Open for Business

When Governor Walker was elected a few years ago, one of the first things he did (even before some of the more, shall we say, controversial moves) was to commit to supporting business growth in Wisconsin.  The slogan "Open for Business" was a key part of the governor's new platform to create 250,000 new jobs.  Personally, I'll admit I found it tacky to slap the bumper-sticker like slogan on our beautiful state welcome signs [the best in the Union!], however if we can put that aside for the moment, this sentiment of promoting business growth is typically one of the top responsibilities of any political leader.  The question is, how do we best go about doing it?

The utility of the coin flip?

Recently Freakonomics guru Steven Levitt announced a new research project of his on strategic decision making.  He argues that when we really cannot make a definitive decision between two things then the only logical choice is to flip a coin.  With that he launched a new website that is dedicated to Freakonomics Experiments.  You send in your decision that you cannot make, flip a coin, let them know your outcome, and then they check in with you a couple of times in the future to find out how that decision turned out for you.  I am really curious what they find out.  I think this is fascinating, but perhaps not for the reason Levitt does.  I believe it's fascinating because it disregards the role of emotion in that decision, which reflects a problem with the role of emotion for decision making in modern society.

Monetizing Trolling?

It seems that Facebook is experimenting with a new business model ... they are quietly rolling out a pilot that will allow you to send a direct message to someone for a fee, whether you are friends with them or not.  The extreme version seems to be $100 bucks to email Mark Zuckerberg.  However, they also seem to be experimenting with a $1 charge to message "regular people."  This is a really interesting economic experiment of the type I get really fascinated by ... how do we put a price on weird stuff?  And what are the consequences of doing it?

Getting into (Blue) Heaven ... 20% at a time

There has been a proliferation of "Tipping" stories in the news in the last few months, and I thought I'd weigh in on the topic as it's one of those fascinating questions that economists (and social scientists in general) puzzle over that force us to think more carefully about our models of human behavior.  That, and because one of my favorite under-rated movies of all time provides this kernel of wisdom from Steve Martin, aka Vincent Antonelli, aka 'Todd Wilkinson' ...

"It's not tipping I believe in - it's OVER tipping!"

Words to live by.

Trillion Dollar Coin

It seems that the country (or at least the portion of the country that follows wonky economic policy issues) is getting more and more interested in the possibility of using a "Trillion Dollar Coin" to avert the debt ceiling showdown - an idea first proposed by the Simpsons as a method of WWII recovery aid.  Yes, that's the world we're living in now - perhaps we can use Spider-pig to solve our crime problems for us as well.   For those not following along at all, here are some of the key highlights and a bit of an FAQ on the trillion dollar coin solution: