Non-discrimination in the NFL labor market

One powerful argument in favor of free markets that I like to incorporate early in the Micro Principles semester is that market forces help mitigate discrimination. If you choose to indulge personal preferences based on race, sexual orientation, disability status, age, whatever-- you bear the cost of your decision. Peter Leeson's The Invisible Hook has a nice chapter on the issue as it pertained to pirates. I think I've now got a new example.

Michael Vick signed a sizable contract yesterday with the Philadelphia Eagles; 6 years with approximately $40 million guaranteed. The overall deal could be worth upwards of $100 million. Michael Vick is still considered by some to be un-signable-- fan bases would rise up in discontent and protest the move. As such, some teams choose to discriminate-- rightly or wrongly, whatever your moral compass, it's still holding a bias-- against Michael Vick on the basis of his past troubles.

What's this get the Eagles? In theory, a better-than-replacement player because they choose not to indulge their preferences against certain individuals. I'm a 49ers fan-- and a particularly poor season this year that would reunite Andrew Luck with Jim Harbaugh wouldn't be the worst thing in the world-- but I wouldn't have any qualms with the Eagles winning the Super Bowl this year, as this example becomes that much better.

Libertarian and Austrian Books for the Price of Postage

The offer from Kipesquire:
–Epistemological Problems of Economics; von Mises
–Socialism; von Mises
–Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero; Rothbard
–Antitrust Policy; Armentano
–The Market as an Economic Process; Lachmann
–Losing Ground; Murray
–The Politics of Freedom; Boaz
–Extraordinary Popular Delusions (unabridged); Mackay
–The Power of Gold; Bernstein
–Against the Gods; Bernstein

Free stuff for voting

Turns out that a lot of places want people to vote-- so much so that they're willing to give out free products. Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and Ben & Jerry's are highlighted in the article. Does anyone know of anywhere else?

Control for factors across all fifty states, then find the marginal impact of free goods on voting rates? Presumably the country is not blanketed evenly by all three companies. Even Starbucks. Though they have closed some stores recently. [pdf list here]

No Such Thing As A Free Coffee

I usually buy my non-fair trade coffee from Starbucks, where I get a cup of coffee with the purchase of a bag of coffee grinds. This week, I paid $9.55 for Breakfast Blend + a cup of coffee. Today at Wal-Mart, I saw the same bag of coffee for $8.83, this time no coffee. Thus my free cup of coffee cost $0.72.