Supply and Demand for Iranian Currency

In the face of new economic sanctions from the EU, just announced on Monday, January 23, the value of Iranian currency against other international currencies has taken a free fall. The lower demand this causes for Iran's exports, combined with the speculations of continued lower demand for Iran's currency, has led to a big drop in demand for the currency, and a big drop in its value.

Here is an NPR article telling the story:
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/26/145863423/growing-pressures-prompt-plunge-in-iranian-currency

As you can read from the article, it isn't only a demand story. Some domestic policy with a different end may also be playing a role.

Pencasts

Students looking for help in their ECO110 or ECO120 would be wise to check out Professor Murray's pencasts. Below is an introduction to Supply and Demand. There are a host of others for ECO120 here. And since the first parts of ECO110 and ECO120 cover similar models you can probably find something useful for that class as well.

ECO 120: Intro to Supply and Demand
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One Percent

Do you want to join the one percent? Getting a degree from the college of business increases your chances. The NYT breaks down the top one percent by undergraduate degree.

What Not To Do

A great example of how not to design and deliver a presentation. In this commercial Microsoft demonstrates why they suck, or at the very least why their Ad Agency sucks.

Price of Weed

What explains the differences in prices of marijuana across North America? Demand factors, supply factors? Both? The data is here.

Nothing Else To Do?

Below we have a chart that visualizes the rate of binge drinking by state, which I'm grabbing from this blog. The Midwest to some degree, and the colder, northern regions to a larger degree appear to have the highest rates. What are some theories that can explain this relationship?