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 on Jun 9th, 2009
I don’t remember reading about one. Here is the abstract from a new NBER Working Paper: In this paper we consider how the dental industry responded to the addition of fluoride to public drinking water. We take advantage of he staggered introduction of fluoridation throughout the country to analyze the changes in numbers of within-county [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Jun 9th, 2009
The fascists in power claim that they “had” to take a huge governmental ownership stake in GM because … well … I don’t really know. But if, as the Messiah claims, the government has no intention of running the company or meddling, why would it take an ownership stake? If it has something to do [...]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jun 7th, 2009
I don’t want to meditate on whether taxation is theft – it is – but rather on a common justification many intellectuals (and citizens) provide for its existence. While, they say, we don’t like taxation, it is the “price” we must pay to have the Democracy we have. And for whatever its flaws, we must [...]
Posted in Socialism on Jun 5th, 2009
China today supplies the world with a wealth of such stuff as gym shoes, extremely young gymnasts, loans to the U.S. Treasury, aid to North Korea, and investments in Iran and Sudan. But riches of the spirit are in short supply. On that front, the scene is pretty well summed up by last summer’s kitsch [...]
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Jun 5th, 2009
How did that old Simon and Garfunkel song go? “Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio …?” Something like that.
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Health Care on Jun 5th, 2009
In an Ezra Klein interview with CEA Chair Christina Romer, he asks: “One of the things that struck me in the report is that the health-care discussion tends to be thought of in terms of insurance coverage. But this report located more of the key reforms specifically around providers and provider incentives. Want to say [...]
Posted in media on Jun 4th, 2009
How long until the carbon footprint police stop these guys?
The people who already lived in Jackson County were not happy about the monumental influx. The Mormon immigrants for the most part hailed from the northeastern states and favored the abolition of slavery; Missourians tended to have southern roots – many of them actually owned slaves – and were deeply suspicious of the Mormons’ abolitionist [...]
Posted in Inequality on Jun 2nd, 2009
Contrary to Krugman’s narrative, liberals joined conservatives in pushing for dramatic changes in economic policy. In addition to his role in liberalizing immigration, Kennedy was a leader in pushing through both the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, which deregulated the trucking industry-and he was warmly supported in both [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Jun 2nd, 2009
When the government owns 60% (and a foreign government another 12%) of a major automobile manufacturer, do people still think the U.S. is some sort of free-market heaven? The Messiah campaigned on respecting markets and the rule of law, and only implementing government policies when they have been proven to work. Is there any example [...]
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