How to start a grant application: BLUF

Bill Wadge says the best way to start a grant application is with, "I have an idea, here it is, and here’s why it’s good." He laments that too often the opening is, "I have an idea but first let me give you some background..

Maybe Screening is Overrated

This firm hires the first person who can answer "yes" to three simple questions (Fast Company, Feb. 2020).

Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard, and Hidden Costs in the Self-Checking Line

Self-checking makes theft easier (WSJ, Feb. 2020).

1. Who is more likely to self-check, an honest person or someone who is inclined to minor theft if the chance of detection is low?
2. When is an honest person more likely to engage in minor theft: when a self-check machine goofs or when they are in front of a cashier?
3. Do you think that stores accurately anticipated the additional shrinkage created by self-checking?

The Demand for E-Cigarettes is Elastic

"We then calculate an e-cigarette own-price elasticity of -2.6 and a positive cross-price elasticity of demand between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes of 1.1, suggesting that e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes are economic substitutes" (Cotti, Chad D. and Courtemanche, Charles and Maclean, Catherine and Nesson, Erik and Pesko, Michael and Tefft, Nathan, The Effects of E-Cigarette Taxes on E-Cigarette Prices and Tobacco Product Sales: Evidence from Retail Panel Data (January 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w26724. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3535316). 

Two questions.

1. If the government increases the tax on e-cigarettes by $1, what happens to the optimal price and unit sales?
2. Given your answer to (1) and presuming that the price of traditional cigarettes remains constant, what happens to unit sales of traditional cigarettes?
3. What is the quick estimate of the price elasticity facing an individual seller if the market contains 4 sellers? "We calculate a Herfindahl–Hirschman Index of 0.251 for e-cigarette retail purchases".

A Tale of Two Cultures

Netflix has a corporate culture. I think that the culture is consistent with its mission and compensation scheme.

George Washington University is trying to create / impose a corporate culture. The blogger is critical.