« Million dollar blocks | Main | Tabarrok on NPR »
Request for requests
Comments are open, so please let us know what you are interested in reading about. The only promise is that of weak monotonicity, namely that your mention won't lower the chance of the topic being covered.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 21, 2008 at 11:43 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
What impact will algorithmic game theory have on economics?
Posted by: Johan at Apr 21, 2008 11:53:11 AM
Please continue your coverage of energy issues. Energy commodities especially seem to be in chaos right now. Gas prices are around 3.50 / gallon in Fairfax. Looking into power generation inputs... coal, oil and gas are all at record highs. Rate caps on power utilities only last so long, and then consumers will start to feel these costs passed to them.
Posted by: Geoff at Apr 21, 2008 11:58:49 AM
How does having the most well-developed system of intellectual property rights affect the United States in the global balance of trade in human capital?
Posted by: Michael Martin at Apr 21, 2008 12:01:27 PM
On Water:
Some showing that before you post again in favor of "water markets", you have read California Water Code section 1725 et seq., governing changes in points of diversion.
Or, more generally, that you have a way of reconciling your commitment to existing property rights with the destruction of property rights necessarily required for a water market.
(California does have a water market; however as it is largely between governmental agencies the market lacks liquidity.)
Posted by: Francis at Apr 21, 2008 12:01:53 PM
On mainstream versus "fringier" economic schools of thought (and schools themselves too if you like); and on different schools of thought generally, and your take on them; where economic theory is at present.
Posted by: liberty at Apr 21, 2008 12:04:58 PM
I would like to hear about Bruce Bueno De Mesquita in this election year.
Also The "woot" phenomenon (www.woot.com).
Posted by: valpodoc at Apr 21, 2008 12:04:59 PM
Personal DNA sequencing, implications, business models off the back of a collection of DNA
Posted by: John at Apr 21, 2008 12:05:15 PM
Food shortages in the US. Matzah shortage in San Francisco bay Area.
Posted by: KenF at Apr 21, 2008 12:05:41 PM
How about a post about Sallie Mae (SLM) and the student loan market?
Posted by: John at Apr 21, 2008 12:07:01 PM
What do you think of Erin Beinhocker's book on complexity economics and in general, the field of complexity economics?
Posted by: SKY at Apr 21, 2008 12:07:58 PM
Difficulties in cultural communication, translations, or other sorts of cultural confusions. Personal stories from your many travels abroad would be a plus!
Posted by: Gori Girl at Apr 21, 2008 12:08:02 PM
Could you write something about the presence and prospects of personalized pricing (and marketing?). It seems as e-commerce and better data-management play a key role.
Posted by: Chris at Apr 21, 2008 12:12:02 PM
Is taking a photo or video of an event for later viewing worth it, even if it means more or less missing the event in realtime? What's better, a lifetime of mediated viewing of my son's first steps or a one-time in-person viewing?
Posted by: jkottke at Apr 21, 2008 12:12:06 PM
What is your view, and the best empirical evidence, on standards of living between the US and the richest European countries, including health care?
Posted by: JP at Apr 21, 2008 12:12:54 PM
Nothing to do with economics, but I find it infuriating that assassinated former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has had his harshest allegations repeated publicly many times (Russian FSB blew up their own buildings, and trained al-Qaeda's number 2 just months before he became al-Qaeda's number 2 and set them on the path to 9/11), and yet no news publication will seriously consider the ramifications of them being true (i.e., there is really no such thing as home-grown Islamic terrorism on the scale that we see today). Ditto with assassinated dissident journalist Anna Politkovskaya (her allegations were just about the FSB's domestic terrorism – nothing on Ayman al-Zawahiri). And this despite the vindication of most everything both of them said (including both of them predicting their own deaths).
Posted by: Stephen at Apr 21, 2008 12:13:58 PM
Whether noted economist and blogger Tyler Cowen plays online chess and, if so, which websites?
Posted by: David at Apr 21, 2008 12:21:30 PM
More on classical music. I've loved classical for years, but have recently been trying to expand my listening repertoire, especially to avoid a quiet house now that I'm a freelancing fulltime. What do you think is the best way of discovering new (to me) composers/works/artists (that I would like)? What do you think of Pandora's newish classical capabilities? I have been impressed with its accuracy but infuriated by the fact that you can only get one movement at a time.
Posted by: nicole at Apr 21, 2008 12:25:17 PM
Why are books so outrageously expensive in Brazil?
Posted by: Acqua at Apr 21, 2008 12:32:38 PM
Explain exchange rates, in particular what affects them other than trade arbitrage.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at Apr 21, 2008 12:34:49 PM
Thoughts on the value of private vs. public schooling. Also, thoughts on the value of home schooling and how would it be possible to properly capture the costs?
Posted by: Dan at Apr 21, 2008 12:34:58 PM
Can the "new president" bring change? Public Choice versus Coordination problems.
Francis -- I just wrote this post on YOUR questions about water. (Sorry for the hijack Tyler...)
Posted by: David Zetland at Apr 21, 2008 12:36:16 PM
What language(s) is your daughter learning? What language(s) do you think she should learn?
Posted by: Acqua at Apr 21, 2008 12:38:11 PM
In celebration of the warm weather:
How does an office/shopping mall/theater decide how low to set its air conditioning? It seems like they've found a bizarre and expensive equilibrium where the "normal" indoor temperature is 63 degrees (in August) and everyone carries an extra long-sleeve layer to keep warm. How did it get this way, and is there some way to fix it?
Posted by: Ben M at Apr 21, 2008 12:38:19 PM
Recommendations re new jazz recordings
Posted by: J. Bogart at Apr 21, 2008 12:41:34 PM
I read two article in the Times yesterday. The first about The Wealth Trajectory: Rewards for the Few at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/business/20view.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5089&en=2a93956770cc9ddd&ex=1366430400&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
Talks about the growth of skilled workers has slowed:
Because growth in the supply of skilled workers has slowed, their wages have grown relative to those of the unskilled.
The second talks about the decline of the $20 wage: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/weekinreview/20uchitelle.html?ex=1366430400&en=ddcd89b85688beaf&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
In the second I saw this:
Even now, roughly 15 percent of college-educated workers find themselves in jobs for which they are overqualified, the Economic Policy Institute reports, and many of these jobs pay less than $20 an hour.
The first article speaks to a shortage of skilled workers. But according to the second story 15% of college educated workers are overqualified. How can both be true?
Posted by: Ajay E at Apr 21, 2008 12:44:35 PM
