Life as an economist during $GME

Is Chick-Fil-A our greatest weapon against COVID?

What a week to be an economist! At the beginning of the week, GameStop was a little meme for a corner of the internet. By the end of the week, it was on billboards in Times Square. Just to prove to you how hipster I am, in last week’s video I put a $GME meme in the corner at 4:20 (see what I did there).

Of course, as many of you probably experienced, when the curious want to know what’s going on, they turn to economists. But you know you’re witnessing an interesting economic phenomenon when you see explanations come full circle. Early in the week I explained GameStop to my wife. Thursday morning I overheard her on the phone explaining it to her mother. Then Saturday her mother explained it to me! If you’ve ever played telephone, you can guess how that last explanation sounded.

I got some requests for a GameStop video. Instead of explaining what was going on right now, I decided to connect GameStop to the Panic of 1907. Because of a somewhat similar scheme (that went totally wrong) the short squeeze in 1907 led to the creation of the Federal Reserve. You can check out the video on my fledgling TikTok account.

Should you get a PhD?

This week’s video is on the decision to get a PhD. I was inspired by my friend Mithuna over at Looking Glass Universe, who addressed the same question about her PhD in theoretical physics. My video has two goals: (1) clarify what it means to get a PhD and (2) talk about career prospects if you get one.

Human Capital Investments: NBA Edition

Human capital are the skills in individuals that make them more productive. When we think of human capital, we often think of education. But human capital includes health. Being sick affects our productivity, and chronic illnesses can drag our productivity for years.

For athletes, health is a major component of their human capital. In fact, it is so important that LeBron James allegedly spends over $1.5 million a year to maintain his health. It seems like a lot, but think of the return on that investment. By staying healthy, he’s maintained and even improved his productivity over his 15+ year career.

It’s a Great Day for Vaccine Distribution Productivity

If you have a Chick-Fil-A in your town, you know two things: (1) the drive thru is always crazy at lunch and (2) the workers are incredibly efficient at processing orders. I have been in lines with 20 cars and received my food faster than when I’m the only person at another restaurant.

Chick-Fil-A is so efficient that a common joke has been that we should put their drive thru crew in charge of vaccine distribution. Well one town made that dream come true!

Here’s the story: the line for receiving a vaccine got so long it took an hour to get through. So the mayor called the local Chick-Fil-A manager for help. Soon the hour-long wait was cut to fifteen minutes!

Think about it. This guy had the same resources as everyone else, but his total factor productivity was about 4 times higher!