Pay You, Pay me; Pay it Together, Naturally

Economists stress the importance of incentives in how we creatures make choices, but are often too keen to think of incentives only in monetary terms: if you want to encourage Herr Human to do something, just offer some money as a reward for doing that thing and let economics unfold. In vast expanses of [...]

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Mmm Mmm Goods

One of the most important features of a system of property rights is excludability. That is, if I own something–a fruitful avocado tree, say–I can exclude you from eating my delicious avocados unless we come to some mutually agreeable arrangement. Because I can capture as much of the tree’s benefit as I choose, I have [...]

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Kickin’ it in Kigali

Things are changing every moment here in Kigali: internet access, internet speed, where I live, where my office is, etc. I can’t even bother to tweet at the moment, let alone write a proper blogpost. Plenty of material though. I think I could write a pretty compelling economics paper about the intra-city bus system [...]

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Meaning May End in Madness

Good blogs are rarely drippy diaries nor are they dry op-eds, having more personality than the latter without the self-indulgence of the former. When I started this blog, I thought it would be more diary-like than it’s turned out to be,  but like those of many mice, my best laid scheme gang agley. Though I’m [...]

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Does Not Compute

Even as I read The Black Swan for the first time, I’ve already read it. I’ve listened to several in-depth interviews with Nicholas Nassim Taleb since the book came out in 2007, and he’s had a recent resurgence in attention as the credit crisis fits his titular metaphor aptly.  Despite my familiarity with the main [...]

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