From the NY Times: …a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation. “My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high [...]

Books don’t get reviewed here very often but when something that crosses the insight of Freakonomics with the subject of sports, you’ve got a potential winner on your hands. The topics of the Freakonomics books have always taken some kind of conventional understanding and turned it on its head.  Whether it was the connection of [...]

I’ve been on Weight Watchers three months. I have to lose two pounds a week. I’m at 38 pounds now. They come and weigh me every two weeks. I ain’t never missed a weigh-in. Never going to. I’m feeling much better. But I ain’t giving away no money… I’m not giving away no free money. [...]

Less than 100 years ago, an American woman might not have had the right to vote depending on where she lived. Various states had granted some rights but it wasn’t consistent by a long shot. The 19th Amendment fixed that, but the right to vote was really just one milestone towards equality. The journey continued, [...]

It’s called confirmation bias, and the most educated amongst us can’t help but bend to its laws. In fact, the more educated people are, the easier it is to find data that supports their claim. This is why we fight over climate control. This is why so many well-educated people in Congress can barely agree [...]

Back in the 1970s some finance professors proposed an idea that has since shaped the very landscape of business. Basically, if the owner of a company also manages the company, they have all the motivation they need to maximize profits. But when a shareholder (principal) hires a manager (agent), that manager may have other things [...]

Picture it. You’re sitting at a traffic light, 15 cars are in front of you, work is 20 minutes away and you’ve got a meeting in 10. The light turns green but it seems like no one is moving. Have you ever wondered why everyone doesn’t just go at the same time? We often think [...]

Made up words are my thing.  Just a few are Freeconomy, Egoeconomics, Hypotheory, and this blog’s namesake.  My childhood, and much of my adult life, has been filled with making up words when the real ones escape me.  But I can’t take credit for Prosumers, a word the predates my conception.  Prosumers is an awesome [...]