Category: Thought-Provoking
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Understanding Seasonal Trends in Toy Sales
A lot of toys are bought during December, and the news makes it seem as if Christmas spending plans are important news. Christmas and birthday are likely to be the two biggest reasons to buy toys for a child. “Canadian toy and games sales generated almost $7.3 billion in retail store sales in 2022”. Most…
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Exploring New vs. Used Car Market Trends
The car market is evolving with increasing average vehicle ages and rising prices for new cars, now averaging about $50,000. Consumers are keeping cars longer, possibly due to costs, while the used car market shows different price trends. Dealers benefit from this shift, focusing on maintenance, but market dynamics remain complex.
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Improving your Financial Literacy: Fear, Greed and Investing
November is Financial Literacy Month. When reading financial news recently, you see that many commentators worry that stock prices are too high but the advice is often vague. So, you may wonder, how can “I” become literate if the “experts” appear confused? You should learn what to focus on when making decisions in a market.
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Trick or Treat: Lessons in Economics
Halloween is an odd event because it is so silly: people dress up in scary costumes and, for one night in the year, anybody who knocks on the door is given candy. This post notes six lessons involving economics, not including the incentive/threat implied by the phrase “Trick or Treat”.
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Surprising Insights and the 2025 Nobel Laureates in Economics
The 2025 Nobel Laureates in Economic Science are being recognized for their contributions to understanding the determinants of economic growth. Growth is generally seen as a good thing and the work being recognized was done more than 30 years ago. So, what was the surprising insight and, more importantly, what do others not understand about…
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An important question to ask yourself when investing
You might have heard the news that stock price indexes are hitting record highs. So, many people are asking: is now the time to sell or is now the time to buy? My goal in this post is to explain why that is the wrong question and that the answer to the better question depends…
5 Basic Principles of Economics 