Simple ideas work best

Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best especially when it comes to environmental policy. Today the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England launches its Stop the Drop campaign in a bid to raise awareness of the impact of litter and fly-tipping. And Government minister Joan Ruddock is quoted in today’s Times saying that she is receptive to the idea of restoring compulsory deposits on plastic drinks bottles and aluminium containers as a way of incentivising people to take bottle back for recycling and reducing the volumes heading for landfill. It has worked in the past - ask the good people of Oregon. What is stopping the government? Get on with it!

Tim Harford at the RSA

I headed to the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts yesterday to hear Tim Harford speak on The Logic of Life. Tim’s talks in London are invariable a sell out and last night was no exception. His recent globetrotting book tour has afforded the opportunity to flesh out some of the key themes in his book and we were treated to a very entertaining and thought provoking talk.

Carbon prices head higher as emissions targets start to bite

There was some important information this week from over 10,000 power generators, steel, cement and aluminum manufacturers.  The effectiveness of carbon trading in creating the right incentives for power users to cut emissions depends on there being a scarcity of carbon permits reflected in a price high enough (and sufficiently predictable in the medium term) for investment in improved fuel efficiency to be commercially viable. A couple of years ago the market price of carbon collapsed when it became clear that the EU had been overly generous in handing out free gifts of carbon permits. The criticisms were valid and the long term future of the carbon trading scheme was called into question.

But the signs for the second phase of this innovative market mechanism look more promising.

OCR 2888 - June Case Study - Broad Themes

This is the first in a series of blog posts relating to the OCR A2 Economics Case Study, Economics in a European Context. This summer the pre-release case study materials focus on the EU automotive industry and many of the economic and environmental issues that link to this important industrial sector. I have been working on our toolkit for this paper (due out in a few days) and below I have tried to capture some of the broad themes that I feel are covered by the case study materials. Please do add your own ideas through the blog!

Common mistakes in daily decisions

The Old Theatre at the LSE was completely packed last evening for an entertaining and riveting lecture from Dan Ariely, the author of ”Predictable Irrationality”. Dan Ariely has for many years used experimental methods to discover more about many of the biases apparent in our everyday behaviour. His lecture was rich in examples and encouraged us at all times to think counter-intuitively. 

Tiger and his rivals

Does the presence of Tiger Woods in a professional golf tournament inhibit the standard of play of his rivals?

A fascinating paper by Jennifer Brown from Berkeley and given at a conference titled “Tournaments, Contests and Relative Performance Evaluation” earlier on this month suggests that he might do just that. Download the full paper here … of great interest to golf loving behavioural economists! Rather like the jockeys who ease down their mounts in races where they have no chance of catching the leader, perhaps some of the cohort of professional players do not play to their maximum in tournaments where Tiger is pretty much expected to win? The paper looks at how performance of golf players changes at different stages of the tournament.

Lie down and think of the President

Sometimes you get an offer you cannot refuse. I wonder how many women of child-bearing age in the republic of Turkmenistan will be wondering whether to jump at the chance of the equivalent of £125 as a reward for taking the risk of conceiving and delivering more than eight children?

Malthus’ Revenge?

Food security is a growing issue to add to climate change, globalisation and meltdown in the financial markets as a cause for concern. Professor John Beddington, chief science adviser to the government, has warned that as the world’s population increases and grows wealthier, demand for food could outstrip supply ... are we returning to Malthusian misery?

Ten weeks extra pay for John Lewis partners

I was shopping at Waitrose this evening, an enjoyable Thursday evening stroll choosing the fresh foods and wine for the weekend ahead. Was there a noticeable buzz in the air? Were the staff at my favourite Waitrose store in downtown Windsor walking with an added jauntiness to their step?  The answer is probably yes.

Carrots and Sticks

Half-term brings a time for reflection and on the train heading north with the family, to visit family, I maintained my fix of economics via The Economist. I particularly enjoyed an article on StickK.com, a website allowing users to set and monitor contracts to achieve personal goals. The founders, graduate economics students Dean Karlan and John Romalis, got the idea when they used contracts to create sufficient incentives to both lose weight. If one failed to meet their weight loss target, they were to pay the other $10,000. It worked (unsurprisingly?) and now the site apparently has 50,000 users who have pledged either serious sums of money (to charity) or public humiliation (via the website) to provide sufficient incentives to succeed in giving up smoking, losing weight, taking more exercise or generally just becoming a better person.