This article addresses tradeoffs between efficiency and equity by examining what gives when prices don't. There are examples of concert tickets, essential supply prices following natural disasters, Uber surge pricing, and more. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for work in behavioural economics, is quoted extensively. [...]
In 2017, the Liberal Government in Ontario decided to expand rent controls beyond apartments built before 1993 to cover all apartment buildings. The housing industry objected, and argued that expanded rent controls would discourage new apartment construction by reducing profitability. All other things equal, that is a [...]
Anti-trade and anti-globalization positions helped elect Donald Trump, and economists' traditional arguments for free trade are being ignored. In fairness to the anti-traders, the outcomes of extended trade (especially with China) have left many workers in manufacturing worse off. In teaching about the gains from trade, how do we [...]
After meeting an Uber developer at a University of Waterloo hackathon, a student posted a paper - "The Effects of Uber's Surge Pricing - A Case Study" - by Jonathan Hall (Head of Economic Research, Legal and Public Policy at Uber Technologies), Cory Kendrick (Data Scientist at Uber Technologies) and Chris Nosko [...]
James Heckman (Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago) argues passionately that governments should pay (unusual for a Chicago economist!) for early childhood education.
