Tom Flanagan’s Winning Power is an impressive piece of writing. This is because it combines academic research with practical knowledge of campaigning. Flanagan worked for a variety of “Conservative” parties. This is in addition to being a professor which has given him great experience to draw upon in helping with understanding Canadian electioneering. Positioning And…
Category: Public Policy
A Bias Towards A Bias To Action?
Phil Rosenzweig likes criticizing other people. He is usually correct. Still, at his worst, he is highly selective in his criticisms. Rosenzweig seems starstruck by CEOs and their dodgy pronouncements. He happily agrees with dubious advice from top managers. He shows a bias towards a bias to action. Yet, he gets out his microscope when…
Price Discrimination And Seniors
Peter Shawn Taylor discusses price discrimination and seniors. He argues for the abolition of seniors’ discounts. There is probably a discussion worth having over where to target government benefits. Do rich seniors get benefits that might be better targeted at younger people? I think this can be the case (although senior poverty remains a major…
Sales And Consumer Protection
Peter Shawn Taylor discusses sales and consumer protection. He criticizes the Canadian Competition Bureau “for going after retailers for discounting too often” (Taylor, 2015). The piece was interesting. Sadly, Taylor’s arguments were unconvincing. Sales And Consumer Protection I’ll focus upon the general arguments rather than the specific cases. I cannot comment on the specific details…
Faking Market Share
I enjoyed Peter Thiel’s Zero to One which he wrote with Blake Masters. Thiel seems more interesting than most business leaders. The book spews out ideas in a slightly haphazard, but never boring, fashion. (To be clear I’m pretty sure I disagree with him on an awful lot of issues, but still think it is…
Market Driving (And Being Just Really Good)
Some firms don’t seem to follow the market. Instead, they chart their own course. They are market driving. Who Drives The Market? The classic example of such a firm might be Apple. It looks to many that Apple is able to influence tastes in the market rather than just serve the consumers’ tastes. Whether this…
Reference Dependence In Primary Elections
Reference Dependence involves comparing outcomes to what we are focused on rather than an absolute scale. Thus higher pay after a cut may make us less happy than lower pay after a raise. Comparison to the reference, here past earnings, helps explain behavior. What then can we deduce about reference dependence in primary elections? Reference…
Competitor Orientation And The Evolution of Business Markets
My first major article was on Competitor Orientation And The Evolution of Business Markets. I think it is a fun one. Even though it took years and years to publish. Some may have agreed. it was fun That said, it is a bit mathy at times. Aiming To, Is Not Maximizing Profits When people envisage…
Natural Monopoly And The Beer Store
A natural monopoly occurs when an industry gives the best social outcome if it is run by a single firm. For instance, building two railways lines to a small town wastes resources. the two lines, therefore, don’t increase public welfare. What can we say about natural monopoly and the Beer Store? The Problem Of Monopoly…
More On Evaluating Student Evaluations
Today’s piece has more on evaluating student evaluations. Braga, Paccagnella, and Pellizari’s (2014) article is a useful contribution to the debate about student evaluations. The Challenge Of Evaluating Evaluations This research does have limitations. For example, it is based on one school. Furthermore, the very strength of the article (random assignment of students to classes)…
