If you are a student in the discipline called Econometrics then you must have heard something along the lines of ‘Oh wow, that’s difficult’, followed by ‘I have heard that 1 in every 3 econometrics students will become a millionaire’. While I have since learned to...
Imagine you are taking a stroll around the 18th century Prussian city of Königsberg (currently Kaliningrad, Russia). The river Pregel runs through Königsberg and there are two large islands in this river. The islands are connected to each other and to the mainland by...
When somebody from the West travels to Southeast Asia, he cannot help but notice how very low the cost of living is relative to the West. How do we compare prices across countries? The Big Mac index gives us an approximation. Purchasing power parity Purchasing power...
In the Netherlands, a famous slogan on TV is ‘Let op: geld lenen kost geld’ (watch out: borrowing money costs money). No money can be earned for free. With a pyramid scheme, however, people seem to defy these laws of finance and make money out of nothing. How does...
We are living in economically tumultuous times, with high inflation, rapid interest rate rises, and an energy and climate crisis interfering with the economy. Many economic institutions talk of the imminence of a global recession. This fact gives rise to the question:...