| A challenge for our readers: the Fraser Institute is offering a $1,000 top prize for proposals on what economic or public policy issue it should try to measure. More information is here. Submit a brief essay or video with a clear thesis on what should be measured, why it should be measured, and how it might be measured. Let us know what you come up with! [%comments]
Calling All Freakonometricians
TAGS: contests
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Note that the FrasEr Institute is Canada’s most prominent right-wing think tank.
With no judgment on the quality of relevancy of the Frasier Institute’s work, it must be noted that they are traditionally extremely conservative. If you want to win the contest you might want to keep that in mind.
So I’d like to suggest that we put the homeless in the army and then cut taxes.
In 2004, I wrote a paper called “Fools and Their Money” for my Law and Econ final. I called for a regulator who would measure what I called the “Market Cognition Differential.” Basically, the regulator would indirectly and unobtrusively quantify the standard deviation of the amount of brains in a particular market. Since “sharp” investors trading with “fools” on a frequent basis is a good formula for wiping out 401(k)’s, sending misleading pricing signals and generally causing mayhem, I thought this regulator should be empowered to tell everyone how lopsided the playing field was at any particular time. And if it got worse after some intermediate steps I proposed, I said the regulator should shut that market down.
I got a B. My professor liked the work, but thought my solution (shutting down businesses or de-listing securities) was way out of proportion. Fast-forward to 2009 and Secretary Geithner is before Congress asking for this authority – without any solid theoretical or empirical criteria for exercising it.
Fraser is right-wing? In that case, I propose they measure the additional taxes collected by not allowing gays to marry and file jointly.
How much would it make economic sense for the government to pay for creating new taxpayers?
My first draft: http://anamoure.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-housewives-first-draft.html
“I got a B.”
There are stories, possibly apocryphal, that Fred Smith got a C for a term paper that proposed Fed Ex and Maya Lin got a B for the design of the Vietnam Memorial.
Question: Why (as Canadian Bill Jones said), it is intellectually dishonest to allow a sucker to keep his money.
Extra-Credit Question: …Does (as above claims) a Smith and Wesson really beat four aces?
They should measure the increase in prices after minimum wage is increased. My anectodal study found that a sausage and egg Mc.Muffin went from $1.89 to $2.49 after the last minimum wage increase in Ontario. Broccoli went up from an average of about 99 cents to $1.49. Dole’s classic iceberg lettuce went from 99 cents a bag to $1.29 a bag. Cottage cheese went from $2.39 to $2.49 for the generic grocery store brand. The name brand went up from $2.59 to $2.79.