Market Power

Things I Miss About My Hometown

When I go back to my old stomping grounds of Sioux City, Ia., I make sure to visit a few old haunts.

Tastee Inn and Out:  the onion chips are to die for.

Jerry's Pizza.  Shakespeares in Columbia and the Hideaway in Tulsa are much, much better.  But Jerry's pizza is the best in Sioux City and makes for excellent cold pizza.

Hunan Palace.  The place where I learned to love hot and sour soup. 

Miles Inn.  Smile with Miles!  Have a Charlie Boy while you're at it.

Who Am I?

Who am I?

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Like John and Kip, I did this a second time and picked my second choices on those where I was unsure.

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I guess I'm an easy rider.  Or maybe a wild cat.  Or maybe a Tiger.  Just don't call me a Jayhawk or a Cornhusker - unless you want to be tut-tutted.

Note my drink.

Too Bad, So Sad Chickenlovers

Bill Self is now 0-4 in the Elite 8.  Next time you want to call yourself the best guards in the country, win yourself a National Championship first. 

Paying Them What They Are Worth Improves the Integrity of Games

The murder of the Pakistani cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, is thought to have resulted from match fixing.  Stef Szymanski argues that monopsonistic exploitation via international competition is a primary driving force:

Whatever the outcome, the credibility of the sport is in tatters. Moreover, I think there is a simple economic explanation as to why this situation has come about. Match fixing bribes in cricket are not thought to be large. Figures of $10,000 to fix a game were mentioned in relation to Cronje. Players earn smallish salaries by comparison with most major professional sports, but the level of interest in cricket playing nations is intense and the betting turnover is vast. Unlike most sports where player salaries are bid up through competition between clubs, the only version of cricket that has any spectator appeal is international cricket. Nationality qualifications mean monopsony, and this has kept down player salaries. Last year it was reported that top players like Inzamam were paid a monthly retainer of a mere $3300 per month to play for their country. No doubt these players had many other legitimate opportunities to make money through endorsements and the like, but their likely income levels do not seem proportionate to the intensity of interest in what they do. And while a low salary does not force anyone to take a bribe, it surely increases the incentive to do so dramatically.

We don't hear much about players throwing games/shaving points in major professional team sports in the US these days.  We can't say that about past history when player salaries were controlled through monopsonistic practices. 

Game fixing is more likely in US collegiate sports than in the pros, primarily men's basketball and football, because the average player receives far less than he's worth in revenue to his program - a restriction made, it's often said, for the sake of amateurism.  The most likely players to fix games in collegiate sports are those in the money sports who have little shot at a professional career.  Taking what amounts to bribes to fix the outcome of games is a way for them to earn income.  And while the rent seekers - coaches, athletic directors, and others take extra large slices of the football and basketball pies, the integrity of the games is put at risk.

Roast Beef

The PowerFamily and I had this meal recently. 

1. 3 pound chuck roast
2. 1 can Campbell's vegetable beef soup
3. 1/2 bag Schwanns Fire Roasted Vegetables
4. Lawry's seasoning salt

Sear roast in frying pan and season seared roast on all sides with Lawry's.   Empty contents of the soup can into the bottom of roast pan and spread evenly along the bottom.  Place roast on top of soup.  Cook covered for one hour at 350 degrees fahrenheit.  Put fire roasted vegetables around perimeter of roast.  Cook for one additional hour at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

The PowerWife made butter and sour cream mashed potatoes to go with the roast beef.  The soup mixture and beef juices made a nice gravy during the cooking process and tasted wonderful over the mashed potatoes.

Online Economics Experiments

I haven't tried this yet, but EconPort looks promising:

EconPort is an economics digital library specializing in content that emphasizes the use of experiments in teaching and research. Content includes teaching modules, a handbook of economic and game theoretic principles and concepts, a glossary of economics terms, and an extensive collection of educational material, as well as software for running experiments. Teaching modules include: substantive coverage of a variety topics that are central to economics courses; instructions and guidance for professors who plan to use these experiments in class; suggested parameterizations for experiments; and graphical data presentation facilities. Integrated software includes applications for conducting game theory, market, and auction experiments.

