What happens when the government tries to help dairy farmers?

This article from CNNMoney describes the effects of letting the farm bill expire. The current bill sets a support price for dairy products at a level about 1/2 of the current price. If the bill expires, the support reverts to a 1949 standard that would set the support price at about twice the current price. Click here to read about the 1949 standard.

The articles would be good introductions to binding and non-binding price floors.

School Choice

Here is an account of New Orleans's use of school choice. The initial results look good.

PPACA = Patient Protection and Affordability Act, aka ACA and Obamacare

The Kahn Academy has a good summary.

Click here for the summary provided by the White House.

Click here for a thoughtful piece in the WSJ that discusses the fundamental nature of the bill.

This article in CNBC describes some of the reactions by business to Obamacare. The rational actor paradigm predicts all of them: incentives matter.

Visit the posts labelled Health Care for more.

The air up there

This story form Marketplace is a great example of externalities and how clearly defined property rights leads to mutually beneficial trades. (The audio is way more fun than the transcript.) Coase would be proud. It also mentions how restrictions on trade affect bargaining positions and market outcomes.

For an example of how markets for air rights may have failed, click here. 

The two stories might be fodder for a class discussion about why the market for air rights might be "good" when the two parties are developers or landowners, and "bad" when one party is Central Park. 

Controlled field experiments

My inspiration du jour is controlled field experiments. To learn more, read The Why Axis or visit this TED talk by Esther Duflo.

Business responds to PPACA

This article in CNBC describes some of the reactions by business to Obamacare. The rational actor paradigm predicts all of them: incentives matter.

Make a stand

Here is an article that addresses cause-based marketing and philanthropy, a research interest of mine.