FREAK Shots: A Cheap Parking Spot
Reader Tina Gao sent in this photo of a parking spot in Rockport, Mass., and asked, “[W]hy would anyone ever pay more than a penny for the spot?” Can anyone…
After every mass shooting or terrorist attack, victims and survivors receive a huge outpouring of support — including a massive pool of compensation money. How should that money be allocated?…
Security guards make malls feel safer, but what can they do when there’s trouble? Zachary Crockett observes and reports….
Reader Tina Gao sent in this photo of a parking spot in Rockport, Mass., and asked, “[W]hy would anyone ever pay more than a penny for the spot?” Can anyone…
Last year we blogged about the fascinating study written by economists Ray Fisman and Ted Miguel analyzing the patterns of parking violations among diplomats to the United Nations in New…
…in airport parkinglot when he flew off three days later, a few hours before we returned. This exchange was a clear Pareto improvement: he avoided the cost of renting a…
How did mobile kitchens become popular with hipster gourmands? And just how much money can a popular truck make from a lunch shift? Zachary Crocket drops some napkins.
…parking is one of those curious trade-offs. Some engineers hate street parking; they say it clogs roads (remember, a single double-parker on a street cuts the throughput in half) and…
…to free parking days. The incentives for redeeming the points are bizarre: Garage 2500 points Close In 2500 points Long Term 2500 points The “price” of a free parking day…
…government has constructed meters along the main streets where the women solicit, with each woman required to purchase a “parking permit” of €6 each night. As an economist, I would…
Also: what is the most significant choice you will ever make?…
In a special episode of No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth discuss classroom design, open offices, and cognitive drift….
Bren Smith, who grew up fishing and fighting, is now part of a movement that seeks to feed the planet while putting less environmental stress on it. He makes his…
…addressing homelessness the same way you pay for a parking spot: by feeding the meter. What do you readers think? Is this a good alternative to panhandling? [HT: Brad Wilson]…
Levitt rarely interviews advocates, but the founder of the Good Food Institute is different. Once an outspoken — and sometimes outlandish — animal-rights activist, Bruce has come to believe that…
…never see parking meters; I buy a piece of paper at a parking automat (typically one per block) and put it on my dashboard. Why the difference? I assume that…
…$500 will stop the average person from receiving more than $169 (the premium) in annual tickets. (Ticketfree.org was smart not to cover parking tickets. Because parking tickets don’t result in…
The online universe doesn’t have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.
The online universe doesn’t have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.
The filmmaker doesn’t want to be known only for his movies. He tells Steve why he considers himself a writer first, how it feels to be recognized for his role…
…to the right of their pictures, the billboard will display the program’s live Twitter feed, nicely linking the broadcasters to the events they’re covering. One problem: apparently no one thought…
…will tell you something about whether the kind of people who smoke might fare better or worse in response to a tragedy. To look into that aspect, the researchers conducted…
Jens Ludwig has an idea for how to fix America’s gun violence problem — and it starts by rejecting conventional wisdom from both sides of the political aisle.
Once considered noble and heroic, pigeons are now viewed as an urban nuisance — one that costs cities millions of dollars a year. Zachary Crockett tosses some crumbs….
In 2016, David Cameron held a referendum on whether the U.K. should stay in the European Union. A longtime Euroskeptic, he nevertheless led the Remain campaign. So what did Cameron…
…risk is a good way to invest a few percent of our GDP. My pessimism stems from the apparent difficulties of solving the ‘prisoner’s dilemma,’ ‘tragedy of the commons’ type…
John Mackey, the C.E.O. of Whole Foods, has learned the perils of speaking his mind. But he still says what he thinks about everything from “conscious leadership” to the behavioral…
Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We just want to listen in. (Part two of a…
When you hit the slopes, you might not be thinking about water rights, controlled avalanches, and liability insurance — but someone has to. Zachary Crockett shreds the pow.
When we try to improve things, our first thought is often: What can we add to make this better? But Leidy, a professor of engineering, says we tend to overlook…
