Archive for April, 2004
Tragedy of The Commons: Will We Run Out of Fish?
An interesting problem found in public finance is called the tragedy of the commons, which states that resources (land, housing, clean air) will be overused in terms of economic efficiency. One of the first to introduce the idea was Garrett Hardin in his 1968 article “The Tragedy of the Commons”. As you may remember from [...]
April 30, 2004
Posted in: Economics, Policy 
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The Coase Theorem: How to Save the Elephants
In our last discussion we talk about a particular type of market failure called externalities, which were loosely defined as an action who full cost or benefit is not reflected in the market price. The implication of which is that since the person doing the bad thing is not paying the cost to society of [...]
April 21, 2004
Posted in: Economics, Policy No Comments
Externalities: When the Private Market Fails Us
Externalities are one of the most fascinating subjects in public policy and economics. Technically, economists define an externality as an action by one party that affects another party in a manner that is not accounted for by the market. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What this really means is that one someone does something, they [...]
April 19, 2004
Posted in: Economics No Comments
The Property Tax: Is George Washington Still Paying Out on Mount Vernon?
Why is the property tax so hated? A recent USA Today article stated, ?Property taxes are taking center-stage in the debate over taxes. Many homeowners are grumbling about skyrocketing tax bills, which are driven by higher home prices. And many state legislatures are looking for new ways to tame the most unpopular of all taxes.? [...]
April 17, 2004
Posted in: Economics No Comments
Tax Arbitrage: How to Make Unlimited Amounts of Money
Since we’ve all (presumably) paid our taxes by now, I thought I’d write about tax arbitrage, a method of using deductions and tax free investments to make an unlimited amount money. Unfortunately the IRS made it illegal years ago, but there is always a chance you won’t get caught. Here is how it works.
Let’s say [...]
April 15, 2004
Posted in: Economics No Comments
