“Because we have decided a unit of money represents a portion of inclusion within the system, when a person accumulates a great deal of money, they also have a greater degree of inclusion or representation.”
Money represents a social agreement, which has implications for how we value wealthy people. Bitcoin replaces the need for this social agreement with technology, and in doing so challenges the values we ascribe to wealth.
Popular mobile payments app Venmo enjoys the benefits of behavioral economics biases, causing users to feel less pain from spending money. Learn how it works, and how businesses can capture the "Venmo effect".
Deep-dive into the increasingly personal way we interact with brands, fueled by Snapchat and Instagram.
Some musings on the benefits of the changing cultural consumption landscape (including the shift to streaming of music and TV).
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the future of technology, but also represents some interesting economic phenomena not-so-frequently seen.
We all hate surge pricing, but it's a great way for Uber and its drivers to capture more value. What if GrubHub, Starbucks, etc. charged customers more during peak hours in order to pay service workers better? Could we ever break the cycle of reliance on cheap labor?
Price discrimination is a way that companies can make more money by understanding how much different consumers will pay for the same good. Here's how it works.
What's the economic explanation behind the rise of the term "basic"? Is this a new phenomenon, or merely a quality of human nature evident due to economic and technical changes?
Would you pay $35 for a Raspberry Pi? No, not the food, it's a miniature computer! This device can be revolutionary for the 75 million Americans without internet access.
Do you ever forget the difference between nominal and real? Do you wonder why financiers analyze Yellen's words like a text from a crush? If so, this is the article for you!
When fruit flies, it fails. Industrial agricultural practices have brought us berries in January, but at the cost of quality. Read about why harvesting heirloom varieties is important for taste, small farmers, and the environment.
It used to be that the strongest hunter had the most value in society. Today, the nerdy ideas man has the most worth. What happened?
Innovation is cyclical and inspired by other innovation. For example, this article was inspired by my purchase of innovative new ice cube trays. Read about how product variety is created, and how it can be a bad thing.
You may hear the terms horizontal and vertical integration tossed around in business (Businesspeople love fancy strategy terms). Learn how Standard Oil used integration to become a monopoly and how one might benefit from integration today.
Will a big engagement ring buy you happiness? What about donating blood? How do you properly motivate someone? If you are looking for a job, is city size a factor? Why are smartphones important for the poor to have? All this and more.
America is in trouble if the cost of Third World labor increases. As has been the tradition for all of human history, our economic success depends on the accessibility cheap and near-slave labor. How can we grow when this ends?
Some would claim that it is human nature to capitalize upon opportunities. Arbitrage was born of this human urge to take advantage of money-making opportunities.
Efficient appliances seem like a great way to reduce our energy use, right? Wrong - in the long run, they end up causing massive increases in energy use due to cost reductions.
