EclectEcon

My New Electric Train

It has been years since I have had an electric train. So I got this one during the Boxing Day sales.

The price was right: 99 cents.

Chateauneuf du Pape? Chat-En-Oeuf? What's in a name?

Wine names are becoming increasingly amusing as people who are far from being wine cognescenti enjoy taking a few jabs at the wine snobs of the world. Last year I mentioned a pleasant Sauvignon Blanc called Cat's Pee on Gooseberry Bush, which delighted us with its name as much as what was in the bottle.



This year we saw (and tried) this wine,

which is clearly a poke at the crooked bottles (and others) of Chateauneuf du Pape. I love the name, "Chat-En-Oeuf". I wasn't quite as pleased with the wine, itself, but Ms. Eclectic and friends thought it was just fine.



Here's more:

An egg shaped label, with an illustration of a cat (chat in French) sitting on an egg (oeuf in French)



And when you say the name, it sound suspiciously like the famous and expensive French Chateauneuf wine from the Rhone.



We... have seen the South Africans punning French wine names with Goats do Roam and Goat Rotie — and the French government has tried to get those names banned. Now here is a French wine doing the same. If you can't beat them.....



This is a pleasant blend of old vine Grenache and Syrah, made in a fruit forward modern way. Purr - fect

I guess they liked it better than I did.

Jones Soda's Holiday Pack: the bottles

On Christmas Day, I posted about the worst tasting soda pop I had ever tasted — the Jones Soda Holiday Pack. Here are the empties (click on the photo to read the labels more easily):

I Will Not Submit

Who is producing the t-shirts?

This graphic is from Michelle Malkin's blog:

The above phrase in Arabic is "lan astaslem." It means "I will not surrender/I will not submit." (Thanks to Rusty, Laura, and Daveed for translation help.) This is the last line of my 9/11 column and it's my 9/11 anniversary message to the convert-or-die jihadists.

Also see this.

My Favourite Job Interview Question

I am on the hiring committee for our department this year, which means I will be interviewing very smart graduate school students next week at the ASSA convention in Chicago (between trips foraging for Chicago-style pizza with Sparky and others).



During these interviews, we will ask the usual questions, such as:

• Tell us about your dissertation.
• How does your work fit in with _____? and
• What would you like to know about us?

One question I like to insert somewhere between the first two is:

How would you explain your dissertation to a reasonably bright high school graduate?

Note to prospective interviewees: I consider it smug and arrogant to say,

I wouldn't. This stuff is too esoteric and difficult for them to understand.

The Ultimate Substitution of Capital for Labour?

None of my friends was willing to post this link, not even as a prime example of the substitution of capital for labour. Probably with good reason [warning: adult themes].

Christmas Eve Sale

I love wandering through stores on December 24th, talking and laughing with other shoppers, and generally just soaking up the spirit of consumerism.



It looks as if Canadian Tire was trying to practice some interesting pricing (price discrimination?) on some toys by raising instead of lowering the prices:

Is it price discrimination to charge a higher price to people who, at the last minute, have a lower-than-average price elasticity of demand?



To tell the truth, I suspect that was a pricing mistake, not price discrimination.

4 lifestyle changes to avoid reduce the probability of getting a cold

Via Newmark's Door:

1. eat a big breakfast

2. get good sleep

3. exercise your body

4. exercise your brain



From this site.

Mozart: Is the Hoopla over yet?

It takes some searching through the site, especially if you don't read German, but this site appears to have the scores for (nearly?) all of Mozart's works. So far I'm loving it.



When I was an undergraduate hornist in the Carleton College orchestra, one of the things the conductor kept telling me was that I needed to listen to the other parts more carefully to hear how my part fit in with everything else. But I never understood what he meant until I began following scores and watching the transitions of different parts through the orchestra. Now, when I play 2nd horn in a performance of Mozart's 23rd piano concerto on January 21st (with the Blyth Festival Orchestra), I can have my own copy of the conductor's score to study and work from.



Also, I really do enjoy the music of Mozart, and I'm looking forward to studying these scores in greater detail. Please note that the scores are protected under copyright and are to be used only under the fair trade exemption.



[h/t to Physics Boy]

The Right To Be a Bigot vs. The Right to Have Tax Payers Support Your Bigotry

Kip Esquire has it exactly right:

If you want the freedom to discriminate that comes with being a "private" entity, then do so with your own private dollars and on your own private property — leave the government and the taxpayer out of it. A "right to bigotry" does not extend to a "right to taxpayer-subsidized bigotry."

