Cash, Credit, or Torches?
If you live in Brooklyn and you’re sick of looking at George Washington’s face every time you buy coffee, things may be looking up. Read More »
Resetting America: A Q&A With Author Kurt Andersen
Kurt Andersen sees the economic recession as a one-time opportunity for America to “get back on track.” In his new book, Reset, he explains how he thinks Americans can use the crisis to “reset” and reinvent old systems and ideas and “focus more on the things that make us authentically happy.” Read More »
Food-Chain Reaction
Slums are larger and more dense than two centuries ago — and they’re creating “causal chains that weren’t there before,” says urban historian Mike Davis. Read More »
Hot-Dog Vendor Economics
A Slate article mentions that the annual price of a hot-dog stand license near the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is $362,201. Licenses are very limited and are bought at auction. The price presumably reflects the economic rent associated with the particular site (the price would be a lot lower in the middle of Central Park). Yet at a fixed cost of $1,000 per day, how can a hot-dog vendor make enough money to cover his variable cost, including the value of his own time? Read More »
and 
. You can also watch it on 