http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8382
(note the last paragraph, sneaky)
06 April 2008
05 March 2008
04 March 2008
03 March 2008
19 February 2008
Govt Role to Decrease Inequality: But What Kind?
Countries should have preferences over Information Equality (there exists moral hazard implications with more pointed goals).
With income equality, agents can procure what they want, including health if that is what they want. Therefore wealth redistribution is a more general goal, and health redistribution is more pointed goal. There is less moral hazard associated with more pointed redistribution goals. With income redistribution there is distortion in labor supply and savings decisions including investments in health. With health redistribution there is still moral hazard, but less. For purchase of commodities, agents must still work accordingly, however there is still lack of incentive for adequate personal investment in health.
I claim that the optimal commodity of redistribution by the government is information. Access to information contains all the answers agents could ever want to achieve any goals they would have. It provides the keys to vast warehouse of tools to serve the needs of all individuals desiring to cultivate their own potential. Achieving information equality consists of procurement of library services for public use, subsidies and at least mild de-tiering of internet, subsidies of information databasing firms, hiring of services to assist the access to information such as librarians and search cost routines.
With income equality, agents can procure what they want, including health if that is what they want. Therefore wealth redistribution is a more general goal, and health redistribution is more pointed goal. There is less moral hazard associated with more pointed redistribution goals. With income redistribution there is distortion in labor supply and savings decisions including investments in health. With health redistribution there is still moral hazard, but less. For purchase of commodities, agents must still work accordingly, however there is still lack of incentive for adequate personal investment in health.
I claim that the optimal commodity of redistribution by the government is information. Access to information contains all the answers agents could ever want to achieve any goals they would have. It provides the keys to vast warehouse of tools to serve the needs of all individuals desiring to cultivate their own potential. Achieving information equality consists of procurement of library services for public use, subsidies and at least mild de-tiering of internet, subsidies of information databasing firms, hiring of services to assist the access to information such as librarians and search cost routines.
10 February 2008
25 January 2008
tax competition
by the way, today starts the spectrum auction.
some new interesting unfoldings as to the participants expected strategies.
will have to post some more later.
03 January 2008
back to Net Neutrality
i post again about net neutrality just because policy on this issue is so imminent and so important.
19 December 2007
17 December 2007
16 November 2007
good link
U.S. Military Wasting All Its Victories On Notre Dame
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_military_wasting_all_its
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_military_wasting_all_its
02 November 2007
Guest Blogizzle
Posted by: The Wife
What?! Whose wife? Yes, sorry ladies, mastro is married. I know you must be surprised since he has never mentioned that fact, but you must have wondered how a man who obviously has many many interesting topics and insights to converse about has not been snatched up. Well I did snatch him. I guess marriage is just not related to economics enough for him to mention his marital status. Wait a minute -- "economics of families" Seriously, mastro, the opportunity to come clean was all over that blog post! We are very happily married, btw.
Anyway, mastro does not know I am posting today, but he has suggested that I guest blog for him in the past, and I find myself with nothing else to do at the moment, so the time has come. He also told me that my post does not have to be related to economics... but isn't everything?? We actually do converse about economics quite often, and mastro thinks I have great ideas. But apparently I use too many phrases like "some ratio type thing or something" and not enough like "the exponential integral of a finite array of sets" to be a good economics grad student.
Here are my latest thoughts related to economics.
I have been considering whether or not I should get a flu shot this year. Buzzword: externalities. Flu shots provide positive externalities. If I get a flu shot, I won't get the flu, and you won't catch the flu from me. Well, there's my solution -- I'm not getting a needle stuck in my arm (or any muscle of my choosing), so y'all better get flu shots, and if not, I'll see you next spring, okay?