Or course I care that people are bigots; I will try to convince them not to be. In the name of freedom, I'm willing to let them be bigots, but I do not think this right extends to my having to pay to support their bigotry.

Gerald Ford: the Best President Ever?

The NYTimes (and others) is reporting that Gerald Ford has died.



Two decades ago, while I was visiting the University of Hawaii, I off-handedly threw out the opinion that Gerald Ford had been the best president in the history of the United States. Mac, an economic historian there, allowed that I might have been right (but also offered up Warren G. Harding).



My statement was based on the complaint that so many people had about Ford: he didn't do anything. I always replied, "I rest my case."



I wasn't thrilled that Ford pardoned Nixon, but I'm not sure the full pardon was all that horrible for the sake of the nation. And as an idealistic young pacifist, I resented Ford's hawkishness.



In all though, Ford seemed to hold true to the belief that "that government governs best that governs least." And compared with man who defeated him in his re-election bid, Ford was a giant.



Also, see Rondi's take on Gerald Ford.

MP3/WMA Player with Full-sized SD Slot?

I am looking for a portable WMA player that has a good menu system and that takes a full-sized SD card so that I can carry tonnes of music with me and listen to whatever strikes my fancy at the time. So far I have found several different cheapies that take full SD cards, but they are basic "shuffle" type players, making it pretty inconvenient to try to find a particular album or piece on a a 4gig card. Also Sandisk makes several that take micro SD cards, but those cards are expensive and have less capacity.



If you know of something that might fill the bill, please let me know.

Happy Boxing Day

When I first began writing this blog, a bit over two years ago, I wrote this about Boxing Day:

Today is Boxing Day in Canada and elsewhere - a great day for post-Christmas sales.

Upon moving to Canada many years ago, one of the first stories I heard about the origin and meaning of Boxing Day is that this is the day well-to-do people box up the gifts they received but don't really want and give the reboxed gifts to their servants. I doubt this story is completely accurate, but it provides another opportunity to mention re-gifting.



One of the best and most thorough descriptions of Boxing Day was just updated at Snopes, which is an excellent website for checking just about anything.



Since Christmas came on Saturday in 2004, the legal day off for Christmas might be Monday, and the legal Boxing Day holiday might be Tuesday.

One creative on-line merchant began its Boxing Day sale at midnight on Christmas Eve!

Last year I added,

This year (2005), because Christmas is on Sunday, many workers get Monday as a holiday for Christmas. And that means they get Tuesday off for Boxing Day.



It used to be that since these days were holidays, and stores were not permitted to open on holidays, Canadians would have to wait until until December 27th (or in years when Christmas came on Sunday, the 28th) for Boxing Day Sales. But nowadays, some stores are advertising that they will open at 7am on December 26th for the big post-Christmas sales.

And this year (2006), Christmas is on Monday, and Boxing Day is on Tuesday. In the bad old days, we'd have had to wait until Wednesday for the post-Christmas sales, but this year we can shop just about any time.

Jones Soda Holiday Pack:the worst-tasting soft drink ever

When my younger son, Adam Smith Palmer, came to visit last week, he brought a carton of the Jones Soda Holiday Pack. Because he went swimming in Lake Huron with me last week, I was obliged to drink some of this stuff with him. Here are the flavours (follow the link if you don't believe me):

• Turkey and Gravy
• Pea
• Dinner Roll
• Sweet Potato
• Antacid

Each of the flavours did, indeed, have hints of flavours that seemed like what they were supposed to represent. But they were disgustingly sweet, salty, and artificial tasting. Quite frankly, I don't think I have ever tasted anything so bad in my life.



We didn't care how much he had paid for the pop. We didn't care how much trouble he had gone through to get the five-pack to us. We understood about ignoring sunk costs. We didn't finish them after tasting them.

If Mary and Joseph Went to Bethlehem Today

Would this be the result? (from Denis MacEoin, via Judith):

Here is a letter I have just sent to The Independent about Mary in Bethlehem.

