Market Power

Haggling

From Greg Mankiw:

From the RTE Blog:

Fight Inflation the Venezuelan Way: Haggle

Venezuelan Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua asked consumers to start bargaining over prices with retailers to try to curb inflation.

“The most important help that people can give us (in fighting inflation) is that they defend their income. We can’t get used to buying everything at any price,” Jaua told reporters . “If we all start haggling over prices, speculators are going to start feeling pressured,” Jaua said....

The country’s annual inflation rate climbed to 32.2% in June....The Venezuelan government commonly blames speculators for the price increases.

Time spent haggling is time spent not doing something else.  And what if everyone haggles?  Imagine haggling with some poor cashier over the price of some Band Aids during the busy time of the day.  O, the queue-manity (OK.  I'm reaching there!).

The Quad on Okie State

The skinny:

The schedule – at least out of conference – gives the Cowboys a bit of a break this fall, so all indications are that Oklahoma State will improve upon its string of seven-win seasons. Though the Cowboys will obviously have to deal with four preseason top 25 teams in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas Tech, they should enter Big 12 play at 4-0, which will be a huge confidence booster. When it comes to Big 12 play, is there any reason to think Oklahoma State will finish worse than the 4-4 mark they posted a season ago? In which area have the Cowboys gotten worse? One could say that end is a concern, but with rising talent like Chinasa and Jones, that position may end up being a strength as the season wears on. I like Robinson’s dual-threat ability, and Bryant looks like a future star at wide receiver. The defense may have trouble with Texas Tech and Oklahoma, but who won’t? I don’t think the Cowboys are a favorite for the Big 12 crown, but I predict an 8-4 regular season, 5-3 in the Big 12.

Leachisms

From the Quad:

“Won the state of Texas in the high jump when he was in high school. As a result, splits out all his shoes because if you’re about his height and you win the state of Texas in the high jump, you know something has got to give and generally it’s his cleats.”

...“We call him the elf, because he kind of looks like an elf."

"“Anybody that wants to talk to Graham or Michael Crabtree or Darcel McBath or those guys, you can do it in their natural habitat in Lubbock, Texas. I recommend Love Field because D.F.W. can be a confusing mess. Love Field, about every hour goes to Lubbock, Texas, where we have some great steak places. And we’d love to see you, and we all know you by your first names, so it’d be good to renew our friendship.”

“We were the youngest team in college football last year, so I think as our players gain confidence and rally together as players, and the coaches over there, I think we steadily improved and some of them, you know, maturity, which is really kind of a word I don’t like, besides the fact that I’m immature. I mean, where is this benchmark?”

Mike Leach is a reporter's dream.

Natural Disasters Bring Out the Gougers, No?

No.  My hometown, Sioux City, Ia., was hit by a nasty thunderstorm packing 75-100 MPH winds early this morning.  Trees and limbs were blown down all over the city.  Several thousand people lost power and, last I checked, 4,000 people were still without power. 

My friend Mike had a big maple limb fall on his house, tearing up his gutters.  His was one of many, many houses that sustained some type of damage.

Mike, his girlfriend, and his father worked to clear the limb off the house.  He had already filled up three trash barrels with much more to go when a truck with 3 young men came up.

Man:  "Do you need to have some stuff hauled?"
Mike:  "How much?"
Man:  "$15."
Mike:  "Deal."

The three men went to work, clearing the huge limb off his house, cutting it up, and hauling it away in no time. 

Mike paid them $20, more than they asked.  "Everyone was happy," as Mike put it.

Addendum:  there are lots of pictures of tree damage around the neighborhood I grew up in.

Paragraph of the Day

Rocky Long of New Mexico:

“I mean, who did Kansas play last year? I think Missouri got as screwed as you can get screwed,” Long said. “Missouri was a better football team. Much better football team. But you look at who Kansas played in preseason. If they lost one of those games, they ought to ship them out of there... So a Kansas, who's just establishing a program now, they've got to make sure they win all four of their preseason games so they make sure they play teams they can beat. That's a lot better for a coach's security. Everybody” complains “about who you play, but you say, 'I'm 4-0.' ”

Rocky, this InBev beverage is for you! 

