Gasoline boycott?

The price of gasoline is now exorbitant. A good scheme for solving the problem is for consumers to boycott gasoline, driving down its price; when the price is low, consumers can resume their higher purchases.

True or False? Explain your answer.

Congratulations to Jennifer Wolfe for being the first to provide a correct answer to this week's question.

Name That Economist

Here is a haiku to describe the mystery economist:

His foundations told,
a math story of econ,
and led to a prize.

Your answer must also come in the form of a haiku!

Congratulations to William Hamilton for correctly identifying Paul Samuelson as the mystery economist (and using a haiku along the way).

Simpson's Paradox......Doh!

Professor Neo Klassikle asked his research assistant to find out if the average wage of women rose or fell over a ten-year period. The following morning, the assistant returned and said, "I wasn't able to find anything on women, but I found out that the average wage for all workers fell during that period while the average wage for men rose. It must, therefore, be true that the average wage for women fell." "Not necessarily," said the professor. "It's possible that the average wage for women rose during that period, too." How could that happen? Use a numerical example to support your answer.

Congratulations to Yuan Tao for correctly explaining the seemingly odd set of facts described above. The problem presents an application of Simpson's Paradox.

The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct

If doctors became better at curing lung cancer what would happen to the number of people who smoke cigarettes? What would happen to the overall number of people who died from lung cancer? Explain.


(The title to this blog post is in reference to a The Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson in which several dinosaurs were standing around smoking cigarettes--very funny stuff.)

Congratulations to Yang Yang for being the first to submit a reasoned answer to this week's question.

Professor Salaries = f (Student Evaluations)

Imagine that starting next year, professors' salaries become determined entirely by student evaluations. Professors with the highest ratings will earn around $140,000 a year, while those with the lowest scores will receive about $30,000 a year. What will happen to teaching quality?

Congratulations to Elizabeth Ekey for providing a cogent analysis of the professor compensation scheme. Read Elizabeth's arguments in the comments section.


(This question is borrowed from James D. Miller's Principles of Microeconomics. The "winning" answer will exhibit concise and complete analysis.)

I am a famous economics major. Who am I?

Detroit and Philadelphia were my playgrounds when I was younger, but Washington D.C. is where I play now.

Congratulations to Josh Bibb for being the first to recognize Senator Jim Bunning as the famous econ major. Bunning is a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who mostly played for the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

There are three groups in Marietta. Their demand curves for public television in hours of programming, T, are given respectively by:

W₁ = $200 - T
W₂ = $240 - T
W₃ = $320 - 2T.

Suppose public television is a pure public good that can be produced at a constant marginal cost of $200 per hour.

a) What is the efficient number of hours of public television? Explain how you determined the answer.

b) How much public television would a competitive private market provide? Explain how you determined the answer.