Parking Lots, Transaction Costs of the Price Mechanism, and the Pork Pie Fedora Rogue

The Answer Is Transaction Costs

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Two seemingly similar parking lots at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, couldn't be more different in the emergent behaviors they foster. From the orderly lines of the 85-space lot to the chaotic dynamics of the smaller 19-space circular lot, discover how price rationing, queue formation, and transaction costs play critical roles in these everyday systems.
Things take s a quirky turn with the arrival of a man in a pork pie fedora who disrupts these parking norms, buying spaces directly from beachgoers. This unconventional behavior prompts a deeper discussion on the breakdown of social rules and the challenges of maintaining order when outsiders intervene.

• Wrightsville Beach Parking Information
• Locke and Property
• Porkpie Fedoras, if you NEED one now!
• Elinor Ostrom and Property Norms
• To Consumers, ALL Costs are Transaction Costs (AIER)
• Economic Benefits of Beach Access Points
• (Parking) Life Is A Beach

Book o'da'week: Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. 2024, Penguin Press.

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You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz

Chapters

1. Parking Lot Allocation Mechanisms (00:00:00)

2. Parking Lot Consumer Behavior (00:08:22)