Sports Attendance: The Effect of High Gas Prices and the Economy

Tom Witosky of the Des Moines Register writes that the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones are both concerned about the slow pace of season ticket sales and the sale of single game tickets.

The souring economy has translated to declining season ticket sales for the upcoming football seasons at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa, and created growing concerns about overall sales for that sport and men's basketball.

Rising gas prices and the impact of the state's recent severe weather, coupled with other employment and economic trends, are forcing universities to work harder to fill seats.

Travel costs are an important component of the decision to attend college football games, particularly when the alumni base have large distances to travel.  If all else is held equal, sufficiently high gas prices could cause some folks to decide to stay closer to home.  Others may still travel, but will buy fewer concessions.  Carpooling is also an option.

But let's not forget other determinants either such as team quality, the quality of opponents, etc.  Remember that neither Missouri nor Kansas are having many concerns about season ticket sales this year.  Mizzou is a national title contender (did I really write that?) and while KU probably won't have as much success this year as last (because of a stronger schedule), they still look good for a strong season.

Here is the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the effect of gas prices on sports attendance.  Here is the take at DOL.

Here's Skip at TSE on how some sports teams are using pricing to fill their seats.

The Closer You Are to The Ball...

the higher your Wonderlic score.  Details by Ben Fry here, with Ben's diagram pasted below.

According to this, the average offensive tackle is akin to the average newswriter.

HT to Marginal Rev.

Why Economists Don't Read Marx

From Art Carden at DOL:

Why don't economists read Marx anymore?  Here's my letter to The Chronicle Review:

Russel Jacoby raises several interesting and important points about the apparently conspicuous absence of Freud, Hegel, and Marx from their respective disciplines ("Gone, and Being Forgotten," July 25). I cannot speak to the marginalization of Freud in psychology and Hegel in philosophy, but I can speak to why economists no longer read Marx: for the most part, we don't read him because he contributed nothing of lasting value to the discipline. My undergraduate comparative economic systems professor referred to Marxian economics as having been "stillborn." Thomas Sowell correctly points out that "there is no major premise, doctrine, or tool of analysis in economics today that derived from the writings of Karl Marx" and quotes Paul Samuelson's assessment of Marx as "a minor post-Ricardian."

As I prepare to teach a course entitled "Classical and Marxian Political Economy" this Spring--for which I now plan to assign Jacoby's article, I might add--I would be the first to agree that one's education should include a broad historical overview of the ideas in a particular discipline. I further agree that Marx is an important figure in the history of ideas. He plays a minor role in economics, however, because he has been thoroughly refuted.

That's an accurate assessment.  Economics is a social science that examines rational, self-interested thought (i.e. how beings behave when they compare the costs and benefits of actions).  An economics education, especially at the graduate school level, prepares students to perform economic research and consists of the learning of the tools and language of economic analysis.  While History of Thought is a useful undergraduate class for the reasons listed by Carden, its usefulness is not so great in learning the techniques of economics modeling. 

Whether you think that's a bad thing or a good thing depends on whether you thing you put the emphasis on social or the emphasis on science.

Brother Metal

This man did not sell his soul for rock and roll.

Selling the Steelers

Here's some political posturing on the part of and Allegheny County politician:

Though Allegheny County Controller Mark Flaherty says the Steelers' lease for Heinz Field gives the city and county oversight of team ownership changes -- and could require a buyer outside the Rooney family to pay back more than $200 million in public stadium subsidies -- that does not seem to be what the lease agreement says in full.

In a letter to the Steelers' ownership and during a news conference yesterday, Flaherty pointed to a part of the 2000 lease agreement saying changes and transfers in team ownership are acceptable within the Rooney and McGinley families without getting consent by the Sports & Exhibition Authority.

Another part of the lease, which the controller did not address, speaks directly to outside ownership changes -- and says they are acceptable, with no input from the city-county agency either, as long as the sale conforms to NFL rules, and the SEA is notified once a sale is completed.

A section of the agreement titled "Ownership and Control" says "any change in the ownership of the capital stock of the Lessee [the Steelers] or any change in the ownership of the franchise will be made in accordance with the financial and ownership criteria and standards of the NFL ... The Lessee agrees that upon entering into any commitment to sell or transfer the franchise, the Lessee shall provide written notification to the Commonwealth and the Authority."