Denis MacEoin



Dear Sir,

Johann Hari asks: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?' The truth is that she would not last twenty-four hours. Hamas activists would kill her and Joseph for the crime of being Jews. If she concealed her religious identity, morality brigades would gun them down as adulterers, or her own family would polish her off in an 'honour' killing for having become pregnant outside wedlock. If she escaped that, Muslim radicals, faithful to Qur'anic doctrine would put her to death as a heretic for claiming to be the Mother of God, and would execute the infant Jesus for his pretension to be the Son of God. The three Magi would be beheaded as star worshippers, the shepherds hanged as apostates from Judaism (a crime under shari'a law), and the angel Gabriel sent back to heaven for re-training in Islamic theology. The reality of life in the West Bank and Gaza has as much to do with unreformed Islamic conservatism as it has with Israel's repeatedly thwarted attempts to achieve peace and goodwill in equal measure for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.



Yours sincerely,

Dr. Denis MacEoin

Newcastle upon Tyne

Can An Economist Run a Business?

I know I probably couldn't. I'm too much of an academic and not much of risk-taker. But here's someone who does. Check this site in Santa Barbara if you want to see one possible result when an economist sells upscale clothing on-line.

[The fashion magazine] Lucky describes Blaec:

"This Santa Barbara, California boutique's perfectly edited site has

everything from Development to Mason, and the owners have an

uncanny knack for choosing the best-fitting picks from each label."

And from their website,

... We are a full-service online fashion boutique specializing in easy, throw-together, make-it-up-as-you-go fashion ... from jeans to suits to dresses. We offer a premium collection of great-fitting stylish clothes that will become your wardrobe favorites. Many of our items are black, because a wardrobe based around black makes it easy to dress with style — whether you're dressing up or down. Blaec is old English for black, and is pronounced like black. We have been in business since 1999 and are located in downtown Santa Barbara at 718 B State St.

The Costs of Multi-culturalism and Multi-Lingualism

When I first moved to Canada, I thought it was fascinating that all the product labels had to be in both French and English. I had the mistaken impression that as a result, I might even become fluently bi-lingual (actually, I came close once, as a result of taking some courses, but not because of the law requiring bi-lingual product labeling).



Here is a pretty strong criticism of multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism. And it wasn't written by someone in Canada. From the UK Times, written by Zia Haider Rahman:

It’s a shocking figure: more than £100m was spent in the past year on translating and interpreting for British residents who don’t speak English. In the name of multiculturalism, one Home Office-funded community centre alone provides these services in 76 languages.



According to BBC’s Newsnight last week, local councils spend at least £25m on these services, the police £21m, the courts system more than £10m and the National Health Service accounts for £55m at a conservative estimate.



The financial cost is bad enough, but there is a wider problem about the confused signals we are sending to immigrant communities. We are telling them they don’t have to learn English, let alone integrate. Worse, by insulating them linguistically we have created communities that are now incubators for Islamo-fascism.



... “Awareness-raising programmes” are all the rage — we have to celebrate our diversity and raise awareness among those oppressed of their rights. But self-reliance doesn’t come from handouts. You don’t learn to stand on your own two feet if someone is holding you up. Indulging differences can be harmful if it prevents communities from integrating.

Readers in the US should give these points serious consideration. It seems to me that learning English there might be slipping as a requirement for getting by in the society, and the resulting enclaves that are created will surely raise similar questions.



And in Canada, as things have changed, I have never quite understood why Quebec doesn't have to have bilingualism the way English Canada does.



[h/t to Melanie Phillips]

Is Jimmy Carter on the Take? Was He Ever on the Take? Is He on the Saudi Payroll?

From Front Page Magazine:

Carter’s chief complaint seems to be that anyone who identifies with Israel, whether in the form of individual support or in a more organized capacity, is incapable of grappling honestly with the issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But Carter is poorly placed to make this claim. If such connections alone are sufficient to discredit his critics, then by his own logic Carter is undeserving of a hearing. After all, the Carter Center, the combination research and activist project he founded at Emory University in 1982, has for years prospered from the largesse of assorted Arab financiers.



Especially lucrative have been Carter’s ties to Saudi Arabia. Before his death in 2005, King Fahd was a longtime contributor to the Carter Center and on more than one occasion contributed million-dollar donations. In 1993 alone, the king presented Carter with a gift of $7.6 million. And the king was not the only Saudi royal to commit funds to Carter’s cause. As of 2005, the king’s high-living nephew, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, has donated at least $5 million to the Carter Center.



