MetaFilter posts tagged with economics and money

The Copper Standard

bigmusic — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:30:41 -0800

The new monetary standard: Copper.

Renewing the economics of theatre

divabat — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:11:28 -0800

The recession has hit the theatre world (and the arts scene in general) very hard - but some argue that theatre practitioners aren't doing themselves any favours when seeking funding. The main question insufficiently addressed is "who is the funding for?" - hint: it's not about you. Approaching theatre as a product isn't working, not when MFA acting programs don't often allow its graduates to earn enough to earn back their debt. So now the question is: how can the economics of theatre be changed?

alternative currencies

kliuless — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:32:36 -0800

Hard up for cash? Roll your own :P just like Walmart and Amazon coexist with Costco and Craigslist, or like closed and open source software and operating (eco)systems often feed off of one another (and keep each other 'honest') to make a more vibrant market (and community), I think having various kinds of 'complementary' currency systems and transaction mechanisms alongside fiat central banking would help encourage and enable a greater multitude of economic activity than is currently the case. like having the right tool (or program) for the right job, I think it only makes sense that some currency systems are better suited for certain applications and activities than others, and people would therefore benefit from having a choice (freedom to choose!) of currency to use and conduct business in... along with, for that matter, what laws and accounting frameworks they are governed by and where they reside (freedom to move ;) [incidentally as it stands, (some) privileged people, corporations and 'capital' already enjoy these freedoms and benefit from practising regulatory arbitrage; I do not see why this cannot be extended to everyone] btw, post inspired by pharm, thanks!

Deals of the Day

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:39:09 -0800

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank gave a bank, whose capital ratio equaled only 1.88% of assets at the bank, versus a desired level of about 6%, TARP money after heavy lobbying. Frank inserted into the bill a provision to give special consideration to banks that had less than $1 billion of assets, had been well-capitalized as of June 30, served low- and moderate-income areas, and had taken a capital hit in the federal seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (WSJ link) In other news, Merrill disclosed compensation and benefits expenses of $15 billion for 2008, down 6 percent from 2007. That number includes salaries, benefits, retirement payments, commissions for financial advisers and severance for laid-off employees. Bank of America, which has four times as many employees, reported $18.4 billion in personnel expenses in 2008, down slightly from 2007. ~ Charlotte Observer Merrill, through John Thain, former CEO of Merrill and who recently resigned from BofA (this morning), paid this bonus to his employees in December as opposed to January (a highly unorthodox move), just prior to the deal's consummation (as he was still CEO). Meanwhile, BofA, in a memo earlier this month, Lewis said the bank has “significantly reduced the targets for yearend compensation,” with higher-ranking employees taking the bigger reductions. Lewis has recommended that he and his top reports not receive bonuses for 2008. In other news, regional banks, once thought to be spared from the worst credit losses, have shown mixed results.

Food cartels - haven't we seen these before?

Mutant — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:55:05 -0800

Oil's got one. So does cocaine. There used to be one for light bulbs and another for uranium. While we know one currently exists for diamonds, some folks think the music industry has one. An effective cartel needs both product homogenity and a relatively limited number of suppliers. Standardised products offer consumers price reductions driven by economies of scale and supplier substitution effects. However a relatively small number of suppliers of any commodity gives rise to the possibility of price fixing and collusive behaviour. Supplier actions threatening financial disadvantage to consumers can occur in any industry, however who would not view food cartels negatively? We last saw food cartels in the 1990's [e.g., but not limited to lysine [.pdf], citric acid, vitamins A & E ]. Aggressive antitrust actions, coordinated across the EU and America, effectively levied fines in excess of $10 billion dollars on some 167 international cartels [.pdf] operating at the time. With global food prices already at record levels, will any good come from Thailand's moves to organise a rice cartel? While some are skeptical this (latest) effort will succeed, comments from government spokesmen "With the oil price rising so much, we import expensive oil but sell rice very cheaply and that’s unfair to us ..." aren't very helpful to already nervous consumers. The idea of a rice cartel isn't new; India suggested forming a rice, tea and sugar cartel in 2000, only to have the initiative die due to the difficulties of controlling rice production.

Money as Debt

psmealey — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 10:26:43 -0800

Money as Debt. Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple graphic terms what money is and how it is created.

Money, Derek Jeter, Nail Clippings & Apple Pie: Harvard's WorklifeWizard

yellowcandy — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:22:05 -0800

The Harvard University Worklife Wizard , created by an international team of journalists, economists, and statisticians, is Barbara Ehrenreich's wet dream. It's also a fantastic resource that has flown pretty much under everyone's radar. The Worklife Survey drives the constantly-revised, constantly-refined Salary Comparison Tool, which is always hungry for more data about employment from around the world. And when they say they want data from everyone, they mean it-- there's even a VIP Salary Checker that pits the wages of the Yankees against those of the Red Sox. (Plus if you take the survey, you can apparently earn a chance to win a trip to South Africa). Personally, I love the Workplace Horror Stories (and there's a competition there too). I can't look at a nail clipper the same way now.

Burn, Onitsha, burn

klangklangston — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:56:31 -0800

The other religious riots. While much of the world's press has covered the Muslim cartoon riots, not nearly as much ink has been spilled over the continuing violence in Nigeria. A good analysis of underlying factors here. A Shell report points to oil as a proximate cause of violence as well. For oil companies, this may not be a bad thing. (If I was more interested in trolling, I'd have framed this as "Christian Leaders Fail to Condemn Religious Violence." The real world's a little more complex).

