BP. Oil. Consumers.

Posted on May 2, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

This post equals to stating the obvious, really. Yet, I believe some don’t appreciate this basic reality: it is consumers that rule on which products and, thus, corporations are successful, not the other way around. I’m not arguing that corporations never influence our choices. For sure, marketing plays a big role in business and the [...]

Folks, Fasten Your Seat Belts!

Posted on April 28, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

“Greek Debt Rating Cut to ‘Junk’ Status” goes the headline of the New York Times; “Die Schuldenkrise verschärft sich” the German Frankfurter Allgemeine; “Griechenland wankt immer mehr” the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung, “Grecia declassata a livello ‘spazzatura’ Portogallo trema sotto il peso del debito” the Italian La Repubblica, faithfully echoing ‘Junk’ status. As per April [...]

A Case Against “All-Inclusive Lease”

Posted on January 31, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

There are different rental lease models w.r.t the structure of your monthly bill. Typically, I have been having the model where a fixed monthly rent was separate from a variable bill for the utilities, e.g. gas, electric, water, cable. In two occasions, including the current rental agreement, the total rent is fixed and includes the [...]

Environmental Awareness

Posted on January 25, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

Thinking around environmental economics is starting to be my favorite spare time activity. Not entirely sure if that’s a good thing :> I have been writing about democratization of consumption data, the idea of providing accurate and real-time data and information on individual consumption of natural resources to consumers. Data on individual consumption — today [...]

A Spot From Which I Make Sense

Posted on January 13, 2010 | by Markus Stocker

Recently, I stumbled across the Summers memo (Wikipedia). It is actually only an excerpt of the original. I think, this doesn’t matter as the excerpt is informative and provocative enough. The memo was written by Lawrence Summers in 1991 while he was Chief Economist of the World Bank. A few days ago, I forwarded the [...]

Avaaz And Copenhagen

Posted on December 23, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

There are many opinions one may have about activist movements and I’m sure they vary between movements and even between missions within a single movement. Typically, when I’m confronted with a movement or a mission I try to have an open ear towards the statement and every now and then I “support” some with my [...]

Do Conventional Plastics Internalize Costs?

Posted on November 26, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

The United States and Canada (primarily) celebrate Thanksgiving Day, a day that sees families and/or friends gather to share a Thanksgiving meal. According to Wikipedia, “a time to express gratitude in general,” which, depending on your preferred -ism, might be gratitude for the birth of free enterprise in America. My own experience of American Thanksgiving is, [...]

Confident Hope For Lukewarm Worries

Posted on November 19, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Concerns over a global economic recovery continue to reduce risk appetite (WSJ; DJI -2.09%; October 1, 2009). Fragile state of the global economic recovery (Reuters; DJI -0.23%; October 2, 2009). Question the strength and speed of the global economic recovery (WSJ; DJI +1.18%; October 5, 2009). Renewed hopes for a global economic recovery (Reuters; DJI +1.37%; October 6, [...]

Democratization Of Consumption Data

Posted on November 12, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

An email exchange across the Atlantic (thanks!) motivated me to finally write a post on a thought that kept my three neurons spinning for awhile now. The idea is, surprise, not new. Yet, it might not be too old for some branding either, so here are my two cents: On the Democratization of Consumption Data. Whatever [...]

Breathe Private Quality Air

Posted on November 6, 2009 | by Markus Stocker

Scarcity is perhaps one of the most fundamental characteristic of resources we pay for upon consumption. Breathable air is considered to be a common-pool resource, likely the main reason why up to now we have had open access to it. Free breathable air is, however, not a tautology, I think. Will it become a scarce [...]

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