Research Roundup: How Much Have We Gained From the PC?

- Since it's invention in 1989, Apple-Cinnamon Cheerios have added about 0.002 percent to our welfare, meaning that if they had never been introduced, then we would need 0.002 percent extra income to feel just as well off.

For minivans that number is 0.029 percent, and for satellite TV it's 0.035 percent.

What about the personal computer? Since its introduction in 1977, the price of a PC, when advancements are factored in, has dropped 700 times, according to Jeremy Greenwood of the University of Pennsylvania and Karen A. Kopecky of the University of Western Ontario.

The two researchers say that our welfare has been improved by about 4 percent thanks to the PC revolution -- or about 2,000 times more than Cheerios. (pdf)

- You get what you pay for: "As a group, horse trainers apparently tailor the quality of their services to the potential size of their remuneration from clients." (pdf)

- Tips for not getting assassinated from Bruno S. Frey: "An extension of democracy, a rule by a committee of several politicians, more decentralization via the division of power and federalism, and a strengthening of civil society significantly reduce politicians' probability of being attacked and killed." (pdf, HT: Bluematter)

- What would happen if a country ditched the euro currency? "Computer code must be rewritten. Automatic teller machines must be reprogrammed....Abandoning the euro will presumably entail lengthy political debate and passage of a bill by a national parliament or legislature, also over an extended period of time. And, all the while, there will be an incentive for agents anticipating the redenomination of their claims into the national currency, followed by depreciation of the latter, to rush out of domestic banks and financial assets, threatening a banking and financial-market collapse." (Eurozone Watch, NBER)

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