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.

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [email protected] !

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz

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

About this Episode

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [email protected] !

Hosts & Guests

More from The Answer Is Transaction Costs

Honor Among Thieves: Anja Shortland and Ransomware

Are Transaction Costs Really Just Human Distance

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations Episode 10: Always Contemporary

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations Episode 9: Spending, Taxing, and Debt