My life is good, you old bat!!

jonson — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:18:44 -0800

I'm the 24,519,565 richest person on earth! According to the Global Rich List, which says I make more than 99.506% of the people alive today. Only 24.5 million people between Bill Gates & myself...

I wish I'd thought of this...

delmoi — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:58:37 -0800

The Million Dollar Homepage. Sure, you could buy gigabytes of online storage for a year with $100, but wouldn't you much rather have 10x10 pixels here? Is it stupid? Yes, but havn't you always wanted to make hundreds of thousands of dolars without doing anything?

Keith Chen studies capuchins.

raaka — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 17:07:06 -0800

Monkey Business Something else happened during that chaotic scene, something that convinced Chen of the monkeys' true grasp of money. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of money, after all, is its fungibility, the fact that it can be used to buy not just food but anything. During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that he would later try to play down but in his heart of hearts he knew to be true. What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind. (Further proof that the monkeys truly understood money: the monkey who was paid for sex immediately traded the token in for a grape.)

Economic 'Armageddon'

stbalbach — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:28:37 -0800

Economic 'Armageddon' predicted by Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. He's been right before.

In their proper place, the depths

kliuless — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 07:33:41 -0800

Where Wealth Lives
"The top 1% of families, as measured by net worth, receive about 15% of income but own 30% of the nation's assets -- including stocks and bonds, homes, and closely held businesses. That's according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. The top 10% of families, as measured by net wealth, own 65% of assets, and the top 50% own a stunning 95% of assets..."

Say goodbye to more jobs

thedailygrowl — Tue, 16 Mar 2004 23:38:13 -0800

Say goodbye to more jobs? This is an interesting research report from the Gartner Group on the future of banking, money and economic transition. One of the participants at a conference that Gartner cites is Bernard Leitaer, who is interviewed here. Leitaer is the author of the book The Future of Money. He argues " the malaise Japan has suffered since the early 1990s reflects an economic challenge the whole developed world has begun to face. Today, European and U.S. factories, too, suffer from overcapacity. The vaunted productivity growth spurred by the digital revolution has raised the economy’s stall speed. If the natural growth rate of the U.S. economy has risen to 4% annually, anything less than that rate will cause firms to trim capacity. A firm’s revenue growth often must come at the expense of competitors as well as its own profits because companies have trouble raising prices. In response, companies cut costs any way they can, usually by laying off employees and squeezing suppliers, which causes further layoffs. For developed countries, the safety valves that limited damage during contractions in manufacturing may not work. In past recessions, laid-off factory workers in the Great Lakes states, for example, could migrate to the growing Sun Belt to find new jobs. In the present transition, areas with job growth may lie overseas." The long heralded rise of the information economy, the death of distance and the rise of the global knowledge workers is paradigm shift that our goverment leader's seem ill equiped to handle.

Bond Funds and the Liquidity Trap

alms — Tue, 20 May 2003 05:59:55 -0800

Interest rates are so low that you lose money buying bond funds. A preview of the liquidity trap?

What if oil was traded in euros?

Birichini — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 14:14:50 -0800

What if oil was traded in euros? "Even more alarming, and completely unreported in the U.S. media, are significant monetary shifts in the reserve funds of foreign governments away from the dollar with movements towards the euro. It appears that the world community ... seems poised to respond with economic retribution if the U.S. government is regarded as an uncontrollable and dangerous superpower." An analysis of the previous link. Apologies to those I

zenpop — Sat, 05 Oct 2002 09:45:28 -0800

"By removing both costs and the barriers, weblogs have drained publishing of its financial value, making a coin of the realm unnecessary. A lot of people in the weblog world are asking "How can we make money doing this?" The answer is that most of us can't." Though he finally admits: "Right now, the people who have profited most from weblogs are the people who've written books about weblogging."

theplayethic — Wed, 06 Feb 2002 11:53:44 -0800

How geeks can do away with cash and be their own banks. We've been around the topic of alternative economics a few times before on MeFi, but this piece from the reliably clever Shift makes it all clear to me. How you can do it, and why. And it actually suggests that programmers are the best people to manage a new money system. There's even a Bay Area monetary guru to hand. Does this make as much sense to anyone else as it does to me?

rschram — Mon, 27 Aug 2001 09:41:37 -0800

Argentine Peso Crashing, Provinces Pay in 'Patacon'
The new scrip will be accepted, officials hope, until the recent US bailout makes it possible to print pesos. The IMF posted 8B dollars last week, at which time 'patacon' was being used in ATMs (Surprise!) I like the above articles noting that it "fits into a wallet like money" --- was there ever a case of design problems in emergency paper currency?

schoolie — Mon, 18 Jun 2001 03:43:58 -0800

The global distribution of income is becoming ever more unequal. One of the proposed solutions? More charity by the ultra-rich.

CRS — Mon, 26 Mar 2001 07:21:25 -0800

The Euro. I have a question for all of the Euro-zone mefi members. Do regular folks in Europe think the varied governments will come together for the economic benefit of the whole or will regional differences doom the new currency?

croutonsupafreak — Sat, 03 Feb 2001 10:10:46 -0800

Is the US really entering a recession? Even with recent layoffs, the last time unemployement was this low before 1999 was 1970. And maybe a recession is not such a bad idea, what with spending outmaching saving in recent years. [more inside]