Economic Logic

The recent financial crisis has scared a lot of countries into adopting so called macro-prudential policies that introduce frictions into ca...

It is sometimes difficult for a shopper to understand all the consequences of purchasing choices. Take lightbulbs, for example. The variety ...

When you think about market distortions through regulation and taxation in a developed economy, you think first about France. It is the prim...

There are no laws mandating helmet use for motorcyclists in many developing countries and some US states. In the first case, such laws are l...

Net neutrality, the fact tat no one has priority over the use of the Internet, may sound very democratic, but it is also potentially ineffic...

For some reason that is unclear to me, fuel for cars is in most countries the most flexible price, sometimes changing several times a day. A...

The current talk in Republican circles is that one can achieve significant job growth by deregulating. One may want to question this idea on...

The insurance market is thought to be rather competitive, at least for the most common risks. That is in part because insurance companies ar...

Pollution regulation is typically cast as a game between citizens and firms, the first suffering the consequences of pollution while the sec...

A classic example of the law of unintended consequences is how seat belt laws gave reasons to drive more dangerously, as car drivers feel mo...

Europe and the United States have a different attitude towards many things, and one in particular is regulation. Think, for example, how Eur...

There has been and there still is much outrage about the large bonus payments bankers get. What the public does not understand is that bonus...

The past two decades have seen an impressive wave of privatizations all around the world, especially in utilities and resources. This trend ...

Now that Lebanon and Israel are at it again, one can ask whether this can have an economic impact. The prime candidate (a part for the defen...

Alcohol use has an impact on crime in many ways. Perpetrators maybe mentally impaired by alcohol abuse, may be motivated by an addiction, or...

While people are now used to widespread smoking bans in the United States, European countries are right now going through the painful transi...

Imagine that the world is separated in two: a more developed North that cares about the environment, and a less developed South that does no...

Why are Japanese farms so small and so inefficient/ As usual under such circumstances, this is because they are protected through subsidies ...

With increasing frequency, it is proposed that restaurants should post on their menus nutritional information. The restaurants resist this b...

Charities need to raise funds, and it is costly doing so. As the number of charities increases, so do these costs. This raises the question ...