Information Rules by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian is a classic business book. While today’s post will be a bit cranky it isn’t really about the book and I’ll be appropriately positive next week. The book descriptions of business scenarios are dated but the ideas are relatively timeless. Plus the dated examples make you feel young — battles…
Category: Public Policy
Rationality And The Republican Autopsy
Political marketing is about giving voters what they want so one must have some notion of how voters think. With a colleague, June Cotte, I wanted to uncover how political marketers think voters think. The specific question we looked at was: “do political marketers think voters are rational?” What can we say about rationality and the Republican autopsy? Lack Of Clarity…
Are Free Markets Discovered Or Created?
A key social science question is: Are Free Markets Discovered Or Created? This has surprisingly large political consequences. For example, what is the role of government? How much does it create the conditions for prosperity, or should it just get out of the way? Market Design Market Design is the study of what makes for…
Experimenters And Economists
Advocates for more behavioural approaches to understanding economics often use experiments. These typically show people acting in strange ways. Or at least that violate the principles of traditional economics. (Maybe the people are normal and the principles weird). A key thing is that experimenters and economists can be the same people. There is much potential uniting these…
Why Even The Best Economists Don’t Get Marketing
George Akerlof and Robert Shiller have good points, excellent stories, and a clear aim in Phishing for Phools. The aim is to convince economist colleagues that all market outcomes aren’t perfect. I applaud their aim. That said, their conceptualization assumes consumers (and others) are robots with a monkey on our backs. The monkey prevents us from being “fully rational”. I’d say, however, that we…
Who Doesn’t Want Nudges And Competent Government?
The idea of nudging, structuring decisions to encourage people to make good choices, is surprisingly controversial. An example of a nudge might be to encourage those who are qualified to take up a social benefit or to get a tax break to do so. The nudge might be as simple as creating an easy to use application…
Canadian Voting Behavior
Canada votes in a general election on Monday. It seems a good time to consider what drives voter choice. What do we know of Canadian Voting Behavior? What Drives Canadian Voting Behavior? There are multiple explanations and most have at least some support. One popular theory is that people vote for the leaders of parties….
Understanding Canadian Electioneering
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…
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…
