The Clock, The Consumer and The Consumer’s Folly

The cornerstone to the foundation of economics is the assumption that consumers are rational individuals and make pragmatic decisions. But, therein lie some core behaviour traits of humans, who remain irrational consumers, which urge them to act in ways vastly contradictory to logical expectations. A well-known example of consumer irrationality is the Zero Price effect…

Should Governments Fight a Recession With Spending Hikes Or Tax Cuts?

For Spending Hikes – Mehak Singh A recession implies significant decline in overall economic activity, usually due to a drastic drop in spending and has widespread effects such as unemployment, lower wages, and lost opportunities. So how exactly should the government wrap its head around these mammoth issues? The very nature of recessions suggests that…

The Invisible She

Let’s begin with a hypothetical proposition. What if Aristotle had a sister, who equally matched him in will and intellect? Would she have gotten the same opportunities, recognition and fame as her brother?… Maybe not! The patriarchal cultural and social norms prevalent during the Greek civilization would have proved to be major hindrances to her…

The Economics of a Stellar Civilization

A Theory of Infinite Supply There will come a time when humanity must choose between interplanetary colonization and extinction. Humanity’s shift to an interplanetary species may seem science fiction but it is both inevitable and undergoing. There is no question that this gargantuan shift will change our perception of the endless cosmos.  However, something that…

IKEA Effect: When Labour leads to Love

Have you ever breathed a sigh of relief, smiled wide and felt a sense of accomplishment after completing a puzzle? Not just puzzles, have you ever baked a cake and ended up valuing it more than a ready-made one? If your answer is yes, then you have experienced what one calls, “The IKEA Effect.” As…

The Antibiotic Paradox

What doesn’t Kill you, Makes you Stronger “Invent a bad antibiotic, and no one will use it.  Invent a really good antibiotic, and really no one will use it.”  ~  John Rex, Physician Here’s a dilemma: A patient approaches their doctor presenting some symptoms of a bacterial infection. The solution for an infection would be…

The Sunk Cost Fallacy

  “If you’ve ever held on to a pair of shoes that make your feet ache or a pair of pants that no longer fit you for no other reason than you paid a lot of money for them, you’ve experienced the sunk-cost bias.” In both business and personal finance, fiscal responsibility is constantly preached…

The False Curve

Must we wait for things to get worse before they get better? Economics is a land of fables. One of the most fascinating stories that a student of economics might have come across, is the story of the Kuznets Curve. The story goes back to 1955, when a brilliant American economist, Simon Kuznets, gathered data…

The Behavioral Signs of the Recession

One of the most unconventional ways to know if we are headed towards a recession is by looking at a baby’s bottom. Yes, that’s right. Studies find that parents end up changing baby diapers less frequently in times of a recession, which in turn causes an increase in the sales of baby rash creams. According…

Lamppost Theory

Ever heard of economists and politicians opening two contradictory views about matters that are largely related to the economy and wondered how can politicians digress from what’s being suggested and claimed by people who’ve been formally trained for years to deal with economic issues? Well, that’s not an unusual situation after all and it is…