Economics for the Intelligent Amateur

As staunch advocates of free markets, we only find it fitting that, in light of the recent events, crises, and government interventions, we re-state our position that if governments use these times as an opportunity to seize more control and start nationalizing it could be a fatal mistake.
To contrast our beliefs, however, we also felt [...]

Gas prices are lower than they were not too long ago, but they’re still much higher than they were before. Now, should we relax and drive contently, or should we still be searching for alternatives in order to save money?
Here are some handy sites you can use to calculate how much it costs to [...]

Due to the persuasion of our friend, Doug Brown, we would like to take a moment to officially state our humble opinion on this matter. This topic was also difficult for us to write about, not so much for lack of opinion, but rather due to the fact that so many other inter-related events [...]

These days it can be difficult to know what you’re getting with Current Events. Is your main source biased? Is it too regional? Is it too leftist? too rightist? Does a US news outlet really understand what is happening in India? Does your European outlet really understand the Arab world? As much as your local [...]

Those who have followed our various examples of the Dumb Agent Theory, efficient markets, and in particular how prediction markets are successful at predicting, might have a nagging doubt about manipulation. How easy is it really for someone, or a group of people, to manipulate prices?
A paper by David Rothschild and Justin Wolfers points [...]