#Dailychart: In 2015 consumers will spend more time online than watching TV econ.st/1EU7g5Q http://t.co/pqKNum7CU5—
The Economist (@EconBizFin) May 05, 2015
Creative destruction in media consumption
08 May 2015 Leave a comment
Creative destruction in US Brewery Count since 1874
07 May 2015 Leave a comment
in industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: beer, creative destruction
The prizes for guessing that a lot of US breweries closed during the prohibition era. Numbers were falling rapidly before prohibition because of the ready availability of reliable pure drinking water and electricity.
CHART: US Brewery Count 1874 to 2014 http://t.co/B4nlJTRA18—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) April 12, 2015
Up until the early 20th century, people did not drink beer that wasn’t bought from an area nearby because of the difficulties of preserving beer through refrigeration. Once electricity was readily available to refrigerate beer, the economies of scale kicked in.
Initially, beer was for the masses and there was may be one or two beers on tap at any part in Australia or New Zealand. Very few bottled beers were available behind the bar.
CHART: Americans sure love macro-brewed swill. Top 4 selling US beers: Bud Light, Coors Light, Bud, Miller Lite. http://t.co/W1Sh9LvPYh—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) March 31, 2015
In recent decades, there has been the rise of boutique beers as incomes have risen. A number of tasty boutique beers emerged emerged on the market. I’d like a particular Belgian beer because it has cinnamon in it.
Creative destruction in PCs – how powerful was the first PC in 1980?
06 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle, technological progress Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, PCs
"The march of technology"-Abrash
1980 4MHz computer: $6000
2015 TitanX: $1000
30 years & 1,000,000,000X more powerful http://t.co/zTexe8d259—
Darshan Shankar (@DShankar) March 26, 2015
Abrash demonstrating how quickly tech has evolved over time #f8 #VR http://t.co/TymEpfyHwv—
Mashable (@mashable) March 26, 2015
Twitter is growing faster than Facebook, relatively speaking
05 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, Facebook, Twitter
The robots are coming, the robots are coming – creative destruction in time telling
04 May 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, technological unemployment
Before alarm clocks were affordable, 'knocker-ups' were used to wake people early in the morning. UK, around 1900 http://t.co/wD24qR85Jg—
History Pics (@HistoryPixs) January 20, 2014
Creative destruction in advertising revenue
04 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, economics of advertising, entrepreneurial alertness, Google, legacy media, markets selection, The meaning of competition
The robots are coming, the robots are coming – but Japanese ATMs work only 9-5
02 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, survivor principle
…the number of people using the ATMs after normal business hours (particularly in more rural areas) is not enough to offset the cost of running the ATMs. Banks are businesses, too, after all, so they’re looking to make a profit. If the ATMs aren’t bringing in any money – or, are in fact losing money through the expense of keeping them open for longer hours – the banks would, naturally, shut them down to avoid that extra expense.
via The Japanese Way: ATMs with 9-5 jobs | Wide Island View.
Does vertical political integration reduce corruption in government?
01 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, industrial organisation, law and economics Tags: bribery and corruption, chain of monopolies problem, Japan, ODA, overseas aid, Pakistani
Anti-Dismal blogged today on how vertical integration can reduce the double mark-up problem of monopolies. The one thing worse than a monopoly is dealing with a chain of monopolies. Buyers must pay a monopoly price to each step in the chain.
If these monopolies were to merge into one single monopoly, the monopolist would charge a lower single monopoly price. The vertical integration captures the deadweight social loss of the chain of monopoly prices. Monopoly profits are higher, yet the monopoly price paid by buyers is lower.
This blog post reminded me of a particularly astute short article in the Economist 15 or so years ago analysing Benazir Bhutto’s husband as a solution to the chain of monopolies problem.
When Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan for the first, she appointed her husband Minister of Investments. He became known as Mr 10%.
The welfare gain for the downtrodden Pakistani’s was that if you paid Benazir Bhutto’s husband is 10%, you got what you pay for. No further bribes of more junior and petty officials were required if you paid Benazir Bhutto’s husband his 10%. Many investments and business that otherwise would have been blocked but for countless bribes to a chain of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats at every turn went ahead.
When Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan for the second time, not only was her husband again appointed Minister of Investments, he had better economic advisers. He became Mr 40%. Benazir Bhutto’s husband wanted to capture the economic gains of single-stop bribery and corruption for his family.
My experience with Japanese overseas development assistance confirms the same. They budget 10% for bribes. Their main interest is effective bribery. If they pay a bribe, the Japanese ODA agency expects to get what they pay and not have to pay a chain of more junior officials as well for the same thing.
Creative destruction in the S&P500 index
23 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction
I didn’t go to any of the 25 biggest box office flops – did you?
23 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, movies, survivor principle Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, Hollywood economics, profit and loss, The meaning of competition
John Carter recently beat Waterworld as the biggest loser in the domestic box office: randalolson.com/2014/12/29/the… #dataviz http://t.co/cYrW0fwzDH—
Randy Olson (@randal_olson) December 30, 2014
I read a Steve Jobs biography 15 years ago when you couldn’t find him on this chart
21 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: Apple, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, Steve Jobs
People really forget how awesomely powerful IBM was in the 1980s: @evankirstel http://t.co/TkpuU5sAXg—
Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) April 04, 2015
Still further evidence of the rise and rise of the working rich
21 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: capitalism and freedom, entrepreneurial alertness, The Great Enrichment, top 1%, working rich
The comparative institutional analysis of stereotypes
21 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, gender, industrial organisation, labour economics, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: labour market discrimination, markets selection, signaling and screening, stereotypes, The meaning of competition
Post-School human capital investments come in many forms
20 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice, personnel economics Tags: on-the-job human capital, on-the-job training
If You’ve Got A Business, You Didn’t Build That
19 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, market selection, top 1%, working rich
The rich are working rich who earn their incomes through entrepreneurial alertness. They move assets from low value uses to higher value uses and profit through capital gains. Entrepreneurial alertness is not a skill that can be taught.
Where the rich make their income: Capital gains, writes @robtfrank urbn.is/1Gx6Eos (h/t @TaxPolicyCenter) http://t.co/LkErbQ25LW—
Urban Institute (@urbaninstitute) April 10, 2015
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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