The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Health Care, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 30th, 2008
The first of my two-part interview with Cornell professor John Cawley can be read here. The second should be coming soon. The most interesting thing about the interviews are the two questions that we did not answer, for various reasons. I reproduce them below.
How can you square the strong agreement to the question about insurance [...]
Posted in Development on Apr 29th, 2008
No matter what data we seem to show about U.S. trends (manufacturing share of employment fell below 10% last month from a high of 40% during WWII; manufacturing output is at an all-time high; U.S. living standards, per capita, have increased four-fold since WWII), this ridiculous fear still remains.
While you might have questions about the [...]
Posted in Economics Problems on Apr 28th, 2008
Jim Bohannon asked me, as a final question, what I would do if I were the world’s economics czar, and to ignore political consequences for a moment. I had something like 15 seconds to answer.
My original answer was: “I’d eliminate my position.” But, as this was talk radio, both he and the listeners wanted to [...]
Posted in Environment on Apr 28th, 2008
Begin with the current inventory of carbon dioxide emissions – CO2 being the principal greenhouse gas generated almost entirely by energy use. According to the Department of Energy’s most recent data on greenhouse gas emissions, in 2006 the U.S. emitted 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or just under 20 tons per capita. An [...]
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Apr 26th, 2008
I fell for this on April Fool’s Day.
Is this the world’s ugliest animal? Or this? Or any of these? It would be interesting to know how many would end up on this list too if you were making it up?
Creepy. I am told people use this to find themselves!
Can you read a newspaper on it?
Posted in Constitution on Apr 25th, 2008
Among the following list of countries, which do you think has the largest share of its population locked up behind bars?
China
Russia
Cuba
Iran
Burma
The U.S. of A
If you guessed communist China … you would be wrong! If you guessed communist Cuba … you would still be wrong. If you guessed Theocratic/Fascist Iran … you would be wrong! If [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Apr 24th, 2008
The following is excerpted from remarks by David Einhorn in October 2007:
Consider municipal bonds. According to S&P’s long-term data the 10 year default rate on an A rated municipal bond is 1%; while a corporate bond’s default rate is 1.8%; and a CDO’s is 2.7%. An A rated muni has the same chance of default [...]
Much has been made recently of economic findings that seem to refute the Easterlin Paradox. The paradox is simple – in research done in the 1970s, there was no apparent connection between wealth and happiness (in cross-country or within country average data). Critics of “greed-seeking”, “soulless” capitalism have used this for decades to push for [...]
Posted in Environment on Apr 22nd, 2008
On this Earth Day, I reproduce in its entirety a letter by the late Julian Simon:
EARTH DAY: SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTING, INTELLECTUALLY DEBASED
April 22 marks the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. Now as then its message is spiritually uplifting. But all reasonable persons who look at the statistical evidence now available must agree that Earth Day’s scientific premises [...]
Posted in Regulation on Apr 21st, 2008
I noticed recently that Progressive is offering customers free insurance for their dogs if they sign up for auto insurance with the company. The insurance I imagine pertains only to injuries that dogs might sustain while in the car of their owners. Why might Progressive offer this benefit to their customers?
Insurance markets are characterized by [...]
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