The economic implications of snow

After a second-straight weekend of being snowed in my house, I was forced to think of nothing but the weather. Of course, snow affects everyone’s lives to some degree. School is canceled, causing elated children. A foot of snow is predicted, causing shelves at grocery stores to empty within hours. This cause and effect relationship was clear when the big snowstorm hit the east coast right before the holidays, causing mall traffic to decrease 10%. The same storm, however, caused online retail sales to be 22.4% greater than those seen in 2008 (http://bit.ly/9bqwB5).
Those are the obvious impacts of snow. However, as we have discussed in class, economics is a study of people, or more eloquently, “A social science that studies how individuals, governments, firms and nations make choices on allocating sources.”

I realized that the record-breaking snowfalls seen in our region have had a much deeper, more personal impact on the economy. Not only does the inclement weather impact qualitative details, but it affects the people who make up the U.S. economy, which does not need more damage done. These influences include causing many to become unable to report to work, either by having to stay home with the children or being literally snowed in and unable to leave.

Washington, D.C. Employment Attorney Camilla McKinney told WUSA-9 that an employer, in most circumstances, has a right to request for an employee to report to work. However, employees can most likely respond with a request to work from home, use a leave or use a personal day (http://bit.ly/d9g1DI).

But what for those on hourly compensation who need every dollar they can get? Or what if those options aren’t there? Should the employee ask for a day off without pay?

These circumstances just show the circular aspect of our country’s economy. When those people can’t get to work, they aren’t paid, so they are forced to cut back on spending since they are bringing in less money. As businesses earn less money, job loss occurs and so on and so on.

IN THIS ECONOMIC DOWNTURN (and crazy winter)… just realize that every action has a reaction, and another, and another, and another (that may be less obvious and more personal).

-- Alex Harper

..and other commonly overused phrases

Coupons. There's a word you don't often hear in typical college-student conversation...unless, of course, you happen to live with me. While this economic downturn (or this past economic downturn, I guess, since it's technically now over) hasn't really affected me the way it has some people--no one I know has lost his or her job, I'm still going to a well-regarded private university, I haven't had to worry about how I'm going to afford housing, or my next meal--I still find myself morphing into a 45-year-old mom (not to stereotype or anything) on a weekly basis. Maybe some of the several hours I spent interviewing "mommy bloggers" for my internship this past summer had an effect, or maybe the prospect of graduating and moving out on my own is finally starting to sink in. But for whatever reason, way back in September I signed up for shortcuts.com and P&G brandsaver (both free websites that allow you to download coupons right to your Kroger card) thinking I'd forget about them after one or two weeks...and now I'm addicted. I scour the emails for my favorite foods (FiberOne bars, anyone?). I make lists of the coupons I have on my card, just so I don't forget. I get irrationally excited when my coupons and in-store sales coincide (which, it turns out, is all the time). Every time I go to the grocery store it's like a mini adrenaline rush. Sure, the cost of law school is pushing $60K a year, but hey--I saved $20 at Kroger last week!

Now, I know couponing is nothing new. And if I were the only one doing it now, these web sites wouldn't exist. But that doesn't mean coupons aren't seriously under-utilized--especially by college kids. Despite my constant rhapsodizing, none of my 5 housemates has started doing the coupon thing...and I really can't understand why. It takes far fewer than 5 minutes of my time each week, and it's stuff I'm going to buy anyway...why not pay less for it? Being pretty much the furthest thing from an economist possible, I have no idea what it would do to the economy if every student at Washington and Lee started using coupons (although my hunch is not very much at all). But I do know that if saving 50 cents on my can of soup today means I get to go a few more weeks without eating ramen after I graduate in June, it is more than worth it.

--Erin Galliher