Meanwhile the Saudi Fund for Development, the kingdom’s leading loan organization, turns up repeatedly on the center’s list of supporters. Carter has also found moneyed allies in the Bin Laden family, and in 2000 he secured a promise from ten of Osama bin Laden's brothers for a $1 million contribution to his center. To be sure, there is no evidence that the Bin Ladens maintain any contact with their terrorist relation. But applying Carter’s own standard, his extensive contacts with the Saudi elite must make his views on the Middle East suspect.

And to think this man has the nerve to criticize Israel's supporters! There is much, much more, so rtwt [read the whole thing].



h/t to Melanie Phillips, who raises related questions about James Baker III.

One of the Greatest Inventions of All time

Serviettes (also known as "napkins") with a buttonhole in one corner — a low-cost way to reduce the risks of damaging or messing up your clothes with food spills. And as I become sloppier with age, things like these continue to grow in value.



I first saw these on an airplane to Australia a number of years ago, and thought they were a terrific idea — just button the serviette onto a shirt button, and (if the serviette is large enough) you have great protection for your shirt and lap.



I looked in several stores for serviettes with buttonholes in them, but could not find any for sale. So I had to read through the instructions for Ms. Eclectic's sewing machine and figure out how to put buttonholes in one corner of each of our serviettes. We now have at least three sets of four (each).



If you come to dine with us, wear a shirt with buttons up the front. Don't wear a turtleneck if you want to have the benefits of the buttonholes in our serviettes.

More Proof That Our Work Is Unfinished

It seems so easy. We draw a downward-sloping demand curve during a lecture, and nearly everyone can understand it: When the price goes up, the quantity demanded goes down.



And then when it comes to implementing economic policy, so many people forget the lesson. Here is just the latest example (from Greg Mankiw, criticizing the gubnor of Massachussets for his unwillingness to impose additional taxes on oil uses):

Okay, let me get this straight: It is important that we reduce our consumption of oil. Therefore, we should not tax it.



Hmmm....Governor Patrick was Harvard class of 1978, and it's a good bet that he took ec 10. I wonder what they taught about the slope of demand curves back then.

Note that Professor Mankiw probably has political views quite different from those of many who taught at Harvard in 1978. Note, too, that I did even then. Hmmm. 1978..... Who was the US President then? oh... yeah...

Stephen Harper: the Hero of Common Sense

Too bad this guy doesn't have a majority gubmnt in Ottawa. From the Globe and Mail,

"We will not solve the Palestinian-Israeli problem, as difficult as that is, through organizations that advocate violence and advocate wiping Israel off the face of the Earth," Mr. Harper said yesterday in a wide-ranging year-end interview with CTV to be aired Saturday.



"It's unfortunate because with Hamas, and with Hezbollah in Lebanon, it has made it very difficult to have dialogue -- and dialogue is ultimately necessary to have peace in the long term -- but we are not going to sit down with people whose objectives are ultimately genocidal."

But leave it to the Globe and Mail to editorialize negatively in the "news" item:

Many Canadians expressed discomfort with the strong pro-Israeli stand Mr. Harper took soon after his election and again this summer during Israel's bombardment of Lebanon. Previous Liberal governments have tried to walk a more neutral line, saying that permits Canada to be an honest broker in finding a resolution to the conflict.

We're Havin' a Heat Wave

Temperatures in our area have been well above the historical averages lately, and so my younger son, Adam Smith Palmer (visiting for the holidays), and I decided this morning to go for a swim in Lake Huron at the beach in Goderich.

Digital Camera Advice

I realize this topic is covered many places on the internet, but my sister recently wrote asking my advice on digital cameras:

I want to buy a digital camera. Do you have any recommendations? I'm assuming that the more pixels the better. What about optical zoom--I've seen anywhere from 3X to 12X. Would a 3X be adequate or should I look at something better?

Here is an edited version of my reply:

• You're speaking to someone with tonnes of experience when it comes to buying digital cameras. I've bought too many recently, having inadvertently dropped two different ones in the water and then having gone a bit nutso.
  
