DailyDirt: Economic Phenomena, Not Just Theories

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

It's sometimes difficult to verify economic theories in the real world because it can be expensive to "test" really important policies. But as more and more people play increasingly realistic video games with active marketplaces, there may be ways to observe real economic phenomena in virtual economies. Here are just a few interesting observations on the topic of scarcity. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
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Filed Under: charity, economics, everquest, gambling, lotteries, prize linked savings, virtual marketplaces


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2012 @ 5:06pm

    if only...

    the federal govt could create a prize-linked-savings account for itself.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    mudlock (profile), 10 Dec 2012 @ 5:26pm

    Re: if only...

    I know this is meant to be a joke, and that I'm about to ruin it but:

    A PLS works by taking a portion of the interest that would be paid to all savers, siphoning it off, and giving it all to one winner. But the government already has a way to siphon off everyone else's savings: create inflation. Which, arguably, it should be doing now anyway, so I guess you're right after all.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Old Fool (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 3:26am

    Premium bonds

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    ChrisB (profile), 11 Dec 2012 @ 5:50am

    Fiscal diet

    Can we all agree to stop calling it the fiscal cliff and call it the fiscal "diet" instead? Sure, balancing your budget is tough, just like stopping drinking. But the cure for a hangover is not another beer.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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