Internet Providers and Switching Costs

This story from Planet Money discusses why customers in the US have less options from which to choose for Internet than consumers in other countries.

Disruptive technology

This article from the WSJ is a good account of how technology disrupts. It discusses the how the rapid pace of change affects strategies. It also discusses briefly the impact the improvements in the markets for information might have on the size of firms. It could be used as to introduce or illustrate Coase's theory of the firm.

Coke's experiment with vertical integration

Here is an article that I use when talking about vertical integration being motivated by a combination of relationship-specific investments and contracting costs. However, maybe the example was not good. Here is an update.

Ronald Coase

This opinion is a wonderful tribute to Ronald Coase. It is a nice introduction to the role of government, the theory of the firm, transactions costs, and the Coase Theorem. 

An analysis of a tax on carbon

This article discusses the limitations of using a carbon tax to address global warming. I like its discussion of externalities and the Coase theorem. It also recognizes that either cap and trade or a carbon tax can reduce carbon emissions. However, some of the analysis is fuzzy or confusing.

The author claims that "Most economists prefer a revenue-neutral carbon tax that would be imposed at the mine-head for coal, the wellhead for natural gas, and at the refinery-gate for petroleum products." I don't know the preference of most economists, but I would prefer imposing the tax on the producers who emit it if unless monitoring costs are prohibitive  Why make a utility company that sequesters carbon dioxide pay as much for coal as one that burns "dirty"?

Apple Cuts Back Orders from Suppliers

This article in the WSJ describes how the slowdown in orders for iPhones is affecting Apple's suppliers. It shows nicely that the demand for inputs are derived from the demand for the final good. It also notes a problem for suppliers selling parts that are customized for Apple.

Bargaining

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/business/getting-to-yes-offers-clues-to-fiscal-talks.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0 is a good example of how switching costs affects bargaining outcomes.

Do Futures Contracts Protect Against Price Volatility?

The Wall Street Journal published a article showing that futures contracts are imperfect protection against price volatility because the side with the bad price will often attempt to change the contract, find grounds to declare the contract void, or simply walk away from the contract. The article discusses what happened as the price of cotton increased and then collapsed between 2012 and 2012. The history points out that the cost of enforcing a contract is often a significant transactions cost.

A Better Search Model?

Economists use search theory and matching games to model what a job seeker experiences.
Bright.com aims to use big data to make the job-seeking process more efficient and effective. Read more.