  
• More pixels is good, but there is a trade-off between lens quality and pixels. I have seen some very good photos from a 3megpix camera with a good lens and some pretty mediocre photos from an 8megpix camera with a mediocre lens. Sadly, I don't know how to evaluate lenses very well, but bigger is good, I think. In my own case, I know I take better pictures with my old(er) Minolta 5megpix camera than I do with any of my more recent acquisitions. The main problem with that Minolta is that it is way too bulky and heavy to carry around in my shirt pocket (well, shirt pocket is dangerous, since both cameras that got wet fell out of my shirt pocket). Also, Minolta appears to have gone out of business and been swallowed up by Sony or someone.
  
  
• Optical zoom. I have a Canon (Canon SD700) that has 4x zoom and it’s a bit better than 3x, but not a whole lot. The Minolta has 8x zoom, but once you start zooming a bunch, it's hard to hold the camera steady. The cameras I have with 3x seem fine for most purposes.
  
  
• Image stabilization. Something I have on the Minolta and the Canon is "image stabilization" which is some computerized something or other that corrects for slight jiggling of the camera in low light when the aperture stays open a tad longer. It is magic, but it is expensive [I love it, and I think it's well worth the extra money, especially when you use the zoom feature]. I recently bought a waterproof Pentax (W20) that has "blur-reduction" but that's a bad joke — all it does is bump up the lens speed and reduce the resolution of the photo.
  
  
• There's a Panasonic Lumix that I've seen advertised recently that I might consider if I were buying a camera now. It looks as if it has a bigger lens than most cameras. But pocket size is very important for me. I like carrying a camera with me at all times (how else would I get those neat photos of Zeke, the black rabbit? "Say, Wait right there, Zeke, while I run into the house and find my camera!"?).
  
  
• Also, check the screen in the bright sunlight to make sure you can live with it. Some are nearly impossible to use in the bright sunlight, and increasingly, viewfinders are being omitted from smaller digital cameras.
  
  
• Batteries are a contentious issue. Some people (including my older son, David Ricardo Palmer) swear by cameras that use AAs or AAAs because they are easy to recharge (get high mAmp Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries — not all brands are the same) and, should you need to, you can always buy alkalines to use anywhere. Others object that if you don't use your camera for awhile, the rechargeables become weak quickly and then, when you get the camera out to take some photos, it doesn't work. The other type of battery is Lithium Ion. I've had both, and don't really mind either. Whatever you do, spend the money and get a second battery (if the camera takes lithium ion) and get several sets of backups if it takes AA or AAA. David and I both have the older model, Pentax Optio6 cameras; I got mine recently very inexpensively through a clearance outlet. It has a viewfinder and uses AAs. It's pretty decent (aside from not having image stabilization).
  
  
• Memory. Also, I would consider only cameras that take SD cards since they are more common and far less expensive than the proprietary cards used by Sony or Fuji.
  
  
• At this level, digital cameras all come with more features than I can understand. And I really hate that they don't just let me set the aperture and/or speed (my older Minolta lets me do this) but instead have all these icon-based presets for apertures and speed. I find all the presets confusing and annoying. Maybe you'll like 'em. I guess most people do, but my suspicion is that most people just set the camera on auto and snap away.
  
  
• Finally, if you're going to take your time and shop awhile, be sure to consult the reviews on Amazon.com — they're very helpful if you read them with some care to recognize they are not always unbiased.
  
  
  
  . .
  
  
  
  
  

Are Economics Enrolments Counter-cyclical?

Enrolments in economics courses at The University of Western Ontario were at an all-time high during and just after the major recession of the early 1980s. They are much lower now. There has been some speculation that this is due to the counter-cyclical nature of economics enrolments, but my casual empiricism suggests that economics enrolments elsewhere have not declined as the good times rolled.



Is it possible that grades play a role in enrolments? After all, people respond to incentives, and students are people, too.



Here are the percentages of A's and B's in our Economics intro (020) course, compared with the percentages of A's and B's in other social science courses at this university (Economics is the lower line):

And here are the respective percentages of F's given (economics is the upper line):







I can attest that we have had approximately the same grade distribution in our introductory economics courses for over 35 years. It appears that grade inflation elsewhere has left us looking mean and ugly. Furthermore, if anything, given the elimination of grade 13 in Ontario, students are nowadays performing worse than they did five years ago, so, no, the other departments are not reflecting the influx of better students.



Now for a possible solution: Suppose we cannot convince professors in other departments to toughen up their grading standards. Should we lower our standards and begin giving higher grades in our intro course (current students need not reply)?



