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 Standards of Living on Jun 19th, 2008
I love drinking Peach Snapple, not least of all because of the neat factoids imprinted on the inside of the caps. When the ballpoint pen was first mass-introduced at Gimbels in 1945 (more on Gimbels in an upcoming post), it sold for a whopping $12.50. That was in 1945 dollars, or the equivalent of $150.43 […]
Posted in Inequality on Jun 18th, 2008
From David Henderson:
1. High-income households are not likely to consist of one person earning a very high income (as is often assumed); rather, they are likely to have two or more income earners:
In 2006, a whopping 81.4 percent of families in the top income quintile had two or more people working, and only 2.2 percent […]
Posted in Fun Facts, Macroeconomics on Jun 17th, 2008
When working properly they are. But the appropiate question is, “As compared to what?” Government policy is often lauded because it is supposedly a stabilizing influence in an otherwise turblulent world. Now I understand that stabilizing prices is not the same thing as stabilizing interest rates, but I still think the following is informative.
Every day […]
Posted in Health Care on Jun 16th, 2008
To report on the success of the Massachusetts health reform as a model for the rest of America! What I will give credit to Massachusetts for is that if the goal of health policy is to put a tag on people that says, “I am insured,” then it is a resounding success. If the goal […]
Posted in Corporatism, Economic Illiteracy on Jun 16th, 2008
A colleage of mine was flamed by a friend after he criticized the following “news article” for reading more like an editorial. I think the following exchange is illuminating. And you would be correct to assume that I have yet to receive any response whatsoever from Mr. A.
Posted in Welfare State on Jun 13th, 2008
It is an oft repeated canard that the “American economy is not working for the vast majority of middle and lower-income Americans.” What follows from this are recommendations that have vitually nothing to do with making it work better for these people, but are elaborate schemes to get politicians re-elected, to cater to powerful interest […]
Posted in Taxation on Jun 11th, 2008
Suppose my wife and I owned a plot of land. On our land we harvested timber, grew our own food, processed our own food, made our own clothes, and fashioned our own tools.
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Jun 10th, 2008
Perhaps this will be the first in a series of posts on the topic. Despite my many incantations on this website decrying outright socialism and corporatism, a good portion of today’s economic policy is couched in terms of the political economic model known as utilitarianism. While its intellectual roots probably predate the 18th century, utilitarianism […]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Environment, Resources, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jun 9th, 2008
There’s no shortage of people claiming that the world cannot sustain population levels at the current size (just under 7 billion) much less a larger population. A common claim is that the planet’s resources will be consumed unsustainably, eventually leading to world starvation, famine, war, and population declines.
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Jun 7th, 2008
A syndrome I wouldn’t mind having … or would I?
Newsmeat.
Turtles all the way down.
The globalization of job searching.
Lies we tell our kids.
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