Gate Shares and Agency Problems

There was a recent exchange on a sports economics listserv on player share of gate revenues from the playoffs in baseball.  As usual, the shares are defined by the collective bargaining agreement.  From MLBPA.com:

Q: How is the players' playoff pool created and how is it distributed? 

A: The Players' pool is created from 60% of the total gate receipts from the first four World Series Games; 60% of the total gate receipts from the first four games of each League Championship Series; and 60% of the total gate receipts from the first three games of each Division Series. The Pool is distributed as follows: World Series Winning Team: 36%; World Series Loser: 24%; League Championship Series Losers (two teams): 12% each; Division Series Losers (four teams): 3% each; Non-wild Card Second Place Teams (four teams): 1% each. The division of a team's Players' pool shall be made by a vote of the Players, in a meeting chaired by the Player Representative.

Dan Marburger (permission granted) notes in an email to the listserv:

Note how the players only receive a share of the minimum number of 
games played in each series.  This is a response to a potential agency 
problem: if players received a share of every game, they'd have a 
financial incentive to extend each series to its maximum.  

Well put!

You Might Be a Boomer If....

From Shot In the Dark:

I pointed out that I’ve banned people for less than calling me a baby boomer.  His response:

From wikipedia, “There is little agreement as to the exact beginning and end dates of the baby boom, but it is commonly identified as starting in 1946 and ending in 1964.” So, if you were 38 on 9/11 2001, you were born at the tail end of the baby boom. Hate to break it to you.

Well.  Wikipedia says so.  I guess that settles it!

I just made it as a boomer.  Thank god that's cleared up.  But as Mitch points out, the dates are soooooo arbitrary.  Fortunately, Mitch has started a quiz to help us border boomers figure out our pigeon hole:

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: you have more Clash, Springsteen and Sex Pistols than Beatles and Stones in  your music collection.

No Stones.  More Beatles than all others combined.  But what about Iron Maiden, Rush,  Soundgarden, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax?  Do they not count towards the quiz?  I'll call myself a non-boomer on this one.

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: you have never used the term “Camelot” unironically to refer to anything after the 13th Century. Or if the word “Camelot” to you means dancing knights who push the pram a lot, rather than Jackie Onassis.

Certainly not Jackie O.  Score 1 for non-boomer.

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: the Teheran Hostage Crisis is more prominent in your memory than Kent State.

Non-boomer

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: you think Dennis  Miller was a better Weekend Update host than Chevy Chase.

I didn't spend my Saturday evenings parked in front of the tube very often.  I'll plead apathetic to this one.

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: “Quadrophonic” and “Eight Track” mean the same thing as “Edsel”.

Non-boomer.

You Might Not Be A Baby Boomer If…: “Woodstock” was a bird.

I can't decide on this one.  The bird and the festival both enter my mind.  Can I plead wishy-washy?

Final score:  not a boomer!  My PowerSisters are both boomers, but not their PowerBrother.

As If Someone Needed A Reason to Loathe The Chickenhawks

And, no, I'm not talking politically here.  This is all about the NCAA tournament:  go Salukis!

After beating Kentucky on Sunday, Collins turned to Robinson to repeat a question he had been asked.

"Russell,'' he said. "Do you think we're the best set of guards in the country?''

"Oh, yeah,'' Robinson said. "By far.''

And if that didn't rate as good bulletin board material for the Salukis, Robinson took it one step further when discussing the days he was recruited by some Missouri Valley Conference schools, among others.

"When you get letters from Kentucky, Kansas, Georgia Tech, I didn't even look at those (MVC) schools,'' he said. "I saw Southern Illinois and all those and said, 'Nah.' ''

Kansas is good.  Scary good.  Their defense is like a swarm of bees.  But this prof doesn't much care for it when confidence becomes cockiness.  Here's hoping the Salukis can make like a can of Raid.

Beautiful. Just Beautiful

I thought this was a painting at first.  There was no way that image existed outside of a human mind.  I was wrong.

Update:  I just clicked on the big picture.  There's a little point of light between the moon and the clouds.  It looks like there is a vapor trail or something trailing behind the point.  A rocket?