My friends at other institutions in the US tell me that if their economics departments tried to give fewer than 45% A's and B's and tried to fail more than 5% of the students (both of which seem standard in economics here at UWO — see the graphs), there would be mass riots. But perhaps that's because the students in those institutions have come to expect easy grading.



Quite honestly, I don't know how I could, in good conscience, pass the students who are failing under our current grading regime.



Ms. Eclectic keeps reminding me what a truly horrible undergraduate student I was (failed a math course, got D's in intro micro and in labour econ, and "Gentlemen's C-'s" in tonnes of other courses); she says my expectations are too high (current students need not comment to agree).

Seven Words You Can't Couldn't Say on TV

I have tried to avoid swearing on this blog, so I'll just have to give you the link.

Our New Flat-Screen Television Set

Ms. Eclectic and I decided to get a huge new flat-screen television set to watch the bowl games and NFL play-offs:

We had a dickens of a time installing it, though:











[note: 8-)]

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizzableg?

Pizza is probably my favourite food. I like all kinds, and I have especially fond memories of deep-dish Chicago-style pizza from my days at Chicago Theological Seminary back in the mid-1960s. My first exposure to deep-dish Chicago-style pizza was at a pizzeria at the far end of Piper's Alley, just north of North Street[?] in Chicago's Old town.



Well, I will be in Chicago in early January (at the AEA/ASSA meetings), and I would love to get some similar pizza. I know, I know — some people think deep-dish Chicago-style pizza is passe. I don't care. I want some.



I have heard ads on the radio for Jeno's [from the comments, I gather it's probably spelled "Gino's"], but I have no idea whether their pizza is any good. I won't be in Chicago long, so I'm trying to reduce my search costs. If you have suggestions for good pizza somewhere near The Palmer House(!) in Chicago, please let me know!

The Black Rabbit (Revisited)

A week or so ago, I posted about a black rabbit in the neighbourhood. I was sure that after the area received so much snow last weekend (2 -3 feet, I'm told), the rabbit would be dead or would have been taken in by someone. But no, yesterday Maxwell drew the rabbit to our attention. He and the rabbit ran back and forth together in the bushes, with the rabbit stopping to nibble on some greens now and then. I don't know, but it looks fatter to me now than it did the last time we saw it:

It still needs a name. I'm now leaning toward "Flash" but I also like "Zeke".



[No, we didn't name it "Stu"; and I hate to have to add this, but after last time, please keep the comments civil, folks]

60 Minutes and the Holocaust Archives

From CBS via BenS:

Good afternoon.



I wanted to give you a heads-up on a story that will be running this Sunday, Dec. 17 (7PM ET/PT on CBS) on "60 MINUTES" about a long-secret German archive that houses a treasure trove of information on 17.5 million victims of the Holocaust. The archive, located in the German town of Bad Arolsen , is massive (there are 16 miles of shelving containing 50 million pages of documents) and until recently, was off-limits to the public.



But after the German government agreed earlier this year to open the archives, CBS News' Scott Pelley traveled there with three Jewish survivors who were able to see their own Holocaust records. It's an incredibly moving piece, all the more poignant in the wake of this week's meeting of Holocaust deniers in Iran .



We're trying to get word out about the story to people who have a special interest in this subject. So we were hoping you'd consider sending out something to your listserve and/or posting something on your website.



Further information will also be available on our website (

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml), which you're welcome to link to from yours.



Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and thanks for your consideration.



Best,

Robin Sanders

CBS News 60 Minutes

phone: 212-975-7598

email: [email protected]

I need a Tivo for this since I'll be out. I hope it's as good as it's billed.

What's With No Saturday Football?

Something is wrong. For the past two Saturdays, Ms. Eclectic and I have been all primed to watch some football on television, and what do we get? Nothing during the afternoons, and only one evening game (on the NFL network!).



This state of affairs strikes me as both deplorable and unusual. I know lots and lots of people have spent the past two Saturday afternoons Christmas shopping and wouldn't have been home to watch football on television even if it had been available. But surely the market for tv football on early December Saturday afternoons is large enough to warrant showing at least one NCAA or NFL game. What happened?



Have these time slots traditionally belonged to the NCAA? Are those television slots not being used for football now because of the changes put in place when the Bowl Championship Series was initiated? Well, if so, why weren't schedules changed? Surely those are valuable television time slots that could have been filled by someone.



Were the transaction costs too high? Were the property rights poorly defined? What happened?