Information is stimulus, confusion is contraction.
posted by kliuless on Oct 18, 2009 - 15 comments

subprime. Beautiful animation about the US housing market.
posted by uncle harold on Apr 22, 2009 - 30 comments

A philosophy professor takes on the financial system. Or perhaps that should read - a philosophy professor's take on the financial system. Daniel Cloud, teacher of philosophy at Princeton University and a founding partner in two hedge funds, makes the case in a recent opinion piece that "... complicated explanations about derivatives, regulatory failure, and so on are beside the point. ... The truth is that ... models are most useful when they are little known or not universally believed. They progressively lose their predictive value as we all accept and begin to bet on them."
posted by woodblock100 on Apr 1, 2009 - 28 comments

Why are these companies free? In which we learn about "negative enterprise value" and an interesting prospect of using a market collapse to get free money. "Seemingly, a buyer who can afford all of the shares can end up being paid to own these companies."
posted by Cool Papa Bell on Mar 12, 2009 - 28 comments

They are known as “quants” because they do quantitative finance. Seduced by a vision of mathematical elegance underlying some of the messiest of human activities, they apply skills they once hoped to use to untangle string theory or the nervous system to making money. "They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street." [spoiler inside] [more inside]
posted by dersins on Mar 10, 2009 - 38 comments

Bleed The World
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Dec 11, 2008 - 20 comments

Americans pick stocks better than they pick presidents? It is no secret that the stock market does better under Democrats than Republicans. Some have speculated as to why the market does this, as if it's not supposed to work that way. Even when conceding the facts it is a bitter pill to swallow, as if the results confirm the benefit of a regulatory environment.
posted by Brian B. on Sep 20, 2008 - 122 comments

Stock Market on Crash Watch due to a Hindenburg Omen. [more inside]
posted by Lord_Pall on Jul 7, 2008 - 57 comments

Whatever the market will bear. Did you know that Amazon.com charges you different prices for the same goods depending on who you are (and what your browser cookie shows?) This was news to me, but the WaPo and CNN reported it in 2005. [more inside]
posted by ikkyu2 on Apr 15, 2008 - 72 comments

Rent Vs. Buy Myths That Ruined the Housing Market
posted by Afroblanco on Mar 21, 2008 - 107 comments

I’ve discovered that typically, a farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future. (The penalties apply only to fruits and vegetables — if the farmer decides to grow another commodity crop, or even nothing at all, there’s no problem.) If you can't stop demand, curtail production. One farmer's view on the power of commodity crops. [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan on Mar 1, 2008 - 33 comments

Affordability for first-time home buyers in the UK has fallen by 351% over the last 10 years. Never fear; through a deal with the Hyde housing association, Paramount Homes and Scandinavian partner Skanska, Ikea has introduced the BoKlok into the British housing market. These prefab homes will start at just £70,000 (including a voucher for some free furniture) and will probably be built on the fringes of London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. Previously
posted by chuckdarwin on Jan 30, 2008 - 68 comments

Train runs through bangkok market. (via)
posted by phrontist on Dec 1, 2007 - 35 comments

"Find Good Food Near You. Want fresh, locally grown food, but don't know where to find it? The LocalHarvest community level map makes it easy to find sustainable farmers, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture projects (CSAs) in your area."
posted by dersins on Sep 30, 2007 - 21 comments

Why are American voters reluctant to support free market policies when professional economists have achieved near-consensus? Bryan Caplan of the Cato Institute investigates. (pdf)
posted by stammer on Jun 1, 2007 - 71 comments

The gun markets of Pakistan (NWFP)
posted by theemperorhasnoclotheson on Apr 9, 2007 - 45 comments

Fair Price Energy. One persons idea for a free market solution to the fossil fuel problem.
posted by stbalbach on Sep 2, 2006 - 46 comments

The Tuna Court: Law and Norms in the World's Premier Fish Market. [more inside]
posted by monju_bosatsu on Jun 2, 2006 - 20 comments

