UAH Economics Program

The Oakland A's current situation, like so many before it in Major League Baseball and other sports leagues, exemplifies the ever-present conflict between sports franchises, their desire for new venues, and the localities in which they operate -- in this case Oakland, California. We explore such conflicts extensively in ECN 406 (Sports Economics) at UAH as a stalwart part of analyzing the role of government in the sports industry, where we fundamentally recognize sports leagues and franchises as public goods and these situations consequently as ripe for government subsidization of (especially) new venues. Things get especially serious, and expensive, very fast in California, home of gargantuan land prices; note the talk in billions of dollars, plural, in Jeff Passan's article here. Meanwhile, in these matters a franchise, and the league it represents, must have a credible threat of relocation, which of course is the headline news here, but these considerations merely scratch the surface of the many layers of microeconomics underlying public confrontations like these, which can also play out in non-sports industries. Those layers make this one of my favorite topics to teach in ECN 406.

MLB wants A's to explore relocating from Oakland The A's, who have played in Oakland since 1968, will look into relocating elsewhere after years of failed plans for a new stadium. The team has asked the city council to vote on a new Howard Terminal site prior to its late-July recess.

Schroeder understands the difference between utility maximization and wealth maximization. Not so sure about Lucy!

Peanuts by Charles Schulz for January 25, 2020 | GoComics.com View the comic strip for Peanuts by cartoonist Charles Schulz created January 25, 2020 available on GoComics.com

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/07/11/business/trade-war.html
Aside from being a useful (& concise) explainer of the trade war we find ourselves in, this is a truly epic data visualization.

How Trump’s Trade War Went From 18 Products to 10,000 The battle began when the United States imposed tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. It has led to a global tit-for-tat targeting billions of dollars of goods.