are two major economics theories in play in the US. Grossly oversimplifying, they are (1) spread the wealth and (2) make the rich richer, and the wealth will trickle down, enhancing society as a whole.

I'm not interested (in this thread) in debating which one is right or even whether I'm off base about the theories. If I'm wrong about the nature of the theories, it's enough that there are competing theories of some sort.

Let's say you have no emotional baggage connected with either theory. You just want to back whichever one is most likely to benefit society. Is there ANY rational way to pick without "just going with your gut" or "going with the way you were raised"?

Aren't economies chaotic systems (as in Chaos Theory)? I don't see how you can reason from history or from "experiments" in other countries. Those are massively dirty test tubes. The US in 2008 is not Russia in 1950 or even the US in 1980.

The only workable test I can think of is to, say, take the U.S. right now, try one system, rewind time to the exact same point, and then try another system. Even then, you'd only learn what would work/not-work in one country, at one point-in-time.

Yet people have very strong attachments to specific economic theories. It's not strange for people to be irrationally attached (it happens to me just like everyone else). So it's tempting for me to conclude, "Oh, there is no rational basis for choosing one theory over another. It's just one of those things, like religion or whatever. It's just about strong feelings and hunches."

But I don't want to assume that's true. I know there are well-paid, well-educated people called Economists. They suggest -- presumably based on evidence -- that we should do this or that.

Is Economics (in any sense) a science?

Why are there three Thai restaurants on my block?

bubukaba — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:08:57 -0800

Why do I often see two, three, even four different Thai restaurants on the same block, sometimes even right next to one another? I've seen this in New Haven, CT and multiple neighborhoods in Chicago, IL - so it's not isolated to only one area.

I've always assumed that it had something to do with mutual support and valuing community - but even so, doesn't it make it difficult to make a living?

Lets list some useful economics textbooks for beginners

dragontail — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:53:49 -0800

Can you recommend any books that cover fundamental economics at a beginner level? I'm reading Natural Sciences at uni here in the UK, but my aim has always been to work in The City/Finance Industry. Note that this is not because of the high pay blah blah - I've been on a small internship and I'm genuinely interested.

Being a scientist, I have little true knowledge of Economics, although I do have a basic knowledge of Business Studies at GCSE. (I also did Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics at A-Level). Thus, I probably need to read up for any chance of employment down the line.

I'm looking for books to aid me in this cause. Any good, introductory "first year univeristy/A-Level standard" Economics textbooks for newbies that you can recommend? Like basic macro level stuff, supply and demand, etc, although you'll probably know better than me, so I'm open to all suggestions.

How can I optimize my study given a time constraint of 'x' in a quasilinear scenario? (or: Help!)

cgomez — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:50:28 -0800

Looking for resources to help me understand material from an intermediate microeconomics course. Notes, practice problems, simplified explanations, anything would help. I'm currently in enrolled in the first course of a series on 'intermediate microeconomics'. The professor's teaching style isn't working too well for me as he never really delves into the math outside of mere basic equations which aren't what I'm being tested on.

Are there any particularly good sites online that would help make this course easier? With each week, it seems as though I'm just falling further behind. The topics that were covered recently are...

Preference and utility functions, finding optimal consumption bundles (optimal choice), perfect compliments/substitutes, demand curves, the Slutsky equation/substitution effect, endowment, etc.

Or if anyone has advice on learning the material. I have a little over a week and a half before the next midterm to get my act together; anything helps.

Ad-based Economies

Non Prosequitur — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:04:57 -0800

Are there industries that are as dependent on advertising revenue as The Media and (Free) Web Apps? I can't shake a prejudice I've acquired recently of thinking of ad-based revenue as "fake revenue".

It was precipitated by looking at the Adsense reports for a firm and realizing that they were basically running on nothing. If they'd spent as much time writing random blogs as they had making technology they'd probably have higher revenues (if their plan is just to slap on AdSense.)

(I realize that a lot of these firms roll out speculative sites/applications rather than safely profitable ventures just to see what catches on, and that doing custom ad sales can be better than using automated ad networks.)

But I still feel that unless you're pulling in 'customer money' or real affiliate money somewhere in the flow you're heavily dependent on something that's pretty shaky (advertising budgets: whimsical because of how they flow in and out of particular media, and ebb according to the macroeconomic context.)

Is pulling money from showing banner ads just as 'solid' as pulling money from customer pockets in terms of what firms outside of the internet sector do? (Or, Do you know of any resources I could read to explore the idea of Ad/Sponsorship-based Economics?)

how to beat the bank?

mary8nne — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:45:26 -0800

How can individuals have the greatest impact in weakening or destabilising a particular country economically? Do consumer boycots of all country X products have any significant impact? What alternatives are there? Currency market manipulation perhaps? Inspire investors to pull out of a country?

but if the target country is relatively strong economically, such as say the USA, is there any way a grass roots type movement can have an impact?