Truth Markets. Invest in truthiness.
posted by I Love Tacos on Apr 6, 2006 - 32 comments

Drugs on the Rez. It's a hell of a life going from utter poverty, where your mom gets you drunk so you'll stop complaining about being hungry, to being able to buy your kids toys with $100 accessories and sending them to private schools, to going back to literally not having a quarter to call your dad. In this case, the money came from Canadian oxycontin. It's not just Native Americans who are targeted by the authorities. It's also Indians. There's a pretty good newish book on the subject of black markets, Illicit. Laos' opium market is apparently gone -- in favor of meth and Afghanistan's market is black in name only, so why keep up the facade?
posted by raaka on Feb 20, 2006 - 14 comments

Come on, the inventors of The Spazz had to realize they weren't choosing the best name for a wheelchair. And such thoughtful marketing: "Have you been dreaming of that unique custom wheelchair that would not cost you an arm and a leg?" [more inside]
posted by allen.spaulding on Oct 19, 2005 - 37 comments

NYSE Marketrac, flash for investors.
posted by nervousfritz on Jul 27, 2005 - 15 comments

My cattle grazing grounds are not my idea and vice versa. But thanks to laws I can "own" the idea as if the idea was a cow ; link goes to a interesting university-level paper [PDF]. The author makes some interesting analysis and points attention to the fact that current intellectual property laws can go against well established economic theories at the expense of free market competition theory, technical innovations and society-as-a-whole best interest.

Recommended to people with economic theory experience , but also to everyday public-goods-privatization opposers as the paper isn't (intentionally) way too technical.
posted by elpapacito on Sep 10, 2004 - 4 comments

Tsukiji Fish Market: A Digital Walk-Through. [more]
posted by hama7 on Oct 3, 2003 - 15 comments

Chinese Pop Posters. More :- Guangzhou's racing track, patrolling despair, Cuba, under New York, Bombay bazaar, and Chinese rural architecture. All from the excellent Atlas magazine - more here.
posted by plep on Jul 21, 2003 - 10 comments

Netscape market share at an all time low? Not according to Heise Online, a major news site here in Germany. In their very substantial weblogs, Microsoft went from 66,9% down to 65% from March to August of this year, while Netscape/Mozilla rose from 21,3 % to 22,6 and Opera from 7,8% to 8,4%. (Warning: Link in German, but you will understand the tables at the end of the article easily).
posted by vowe on Aug 28, 2002 - 18 comments

There were more than 4 Crashes Today as the world markets were hammered. Percentage-wise, Germany is down 10, Paris down 7, London down almost 6, and similar catastrophic drops in the Americas forced nearly all of the world's markets to close for the day early. I'm worried about the Hang Seng and Nikkei which open very soon. Hopefully the NYSE and Nasdaq will not open for a week or so to let cooler heads prevail.
posted by Kevs on Sep 11, 2001 - 16 comments

Northpoint assets have been sold to AT&T. AT&T plans to keep only the hardware assets. Guess what? Thousands of DSL consumers whose ISPs purchase DSL from Northpoint, could be without service very soon.
posted by andre_111 on Mar 22, 2001 - 14 comments

California Blackouts Inevitable says the U.S. Govt Energy Secretary. He is against price caps. It seems there is a lack of understanding on his part to grasp a *public good* that benefits all. Having a few producers control a market with a high cost for competitors to enter the market to form true competition screams for some control. Particularly for a commodity that business and people a like use to drive the overall economy. Since the economy is in such great shape maybe we don't need these controls [sic].
posted by vanderwal on Mar 16, 2001 - 9 comments

The wireless e-mail device market splits along racial lines. Black users prefer Motorola, while whites favor BlackBerry.
posted by jjg on Jan 14, 2001 - 11 comments

London Stock Exchange left in lurch Here in the UK, it's the final day of the financial year (tax year), so isn't it a coincidence that the London Stock Exchange computer system went down for seven hours?
posted by williamtry on Apr 5, 2000 - 2 comments