Information Asymmetry

As I come increasingly nearer my return to the United States, any opportunity to enjoy a tasty libation is accompanied by a concern:
How—oh how—will I be able to gauge accurately my consumption and the honesty of the server without the measure of volume marked conveniently on the side of the glass?

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Berlin! Berlin! Wir Fahren Nach Berlin!

After what has been perhaps the busiest day of my internship, I am calling it quits for the week and heading to Berlin for the final conference of my program. The break will be welcome, as not only today but also most of the past two weeks have wholly consumed many in my office as [...]

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Corporate Identity

Though my line of work has me handling a lot of different business cards, a curious difference between those from Americans and Germans had escaped my notice until a colleague pointed it out to me: taking a pile sitting on my desk, he demonstrated that while all American business cards were the standard 3.5” × [...]

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A Policy That By Any Other Name Would Still Stink

Everyone who passed Econ 101 please take a step forward—not so fast, City Council of Roseville!
The city of Roseville has already declared a “stage one” drought alert, and is considering a drastic step to ease the crisis: Offering residents cash to give up their lawn.
Fifty percent of all the water that’s used by homeowners in [...]

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Trading Places

This week’s Economist has a briefing on world tourism. These two sentences caught my attention:
About 85% of American travel and tourism is domestic. Only one-fifth of American citizens have passports.
As a kid, I traveled within the continental United States extensively (over 40 states by the time I was 16), but once I started college, my [...]

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