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Category Archives: The Easy Chair Economist

Greasy spoons relieved of greased lightening

As fuel prices soar, rustlers pilfer barrels of used cooking oil to make biodiesel - IHT
A few years ago, drums of used french fry grease were only of interest to a small network of underground biofuel brewers, who would use the slimy oil to power their souped-up antique Mercedes.
Now, restaurants from Berkeley, California, to Sedgwick, [...]

Econ-o-rama: There’s gold in corn and them thar hills, economics 001

You Can’t Afford To Go To The Movies. Thanks, Ethanol!
Ethanol, the stupid fuel that the government loves for some reason, is going to take up 40% of next year’s corn crop. Movie theaters make nearly half of their money from concessions, and a third of that money comes from popcorn sales. When concession prices [...]

Lipstick Indicator

In NYT article Hard Times, but Your Lips Look Great Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Companies, suggests that lipstick sales are a gauge of the economy with sales increasing as times get worse.
Not only is the lipstick theory plausible, “it’s perfectly consistent with all kinds of economic theory,” said Richard DeKaser, the chief economist [...]