Tag: economics

Economist Peter Navarro promises Trump he will eliminate bad news and unpleasant facts

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After Gary Cohn’s departure as Donald Trump’s chief economic advisor, UC Irvine economist Peter Navarro, who has declared Donald Trump’s intuition infallible, is a leading candidate to replace him. There is a challenge for analysts and managers in every organization. On the one hand, they should be dedicated to hard evidence and truth, so that … Continued

Game theory reveals a chilling reason for denying climate change

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Fixing the climate has a cost. So does failing to fix it. Both costs are huge, but if you believe that climate change is a real phenomenon, then the human and economic costs of inaction are staggering. What justifies failing to act? My analysis reveals that the explanation that many Republicans stand behind — that climate change … Continued

Hal Varian’s timeless insights on thinking

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In December of 1994, economist Hal Varian, who is currently Google’s chief economist, wrote a paper called “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time.” Ignore the subject matter. It should have been called “How to think clearly.” His advice hasn’t lost relevance in the 21-plus years since he wrote it. (Thanks to Cory Doctorow at … Continued

The dark side of Donald Trump’s presidential deal making

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Adam Davidson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand About ‘the Deal’,” provides fresh insight into Trump’s deal psychology. If you take the analysis a bit further, you get a window into the Trump presidency. In an ordinary deal (say, a consumer buying a washing machine or teams trading baseball players), there’s some transparency and … Continued

5 bullshit things about health care and the reasons behind them

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Do you find the health care system in America baffling? Me too. But industries work the way they do for a reason. With help from independent health care analyst Skip Snow, I did my best to reveal the perverse logic of American health care. It all comes down to one thing: when the people who use a service … Continued

The economics of cord-cutting at my house

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When I cut the cable cord, I did it to get more of what I wanted (speed), not to save money. The economics are reasonable, but the benefits are a lot better. My earlier post that described how I cut the cable cord was far more popular than I expected. Several of you asked about the actual … Continued