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Happy holidays and Merry Christmas! Do you struggle with getting the right gifts? Maybe it’s because of utility! Kathryn and Kenzi discuss how economics helps us understand why giving gifts is just so hard and why every gift exchange should include socks. Continue reading Sock Exchanges and the Utility of Gift Giving
By Will Hanafan (Creighton University) When President Donald Trump came crashing through the doors of the White House back in 2016, he brought with him a completely new attitude and set of ideas. At the heart of this new attitude towards the country came his notorious mantra, “Make America Great Again”. His campaign and slogan focused on the concept that in order to “Make America Great … Continue reading Trump’s Tariffs: Does America Win?
While visiting a family member at the hospital, I stopped by the gift shop to buy a balloon and a “get well” card. I grabbed a card but there were no balloons. The chatty cashier responded grief-strickenly, “Can you believe it? They say there is a helium shortage. So, we can’t fill up balloons anymore. That is so stupid. Party city has balloons. Publix has … Continue reading Balloons Missing From Hospitals
The economics community is mourning the death of another great economist. Dr. Harold Demsetz passed away January 4th at the ripe age of 88. He spent his life working on studying property rights: where they come from, how they are established, and how they affect the world we live in. He was never awarded the Nobel Prize (he should have at least split a prize … Continue reading Get Your Hands Off My Things! A Tribute to Harold Demsetz
By Tina Tomas (Creighton University)
Widely regarded to be one of the best shows in television history, Friends is about three young men and three young women who face life and love in New York. Following these six through the tumults of dating, marriage, divorce, kids, and career changes, the show makes us laugh.
Continue reading “The One Where Tina Explains the Economics Behind Friends”
By Jessica Feese (Creighton University)
Anyone looking to buy a bookstore? Recent news has it Barnes & Noble is on the lookout to sell. Barnes & Noble enthusiasts may treat this as the end of the world, but just look at the facts: Barnes & Noble (B&N) is a company that sells elastic goods. In other words, there are a lot of substitutes to the company, books are a luxury, and time is money. And demand for books from Barnes & Noble has been slowly decreasing. As proven by Fortune.com, “the company’s market value is around $400 million, down about 80% from its 2006 all-time high about $2 billion”. Continue reading “Barnes & Noble or Barnes & No More?”
Working in restaurants, sweet talk paid my rent. Sweet talk ensured a good dining experience despite the $200 bottle of wine. It was particularly lucrative when the sweet talk was so good they opted for a second bottle. Or, that five-star dessert adding another $50 to the check. Sweet talk wasn’t only directed at customers. I used sweet talk to persuade managers or fellow servers to put me in good sections or let me go home early. Continue reading “Let Me Sweet Talk You Into Reading This”
What’s your favorite breakfast food? In this episode of Katallaxy, Kathryn and Kenzi discuss the elasticities of breakfast. After this episode, Kenzi is debating whether she needs to hold an intervention for Kathryn’s obsession with bacon. Listen in to discover just one more way economics applies to your daily life.
Continue reading “Bacon and Elasticities”
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By Clayton Dines (Creighton University)
Once upon a time, college was considered a guaranteed ticket to career success. But these days, many college graduates enter the real world with a degree in one hand and a massive amount of student loan debt weighing them down in the other. A college degree can be a great tool for career advancement but it comes at a very high cost – tuition, time, (and for some) your mental sanity. So in this post, I ask the very important question: is a college education worth the investment? Continue reading “Maxing Out: The Value of College”
