Tag: Data
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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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Careless Economics: A Trillion Dollar Math Problem
On April 2, 2025, President Trump displayed a poster which listed countries and the “reciprocal” tariffs to be imposed on their imports quickly. Reporting by CNN and others shows that the numbers are justified by this formula. Many media noted how amazingly stupid this formula is. Arithmetic errors are embarrassing, if you are in Grade…
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Navigating Tariff Uncertainty using Inventories
People in Canada are thinking about the tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, reciprocal tariffs and threats of more from the US. There was a time before and, eventually, markets will adjust to the time after. The challenge is to manage the time in between. The media focus on layoffs and, until other buyers can be found, production…
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What are the Effects of Tariffs on a Nation’s Wealth?
This old question has been given new life by the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America. Using tariffs to “fix” a trade deficit is seductively appealing but, like other zombie ideas, it relies on a misunderstanding. In this case, it ignores two basic principles of economics: opportunity cost and…
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Making Sense of Numbers: Practical Comparisons
Many people who want to study economics get confused about the scale of numbers. Understanding the scale of a number adds context and invites comparisons, which leads to the question “does it make a difference?”. Understanding scale may seem like a mathy thing, but it is really about communication. This post is motivated by a…
5 Basic Principles of Economics 