Income tax versus Fair tax....help

madmamasmith — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:32:48 -0800

I need to better understand the proposed tax systems. Mainly the fair tax or sales tax versus an income tax. I am writing a paper for school on the viewpoints of TTARA (The Texas Taxpayers and Research Ass.) and CTJ (citizens for tax justice) but cannot gain a clear idea of what each side is proposing. Obviously the republicans want the fair tax, and since TTARA is business minded, I assume they too seek the fair tax, or at least support it. But what is the Dem idea of fair taxation? Do they want an income tax? What is all this talk on CTJ about income tax cuts? I don’t have the patience to sift through all the material so I'm hoping someone can give me a basic idea of the differing positions on the matter. Mainly answer the question of who wants what and why, and who benefits most from each plan.... Also what about the working poor, do they benefit most from an income tax? Etc. Etc.

Monetary Policy and the Fed, when do we raise and lower rates and why?

idledebonair — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:38:21 -0800

Economics Filter: Monetary Policy and the Fed, when do we raise and lower rates and why? What are some possible reasons the Fed would raise or lower rates and why would they do so?

Know of any online for-credit econometrics courses?

Ashley801 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:57:21 -0800

Do you know of any online for-credit econometrics courses? Do you know of any online, for-credit econometrics courses for non-matriculated students?

I'm looking for courses from accredited US or Canadian schools.

This Drake course is a good example of what I'm looking for.

https://oias.drake.edu/pls/PROD/bwckctlg.p_display_courses?term_in=200905&one_subj=ECON&sel_crse_strt=107&sel_crse_end=107&sel_subj=&sel_levl=&sel_schd=&sel_coll=&sel_divs=&sel_dept=&sel_attr=

However, I'm looking for something a bit less pricey (under 1k).

If you know of a course, don't worry about the cost, just let me know about it and I'll check how much it costs myself.

Where do I go to look up global commodity supplies?

onalark — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:19:15 -0800

How do I look up current global commodity supplies? Even better, is there somewhere I can compare global commodity prices versus their supply and consumption rates over an extended period? So we've been inundated with the 'big news' this week that commodity prices are shooting through the roof, with various theories for why this is so. One theory is that speculation and a large influx of money from investors wary of other markets is artificially driving prices up, with a counter-argument that supplies have been unable to keep up with increased demand. I know that things are undoubtedly more subtle than that, but I'm still interested in looking at some raw numbers. I have no idea how one would go about looking for this information, and a bit of googling has not lead very far.

OMG ATL WTF?

pedantic — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:00:16 -0800

After the Delta/Northwest merger agreement, it piqued my interest. I read about the industry which took me to Wikipedia and then some. Atlanta is the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic and is only the 65th largest metropolitan area in the world [PDF] and only the 3d largest airline by passenger operates there (hub or secondary hub). What gives? I would think population density and major airline hubs would be the most important variables in an airport's "busyness". It doesn't jibe. Why is the ATL so -- busy?

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money?

Afroblanco — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:18:24 -0800

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money? Anyone who's seen me around the finance threads knows that I take bearishness to an extreme. Having witnessed the 2000 tech crash, I have no faith in the stock market or the US economy. I keep all of my money (USD) in a savings account. However, with the recent financial turmoil, I have a few questions :

1) Is it conceivable for the FDIC to fail?
2) If so, is there a place where I can put my money that will be safer than a savings account?
3) What's the safest, most risk-free way for me to save money and not get killed by inflation and the tanking US dollar?
4) If there is a safe way for me to save money and not be punished by inflation and the depreciating dollar, is there a way that I can do this without having to stress out and micromanage my finances? I don't want to be checking the finance page and making adjustments every day.

One thing that I must ask of you all - please do not turn this into a political debate. I know that issues of economics are often politically charged, but I ask you to please not address that aspect of the situation. Also, please take it easy on me. Even though I follow finance news, I've never done any investing or money management other than socking money away in my savings account. I'm a n00b, I admit it, so please don't talk down to me.

Any links to relevant articles or informational resources - especially those readable to the layman - will be appreciated.

Thank you.

Feed and fatten the pig, for the slaughter?

