Thinking at the Margin

Despite the lives saved, a University of Michigan health economist said the study is not a retroactive endorsement of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Past research has found that experienced well-being does not increase above incomes of $75,000/y. This finding has been the focus of substantial attention from researchers and the general public, yet is based on a dataset with a measure of experienced well-being that may or may not be indicative of actual emotional experience (retrospective, dichotomous reports). Here, over one million real-time reports of experienced well-being from a large US sample show evidence that experienced well-being rises linearly with log income, with an equally steep slope above $80,000 as below it. This suggests that higher incomes may still have potential to improve people’s day-to-day well-being, rather than having already reached a plateau for many people in wealthy countries. Data aggregated by income level have been deposited in OSF (https://osf.io/nguwz/) ([23][1]). Granular data are stored in a repository and are available to qualified researchers who wish to verify or extend the claims of this paper; contact the author for access information. March 25, 2021: The Data Availability section has been updated. [1]: #ref-23

Months-long silences. Mysterious rejections. Here’s what's behind the shortages of a critical tool for ending the pandemic.

Countries that used to treat Covid-19 like the plague are starting to think of it more like new seasons of American Idol—just a fact of life

Only a mile and a half from the nearest CVS Pharmacy, Deborah Hurst received the first dose of a Pfizer vaccine last week sitting at a computer desk at her home in Lincoln Park, the midsummer sun peeking through the rear sliding door. The 68-year-old retired school teacher finally received the…

Ford touts range of its high performance Mustang Mach-E vehicles.

Learn all about diminishing marginal utility in just a few minutes! Professor Jadrian Wooten of Penn State University details diminishing marginal utility as...

And what happens to your brain when you finally nail it

There are hard limits to what your brain can manage in a day. Ignore them at your peril.

In an effort to encourage more sustainable cooking, we won't be publishing new beef recipes on Epicurious.

Aimed at humans, not gods.

Answer: 7 Questions: How often have you worn the outfit that you are wearing today?  One writer thinks about their clothing cost by analyzing their CPW (cost per wear calculated by dividing the cost by number of times that an item is worn). What do you think the CPW is for your favorite pair of shoes/sneakers? favorite jeans? What do you think social media's impact has been on clothing sales?

‎Show Think Like An Economist, Ep Core Principle 3 - The Marginal Principle - Just One More? - Aug 18, 2020

“CONSUMER THEORY” ACTIVITY DETAILS (IN CLASS) LESSON START-UP: Re-cap of homework video content... We know that no two consumers are alike – they all have different tastes & preferences, different budgets, etc. – so how can we say that they all behave in the same way? Conduct an experiment in ...

For the questions below, refer to the following table showing Jenny's Total Utility from eating pizza.

Hat tip to Kareem for spotting this interactive. A little bit of math might help you make better decisions when it comes to buying pizza. From NPR.org: One day last year, an engineer and I went to a pizza place for lunch. The engineer told me he wasn't very hungry, but he said he was going to get the 12-inch medium instead of the 8-inch small — because the medium was more than twice as big as the small, and it cost only a little bit more.

Link: Economists discuss the valuation of human life model to determine when the appropriate time to open the economy is. Federal agencies typically value a human life at $10 million. Many economis…

This clips includes a few different economics concepts rolled in to one. The overarching theme is that of consumer choice where Homer appears to experience diminishing returns while trying to eat a…

For the questions below, refer to the following table showing Jenny's Total Utility from eating pizza.