Monday, March 4, 2013

Oddly Relevant Mar-4-2013


The economics of Somali piracy: Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden have made about $120 million per year in net profits. But they’ve cost the shipping industry far, far more than that — between $900 million and $3.3 billion per year in armed security, ransoms, safer ships, and taxes for military. [Note: It would be cheaper, though unrealistic, for the shipping industry to just hand over $120 million to the pirates.]…Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/03/the-economics-of-somali-piracy/

Nasdaq executing trades at a loss: since February and is expanding the scheme this month to rival NYSE. It gained 1.5% of overall volumes back and is the most extreme case of competition to date. Source: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/965678b0-82d8-11e2-a3e3-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2MXH4tDBm

Wal-Mart nd monopsony:  According to the study conducted by Alessandro Bonanno and Rigoberto A. Lopez Wal-Mart has significant monopsony power only in the lowest wage markets in the US, which are the rural south and south-central regions. Unfortunately, this result still cuts both ways. It suggests that targeted interventions for wage subsidies are, indeed, beneficial. However, in the majority of the United States, even the largest employer in the world doesn’t exercise monospony power. Source: http://cheapseatsecon.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/wal-mart-and-monopsony/

iOS and Android’s several hopeful challengers: (1) Mozilla is bring its operationg system to market, called Firefox OS. (2) Microsoft is bringing the Windows Phone 8, (3) and don’t forget Blackberry 10; (4) other competitiors include Ubuntu, Samsung’s operating system Tizen, and many others. operators are keen that other systems should challenge the dominant duo. [Note: formidable]…Source: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21572776-apples-ios-and-googles-android-face-several-hopeful-challengers-bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed

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