With Google Reader closing down in just a few days, I have had lots of questions regarding where to switch to. I have waited until the last minute because there is innovation going on at a rapid pace as other competitors suddenly see opportunity. The answer of which feed reader to use really depends. I …
Is Steve Jobs a posterchild for the inequality debate?
The short answer: No. First, some background. Greg Mankiw, who is one of the clearest economic writers there is, penned an essay "Defending the 1%." He wasn't looking to earn any friends but he was looking to frame the inequality debate. And on page one what do we read? Then, one day, this egalitarian utopia …
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A quick remark on Instagram's Video
Instagram announced yesterday that it would be adding video to its now extremely popular (130 million user) app (acquired last year by Facebook). The video part works alot like Twitter's Vine in that you can only make short videos and that putting different angles together is very easy. That led many to suggest that Instagram …
Differentiated Platforms
Differentiation is a standard concept for analyzing competition. It describes a common situation, where one firm develops the ability to serve one type of customer in a market—say, buyers who will pay a lot to save time—while a competing firm serves another—say, budget-conscious buyers who are patient. Differentiation can describe common competitive behavior in technology …
My TEDx talk
Filmed last month at TEDxUofT on entrepreneurial strategy. It reflects thinking about that topic that I have done with Fiona Murray and Scott Stern. Someone later suggested the title of the talk should have been "A Vision for Relief." Here are some links to some of the topics touched on: The Onion talks The National …
Is Apple harming the feature innovation ecosystem?
Yesterday, Apple announced iOS7, the latest version of its mobile operating system. It was a large change but perhaps the most interesting bit was Apple's continuation of its rather tense relationship with the app developer community. To be sure, Apple has enabled that community and handed them $10 billion in revenue since 2008. However, once …
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The State of Performance-driven Management in America
I teach at a School of Management so you won’t be surprised to learn that I think good management can make a huge difference in the performance of companies, and ultimately the economy. But you may be surprised that there is very little economic research on the effects of management. Sure, there’s lots of speculation and countless …
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A Puzzling Graph on eBook Prices and the DOJ Case
From a preliminary paper by Michael Baye, Babur De los Santo and Matthijs Wildenbeest: What it shows is average book prices over time for paperbacks and then eBooks sold under the agency model and the wholesale model. Now I should stress it is average book prices and it is not weighted by quantity sold. …
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Fighting back in cybercrime
Last year I discussed the economics of spam and suggested: Seen in that light perhaps we should see [spam] as criminal entrepreneurship. What is great about that is we know a lot about how to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and so to deal with spam we just need to throw that into reverse. Countermeasures make …
Digitopoly 