Game theory, in 3:53

On YouTube, judge humanity when you are done with the clip.

Can you analyze the economics here?

In Fairfax County, Va., officials had planned to have swine flu clinics at 10 different locations on Saturday. But the county did not receive the number of doses it requested, and was forced to offer the vaccinations only at the government building. People began lining up with camping gear the night before to get vaccinations.

The story is here.

Why are there sales?

And why do things go on sale at Christmas time (sometimes)?

For whatever hypothesis you come up, can you think of a way to test it against other facts?

On the surface this is a simple question but it's not actually that easy.

A new predatory pricing charge

Read about it here. I believe it is unlikely to succeed.

Global warming

Here's a good post on geo-engineering.

U.S. complains about the Chinese currency

Again, the article is here.

Two new Nobel Laureates

Here is one summary. From the text you may recall the idea that a monopoly or merger may lower costs (although increasing deadweight loss). In part this idea comes from this year's winner Oliver Williamson.

Psycho-pharmaceuticals and crime

You don't need to read this paper, I just thought you might find the abstract interesting:

In this paper we consider possible links between the advent and diffusion of a number of new psychiatric pharmaceutical therapies and crime rates. We describe recent trends in crime and review the evidence showing mental illness as a clear risk factor both for criminal behavior and victimization. We then briefly summarize the development of a number of new pharmaceutical therapies for the treatment of mental illness which diffused during the “great American crime decline.” We examine limited international data, as well as more detailed American data to assess the relationship between crime rates and rates of prescriptions of the main categories of psychotropic drugs, while controlling for other factors which may explain trends in crime rates. We find that increases in prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in general are associated with decreases in violent crime, with the largest impacts associated with new generation antidepressants and stimulants used to treat ADHD. Our estimates imply that about 12 percent of the recent crime drop was due to expanded mental health treatment.

Random topic

Was lead reduction a big factor behind the fall in the crime rate?

Missing your textbook?

There was a book left in the classroom on Tuesday, please email me at jlemke at gmu.edu if it belongs to you.

Jayme

A blog post by a movie director

Read the comments especially.

The Armchair Economist

Those of you looking for some good examples of the creative application of economic theory may wish to check out Steven Landsburg's The Armchair Economist. The book is full of the type of economic thinking problems discussed in class last night and as a bonus is a pretty quick read.

Also, please remember that I am available for questions at jlemke at gmu.edu and in room 120 (the same room we have class) at 8pm on Thursday nights.

Jayme

The end of fish

Some background on what we discussed two weeks ago.

Simple exam problem

Analyze this using the elasticity concept.

David Brooks

Here is a good general piece which covers many issues.

A simple question about monopoly

Should I throw out my used books or give them to a friend to resell on eBay? Which action will better improve social welfare? Can you tell a story about how it might matter which kind of book one has in mind?

More on the cupcake bubble

This time it's a lawyer behind it.