Eikonomics

  • A year of colds

    In autumn 2021 my son started kindergarten, at the age of one. COVID was still very much a topic and our kindergarten, like most German kindergartens, still had restrictions in place and conducted daily testing. He never brought home COVID, but fair amount of other germ related unpleasantness. Germ related unpleasantness that he generously shared…

    Eiki

  • Why did I give my wife a vacuum cleaner for Christmas

    It was actually a vacuum cleaning robot. That however did not change the impression on my friends faces when I explained to them what I planned on giving her. I am, however, convinced that had they listened to my arguments that they would have been more forgiving. You see, my wife and I are both…

    Eiki

  • The speed limit on the Autobahn

    The Autobahn is a world-famous German system of motorways. From afar it is not possible to distinguish the Autobahn from motorway systems in other countries. However, the Autobahn is very different in one way: on most of the Autobahn there are no speed limits. Want to drive 160? 180? 240? Fine, then do that. Obviously,…

    Eiki

  • Central Bank of Iceland has a predictable problem

    The Icelandic central bank has a tricky problem. They  have to make a long(ish) term predictions about inflation for the tiny island of Iceland. As Iceland makes almost nothing it consumes and most of what it makes is produced using resources from abroad The price level in Iceland is extremely sensitive to the depreciation of…

    Eiki

  • A tombola with a bias

    The other day I attended a street festival in a nearby street here in Cologne. Like any other street festival it offered a range of activities: home made food and cakes; flower headband workshop; and, of course, a tombola (also known as raffle in some places). Me, my partner and her brother purchased 5 tickets…

    Eiki

  • Heimat and the market

    Heimat is a German word with no good English equivalent. It describes the relationship of a person to a specific geographic (or social) unit. I myself have few Heimat’s. Iceland is one of them and Eherenfeld, my neighbourhood in Germany is another. It is my view that Ehrenfeld is the nicest neighbourhoods in the city…

    Eiki

  • Can Ali Baba insure against Svala winning Eurovision tonight?

    As I was scrolling through Facebook earlier I came across a post by one of my favourite Facebook friends, the kebab place in Reykjavik called Ali Baba. The first reason why Ali Baba has become such a good friend on Facebook is of course that they make the tastiest kebab place in the country. It…

    Eiki