All posts filed under: Main Features

Dissecting Andy Dufresne’s Shawshank Gamble

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I’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption way too many times. Wayyyyy-way-wayyyyy too many times. You think I care? All I know is that it’s an all-time classic and I’ll continue to flip to it whenever I see it on the TV guide. Has there ever been a more likeable convicted murderer than Morgan Freeman’s character Red? I certainly can’t think of one. Since I’d like to actively try and avoid turning this into a 10 000 word paean on the movie’s greatness, I’ll do a quick summary only and then jump right into our main topic. Before doing so though I suppose I should issue a #SPOILERALERT, although seriously if you haven’t seen it by now you should probably leave the public library where you’re reading this blog from and go back to your home in Inner Mongolia. Okay, let’s proceed. Our main guy Andy Dufresne (Du-Frain, and make sure you say it like Morgan Freeman does) spends most of the movie locked up in Shawshank Prison for murdering his wife and lover, a crime for which he is …

Some Thoughts on Toronto Transit

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A few weeks ago I had to drive to downtown Toronto from my home in the west end of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), and it reminded me how frustrating driving into and around the city can be. The main entry point from the west end is via the Gardiner Expressway, an elevated highway that is as unsightly and decrepit looking as it is annoying to drive on. Bumper to bumper, hood to hood, the traffic has undoubtedly gotten worse with each passing year. It’s also falling apart; last year the city announced a 25-year maintenance plan to make sure it doesn’t literally crumble to the ground. So here at The Curious Econ HQ, we’ve been brainstorming some ideas on how to alleviate the traffic, and what the future might hold in store for Toronto transit. Back in 2008, Metrolinx, the organization responsible for not much actually implementing a comprehensive transit strategy for the GTA, came up with their big master plan called The Big Move. This plan included a whole list of forecasted estimates …

Dogs and the Endowment Effect

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I still remember February 2002 as if it were yesterday. Our family had just gotten a new desktop computer (flat screen!), we had gone on a wonderful one-week vacation to Punta Cana, and the hockey team I played for just won our billionth championship in a row. But towards the end of the month was when the real highlight came, when we brought a beautiful golden retriever puppy named Reilly into our home. Between my sister and I, she was probably more excited about getting a dog than I was. After all, I had never really shown much of an interest in pets. When I was really young I had a goldfish named Goldie (because of course I named it that), but I don’t even remember the day my parents flushed him down the toilet. I think he had effectively murdered my sister’s fish Angel by stealing all her food, so he wasn’t exactly a great guy anyways. My point is that I just wasn’t really into the whole pet thing back then. Reilly changed all …

Surprises, and Annoying eBay Auctions

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I confess, I love sneaking up on people and surprising them. In fact, scaring people is a great pastime of mine, one in which I proudly maintain the tradition of today. During my formative years as a teenager I used to dress up on Halloween by throwing on really baggy clothes, putting a mask with tinted eye covers over my face, and sitting perfectly still on an inconspicuous chair perched the front porch of my parents’ lovely home on a lovely street in a lovely neighbourhood. Why? Because the little children with their oblivious parents would walk up to our front door, see me sitting there, and assume I’m some sort of stuffed mannequin that exists for the sole purpose of trying to scare kids who have already been exposed to far scarier things on the internet. What those naïve blockheads didn’t realize was that under those layers of clothing was a crazy teenager interested in nothing but unleashing terror on innocent children, endowing them with mental scars for life, and most importantly reminding all …

How to Deal with Common Property Resources

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Several years ago I worked as a summer student intern at the Parks Department in the city I grew up in (best job ever). We, our small team, looked after a beautiful waterfront park that was immensely popular amongst the locals and almost-locals. On weekdays the park was relatively quiet apart from joggers, dog walkers, and the like, but on weekends the crowds would swell to near apocalyptic levels. Of course this meant at least a few members of our team had to be there every weekend just to manage the chaos, but surprisingly, that wasn’t my least favourite time to work. That would be Monday morning. Why? Imagine thousands of people filling up a large park, bringing their families and friends with them, along with bags and bags and bags of food and portable barbeques. And now imagine everybody leaving all at once Sunday night, not taking any of the garbage with them. Now imagine the raccoons getting into the already hilariously overflowing garbage cans overnight and spewing plastic bags and chicken bones and …

Signalling, First Impressions, and the Frustrating Toronto Maple Leafs

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I have never been in a relationship nor will ever be in one that’s more complicated than the one I currently have with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. I love hockey as much as the next Canadian, but this relationship is tearing me apart and I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to me in the future if they don’t win soon. Management is mostly to blame for the team’s incompetence, which has remarkably lasted nearly five decades now. Very recently, the current General Manager Dave Nonis traded away hometown-hero-turned-villian David Clarkson to the great hockey mecca of Columbus, Ohio. It was a small miracle that this trade happened considering less than two years ago Nonis signed Clarkson to one of the most ridiculous contracts you will ever see in sports. It was justified because Clarkson was considered a (paraphrasing) “hard worker, leader, great teammate, and a good overall talent.” The last point is what struck a cord with many, because there are multitudes of statistics out there that actually show him as a …