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 Regulation on Sep 27th, 2009
We’d all die from food poisining and our drugs would kill us all! At least that is what the conventional wisdom is. Rather than go into a lecture on competition, feedback loops, reputation, profits and losses, and humanity, let me pose the question: Suppose I grant that FDA does its job well. Why does it [...]
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Sep 27th, 2009
That company never ceases to crack me up. They have now added an Economics motivational theme. HT to Alex Magill.
Posted in Health Care on Sep 26th, 2009
Our university is holding a panel discussion on health care reform. The panelists, as I can see it, are the President of our hospital, and an historian. I cannot attend, so here are the few questions I sent over with the hope of getting a response to. 16%-17% of American GDP is “spent” on Health [...]
Posted in History on Sep 25th, 2009
The “person” who managed to kill the largest percentage of people living on the planet was … Genghis Khan. He killed three percent of the people living during the time of his plunder. HT: My colleague Stan Engerman
Posted in Price System on Sep 25th, 2009
… bad behavior would stop. Oops. Again.
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 25th, 2009
… unless it is caused by green technology. This also ignores any serious consideration of the environmental impacts of “sprawl.” Take for example the case of many suburban subdivisions. I can imagine someone doing research to show that they are environmentally … friendly. How so? For starters, the relevant comparison should not be with some [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Sep 24th, 2009
The “fair value” of the Fed’s holdings of stinky Bear Stearns assets today stands at $26.146 billion. A year ago it was “worth” $29.333 billion.
Posted in Education on Sep 24th, 2009
‘Creaming” is the word critics of charter schools think ends the debate over education choice. The charge has long been that charters get better results by cherry-picking the best students from standard public schools. Caroline Hoxby, a Stanford economist, found a way to reliably examine this alleged bias, and the results are breakthrough news for [...]
Posted in Environment, Standards of Living on Sep 24th, 2009
Here’s a proposition I wished I could make to someone living at the dawn of Industrial Revolution. You can continue living to age 26, which is the expected life term of someone born at this time (with small chance of long life) and have cool planet with fewer macro-environmental risks (potentially). Remember however that you [...]
Posted in Politics on Sep 23rd, 2009
My latest AP headline reads: Obama to World: Don’t Expect America to Fix It All. But somehow he will fix all of America?
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