JimmyJames — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:54:10 -0800

Economicsfilter: Why has the federal government allowed the Ad Council to put on the Feed the Pig set of public service announcements in light of the $168 billion economic stimulus plan? So it seems that the Ad Council has put out a campaign to get Americans to save money. Meanwhile the federal government gives citizens money to spend it. So does the federal government want people to take their rebate, pay down their debt and "feed the pig" or spend it on a flat screen?

Economics filter: Can someone explain this article to me? How are capital accumulation, national savings, and consumption related?

idledebonair — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:51:21 -0800

Economics filter: Can someone explain this article to me? How are capital accumulation, national savings, and consumption related? I know this is from 3 years ago, but I still want to understand! In the article, http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/25/news/economy/savings_rate/index.htm, Roger Ferguson said, "If households, on net, take steps to return the saving rate closer to the middle of that range, which, I might add, would provide welcome support to capital accumulation, then a sustained period in which consumption grows more slowly than income would result." What? I don't understand. What does he mean?

And also, when Tom Schlesinger says "Obviously consumption would take a hit if people save at the historic rate," does he just mean that Consumption is the inverse of Savings? I mean, besides in a whatever we don't consume we save way, what is he talking about? Are they disagreeing or what?

Can you convince me NOT to buy a hybrid?

kyleg — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:39:24 -0800

What are the downsides to owning a hybrid? In the market for a new car, and wondering about the cost/benefit ratio, among other things. Hoping that hybrid owners can help out here. Concerns are mostly economic. Are there unexpected or hidden costs that pop up that you wouldn't have with the standard model? For someone with a fairly short daily commute in highway traffic, is the gas savings lessened? Is the initial cost premium worth it?

What about consumer choice? Is there a difference in the benefits provided by hybrid models when comparing sedans vs. SUVs? Does it make sense to restrict yourself to looking for hybrid models rather than all available automobiles, in terms of available features? Are there safety concerns not associated with standard models?

If you have answers, or any other valid concerns about hybrid ownership that should be considered, please post them here. Alternately, if you would like to make the argument that buying a hybrid is always the best option, feel free to state your case.

Examples of governments that control businesses

caroljean63 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:35:16 -0800

For a research project about the Sherman anti-trust act, I'm looking for examples of countries with the most excessive control over businesses and countries with the least. In other words, I'm looking for the extremes. They can be current or past examples. The excessive control side should still be within a free market framework - so no communist countries.

Help me find information about Coatesville, Pa.

deafmute — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:46:25 -0800

I need to write a twenty page paper about the economic and social situation of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, a dying rust-belt steel town. Is there a Coatesville expert in the room? Someone who grew up there? Someone who spent time there or did business there? I need your expertise, or at the very least access to resources that might not be readily apparent to me. I've already got a visit to the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum planned, and I have access to reams of census data, a car, and the Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project, but I'm looking to deeply massage the Mefi hivemind, to suss out any local experience or knowledge anyone might have.

I need to focus on the interface between global economic forces and local economies that eventually torpedoed this city, so if you have any expertise in that area, awesome.

Balance in MMO Economies?

SpecialK — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:48:33 -0800

Game Design: In an MMO, how do you build an economy that will 'balance' itself? Obviously, having solid inputs and outputs are one thing, and balancing those inputs with the demand for the item, but what other things need to be taken into account? I can't seem to find anything that's *written* on economy design in an MMO game, but I know that it's always been a big issue and has caused the downfall of a few -- E&B to name one. So as I start to experiment with code in this genere, I'd like to try to get this right the first time. ;)

I suppose this is true for any artificial economy, and I don't know much about the microeconomics that are necessary to write all the business logic.

Is the economy fake?

Effigy2000 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:41:05 -0800

Bill Hicks said, in one of his acts, and I quote "It's gonna fuck up the economy... the economy thats fake anyway!" Is the economy fake? While acknowledging that Bill was talking about drugs and how great they were for altering your perception of reality in this very same act in which he says the economy does not exist, I have started to consider what he meant by that, exactly. He never really went into any further detail on the topic as far as I'm aware.

I have always taken this observation of his to mean that the economy is not real because there is no tangible thing one can touch or see that is called 'The Economy'. To extrapolate, while there is money that one can touch and use to pay for goods and services, money and its value to the economy is only a human construct that does not necessarily need to exist to allow people access to goods and services or for people to live life harmoniously.

Mind you, I'm no economist, so what would I know?

Is this likely what Bill meant? Or is there a different (or deeper) meaning than the one I have construed? And how would an economist refute (or even relate to) Bill's argument?

I ask this question because of a book which I'm writing. As I said, I'm no economist and while I plan to research economics and maybe even interview a few economists to further my work, I'd be interested in hearing the hive minds views (especially from those well versed in economics) to help me find the direction my research should take.