Two of my favorite things to do are probably running and cooking. I guess you could call them hobbies, although I don't really know if a lot of people drag their tight butts out of bed at 5:30 a.m. to collect stamps, nor do I know anyone who considers their responsibility for the survival of their spouse to be a hobby... But lets call them my hobbies for this economic analysis. Buzzwords: tradeoffs and opportunity cost. I only have so much free time, so I have to figure out how much of it I am going to devote to my hobbies, because if I am running, I sure as heck can't be cooking. And vice versa, obviously (although I'm not sure if that is a safe assumption in real economics). So I have to decide how much I like (or rather how much utility) I get from each activity and I must maximize my total utility. Sounds easy enough. The combination of running and cooking, however, brings a slight complication to the standard tradeoff problem. You see, the more I cook (and inevitably eat tons of chocolate, lick all kinds of beaters, and "test" the outcome), the more I must run. This particular issue is getting a little scientific maybe, so I will save the details for when I guest blog for a biology student. Back to the main problem here, tradeoffs say the more you do one thing, the less you may do the other, but like I said, the more I cook, the more I must run. And opportunity cost says that if I run 1 extra mile, I cannot cook one extra cookie. But I say if I run one extra mile, I can cook (and will eat) one extra cookie. What a predicament. I need a solution. I don't know if there is a buzzword to describe this crazy situation yet. If not, this is my gift to one lucky grad student. Do you dissertation about it, and let me know how in the world I can solve this problem!
I hope you all enjoyed today's guest blog. Unfortunately, it is not out on podcasts.
Keepin' it economical,
mrs.mastro
What?! Whose wife? Yes, sorry ladies, mastro is married. I know you must be surprised since he has never mentioned that fact, but you must have wondered how a man who obviously has many many interesting topics and insights to converse about has not been snatched up. Well I did snatch him. I guess marriage is just not related to economics enough for him to mention his marital status. Wait a minute -- "economics of families" Seriously, mastro, the opportunity to come clean was all over that blog post! We are very happily married, btw.
Anyway, mastro does not know I am posting today, but he has suggested that I guest blog for him in the past, and I find myself with nothing else to do at the moment, so the time has come. He also told me that my post does not have to be related to economics... but isn't everything?? We actually do converse about economics quite often, and mastro thinks I have great ideas. But apparently I use too many phrases like "some ratio type thing or something" and not enough like "the exponential integral of a finite array of sets" to be a good economics grad student.
Here are my latest thoughts related to economics.
I have been considering whether or not I should get a flu shot this year. Buzzword: externalities. Flu shots provide positive externalities. If I get a flu shot, I won't get the flu, and you won't catch the flu from me. Well, there's my solution -- I'm not getting a needle stuck in my arm (or any muscle of my choosing), so y'all better get flu shots, and if not, I'll see you next spring, okay?
Two of my favorite things to do are probably running and cooking. I guess you could call them hobbies, although I don't really know if a lot of people drag their tight butts out of bed at 5:30 a.m. to collect stamps, nor do I know anyone who considers their responsibility for the survival of their spouse to be a hobby... But lets call them my hobbies for this economic analysis. Buzzwords: tradeoffs and opportunity cost. I only have so much free time, so I have to figure out how much of it I am going to devote to my hobbies, because if I am running, I sure as heck can't be cooking. And vice versa, obviously (although I'm not sure if that is a safe assumption in real economics). So I have to decide how much I like (or rather how much utility) I get from each activity and I must maximize my total utility. Sounds easy enough. The combination of running and cooking, however, brings a slight complication to the standard tradeoff problem. You see, the more I cook (and inevitably eat tons of chocolate, lick all kinds of beaters, and "test" the outcome), the more I must run. This particular issue is getting a little scientific maybe, so I will save the details for when I guest blog for a biology student. Back to the main problem here, tradeoffs say the more you do one thing, the less you may do the other, but like I said, the more I cook, the more I must run. And opportunity cost says that if I run 1 extra mile, I cannot cook one extra cookie. But I say if I run one extra mile, I can cook (and will eat) one extra cookie. What a predicament. I need a solution. I don't know if there is a buzzword to describe this crazy situation yet. If not, this is my gift to one lucky grad student. Do you dissertation about it, and let me know how in the world I can solve this problem!
I hope you all enjoyed today's guest blog. Unfortunately, it is not out on podcasts.
Keepin' it economical,
mrs.mastro
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