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 Government Gone Wild on Jul 31st, 2009
No matter how much evidence comes down the pike that government actors are governed by the same set of incentives as those not in the government sector (and that therefore it would be unusual to expect superior or even “good” outcomes of government policy), we will keep digging our holes deeper and deeper … I [...]
Posted in Extended Order on Jul 31st, 2009
Last weekend I put together a 1,500 word article. In doing so, I selected four words that I commonly use to be added to the Microsoft Word dictionary. And no, this was not one of them – I, Mike Rizzo, am Wintercow.
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Jul 31st, 2009
I’ll post a mini-review of the book in a while. One thing I have done lately is to look merely at the title of posts over at Marginal Revolution and guess whether it was authored by Tyler or Alex. If you are a regular reader, try it, I would bet you have over an 80% [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy on Jul 30th, 2009
This just in: greed is down by 66% this year.
Posted in Competition, Flotsam and Jetsam on Jul 30th, 2009
Chain restaurants, coffee shops, department stores, etc. have really exploded during the past two decades or so (at least I was not paying attention before then … that might have something to do with being 10 years old and living in Queens). So I have a question for the folks out there: are there any [...]
Posted in Health Care, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jul 29th, 2009
I just got this e-mail from the President. In it, he accuses me of being part of an “avalanche” of misinformation and scare tactics. Funny, sounds a little like his health care promises. In any case, here are the 8 things he promises to deliver, Santa Claus should be so kind. No discrimination for pre-existing [...]
Posted in Education on Jul 29th, 2009
Some folks tend to believe that some things are not too good to be true. I politely try to disabuse them of the notion here. I apologize for the shameless self-promotion. Here’s a sampling above the fold: Suppose that education is synonymous with human capital accumulation. Focusing on average educational attainment still makes the erroneous [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Environment, labor markets on Jul 28th, 2009
In the recently published “Green Jobs Report” from the US Conference of Mayors, they report that: By 2038 there will be 1,246 new green jobs created in Greenville, North Carolina.” We have a term for that sort of work: scientism. Oh, and what sorts of jobs are classified as “green”? Anything that is 6-degrees of [...]
Posted in Price System, You Can't Have it Both Ways, labor markets on Jul 27th, 2009
How can it be the case that, in the words of the White House, “skyrocketing co-pays and deductibles and soaring insurance premiums are crushing small businesses?” Readers may find themselves asking a question that I believe the President is assuming, “how can it NOT be the case?” It does sound so appealing. And it also [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Jul 26th, 2009
… of some people. by some people and for some people. This about the PBGC: When the PBGC was created in 1974, Democrats running Congress assured everyone there was no taxpayer risk because the agency would be funded by fees from pension plans, as well as by the assets of plans the company takes over. [...]
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