The Fundamental Forces of Supply and Demand

I’ve been waiting for a news story to come along to give me the excuse to post my favorite economics photo of the year. Now that the year is over, I figure I’ll just post it.
This photo illustrates the two most important forces in my life.

Sarah Miller Photography Matilda Wolfers studying the market for milk.

If you are thinking that only a true econo-geek would call supply and demand the two most important forces in his life, you’re partly right. I am an econo-geek. But more importantly, “supply” is actually my partner, coauthor and colleague, Betsey Stevenson, and “demand” is our newborn baby girl, Matilda Sloan Wolfers.
One of the most astute observations about “Mattie” came from Danny Kahneman. After a couple of long and pretty intense days talking about research (all with Matilda in tow), Danny observed that “Matilda has a very high tolerance for economics.” She does. Today we are packing for the American Economic Association annual conference in Atlanta — she’ll see you there — and by the time the gabfest concludes, she will have been to more economics conferences than I had been to by the end of graduate school.
Young Matilda celebrates her four-month birthday today, and she is very much responsible for ensuring that 2009 was a very special year for us. And all three of us wish you and your families the very best for 2010.