Stefan Szymanski, the author of PLAYBOOKS AND CHECKBOOKS: An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports, tackles the economics of the exorbitant tickets to Yankee Stadium in this original article.

The House that George (and Michael) Built: New capitalism and Subprime Baseball

As we are entering a new era of capitalism, with tighter regulation of bankers and banking, federal oversight of the auto industry and public demand for higher moral standards from our business leaders, will the nation’s monopoly sports franchises start to come under pressure to clean up their act? Public reaction to the new Yankee Stadium is instructive. First, while the Steinbrenners claim that, unlike so many city funded stadiums and arenas, they are picking up the bill themselves, there was been widespread opposition to the deals that allowed them to issue $1 billion tax exempt bonds (entailing a tax subsidy of between $250 and $500 million) and to repay the bonds in lieu of (property) taxes. Moreover, there have been investigations claiming that the stadium was deliberately and misleadingly overvalued in order to make the deal to go through. Second, now the stadium is open, punters are baulking at paying the $2500 price tag attached to the premium seats, attendance figures are weak and there is talk of serious price discounting. Could the mighty Yankees, like a subprime borrower, end up being unable to pay their way?

Cormac Ó Gráda, author of FAMINE: A Short History, discusses the history and a possible future for famine in Forbes.com. Read the article here.

Also check out Karen Long’s thoughtful review of the book in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Stefan Szymanski, author of PLAYBOOKS AND CHECKBOOKS, weighs in on the Olympics in Chicago on today’s “Marketplace Morning Report.” Click here to listen to the interview.

Click through to listen to Peter Leeson discussing Somali pirates and their 18th century brethren with Kai Ryssdal on Marketplace yesterday.

A quick excerpt:

Ryssdal: Are there remnants of that 18th century system that we see today with these Somali pirates, for example?

LEESON: It doesn’t appear that modern pirates are using a democratic form of governance. And I think the reason for that is that the crew members and the captain, if you will, of a modern Somali pirate crew is probably appointed by the landed financier. Kinda tribal chieftains who provide the seed capital for ships, who has an interest in making sure a captain of his choosing is in charge. With that difference aside, what you do see are the sorta rules of social organization emerging about how to divide up booty, and there’s also a kind of judicial system.

Yesterday The Riz Khan Show interviewed Emile Nakhleh, author of A Necessary Engagement, as part of their program on The US’s Middle East Challenge. The complete program is available below in two parts.

Part 1

Part 2

Stefan Szymanski’s new book PLAYBOOKS AND CHECKBOOKS: An Introduction to the Economics of Modern Sports is very timely, and Harry Hurt III discusses the book in an intriguing article called “The Wide, Messy World of Sports” in The New York Times on May 16. Szymanski is going to be interviewed by PRI’s Marketplace next week–look for the interview here…

Rob Ellman of Intrepid Liberal Journal posted a new interview with Chris Eisgruber over the weekend. Eisgruber’s book, The Next Justice, is now available in paperback. Listen in here.

Feizal, Uttar Pradesh, India
Feizal’s story illustrates the effect of resource constraints on health-seeking behavior.
Feizal’s ten-member family lives on a household monthly income of $36, largely comprised of his earnings selling aluminum pots and supplemented by his son’s earnings as a tailor’s apprentice. His wife and daughters roll bidis (cheap cigarettes) to sell. Although their income is low, the family stocked away significant savings in preparation for one daughter’s wedding.

When Feizal fractured his thighbone, the family was suddenly without its main breadwinner. He didn’t have insurance, and because he didn’t want to spend the money the he’d saved for his daughter’s wedding, he went to a less expensive, traditional doctor. But the break got worse, and the family was forced to spend nearly $250 (two-thirds of their income for a whole year) on a modern doctor and hospital fees. Feizal’s father paid for the rest, and Feizal finally went back to work eight months after the accident.

During Feizal’s health crisis, the family’s financial net worth deteriorated but did not turn negative. They avoided taking on expensive, interest-bearing loans to make ends meet, and instead drew down savings, took small interest-free loans from friends and neighbors, and used shop credit to buy household goods.

In the end, though, the costs of the accident—both the direct cost of treatment and the indirect cost of lost wages—pushed the family deeper into poverty. If Feizal could have relied on an insurance product, paying small amounts dispersed over time, he would have had the incentive to seek early, high-quality care at a much lower cost.

Feizal’s financial diary and those of other survey participants are available at http://www.portfoliosofthepoor.com/portfolios.asp

Click through to listen to a great interview between Peter Leeson and John J. Miller, host of the Between the Covers feature for National Review Online.

Bob Zimmerman is the author of THE UNIVERSE IN A MIRROR: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It, a terrific history of the Hubble, focusing on the people who fought for the creation of this flawed, but ultimately great space telescope. The Hubble has been in the news again lately as the Atlantic Space Shuttle is currently on a service mission for Hubble until May 22. The hope is that the service will extend the working life of Hubble until 2013, after which it will gradually shut down and eventually fall to Earth at the end of a long and distinguished career.

Bob Zimmerman has been interviewed and the book featured on Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log, which appears on the MSNBC.com site. In addition, the Astroguyz.com site has been following the mission and features a review of the book. Finally, the San Jose Mercury News did a story on some of the people involved with the mission, and Bob is featured in this article, as well.