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, Welfare State on May 22nd, 2010
And my 2,000 square foot home, with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 car garage, some hardwood floors and a fireplace and usable basement cost us $187,000. OK, so it would have cost slightly more to build brand new – but then again, it would have been much higher quality too. Here is the latest disaster [...]
Posted in Politics on May 21st, 2010
Yesterday we discussed the idea of how bundling choices together may lead choosers to select vastly different things than if they voted for items a la carte. How does this idea translate into the political realm? There are two applications. First, how would the policies we get enacted from Congress change if rather than voting [...]
Posted in Politics on May 20th, 2010
In Capitalism and Freedom Milton Friedman makes the point that if “we” vote for things on a case by case basis we are likely to make vastly different choices than if we voted for things that are bundled together. In his book he is talking about this in his defense of monetary policy rules versus [...]
Posted in Health Care on May 20th, 2010
See here. But it looks to me like the Senate is pushing for a system in which hospitals that set prices and contain costs successfully enough to find solid financial footing subsidize those that don’t. So your health care expenses outpace GDP growth by 8% after your super cool health care for everyone reform.You still [...]
Posted in Education, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 19th, 2010
Wisdom from Don Boudreaux. If teachers (and I agree with them) argue that many forms of merit pay are unreasonable because dozens of things outside of teachers’ control influence learning, then how can supporters of public schooling so vociferously argue about the justice, necessity and value of public schooling itself? How can they justify an [...]
Posted in Money on May 18th, 2010
Might one argue that the Federal Reserve, in combination with various measures by the federal government to pursue easy credit policies for the past 50 years, has been an effective tool in crime fighting? I’d love to be able to parse this out empirically – but remember one reason why we have organized and other [...]
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on May 17th, 2010
I’ve lived in a dense inner city, I’ve lived in the edge of a city, I’ve lived in suburbia and I’ve lived out in the middle of nowhere. With the possible exception of my childhood in Queens, I don’t really believe we (me) had any meaningful relationships with more than one or two of our [...]
Posted in Corporatism on May 15th, 2010
From a friend of a friend: inside the health care 2000 page bill is the 1099-misc provision (every business must send a 1099 for all purchases, no exceptions, to every other business) will be a great fee generator. Imagine that – you must file a 1099 for every single purchase you make. That is surely [...]
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 14th, 2010
More than once have I edited a paper that includes these two points: China has been developing at a pace unprecedented in human history, and has thrown environmental caution to the wind. As such, their air is unacceptably dirty, their water is unacceptably dead and poisoned, their likelihood of contracting certain kinds of cancers are [...]
Posted in Environment, Property Rights on May 13th, 2010
The use of torts is an imperfect, albeit valuable tool for environmental protection (I’ll put up lecture notes in the coming months). Think about the implications for the environment of a world where there are limits to private property, or where private property is eliminated. How would aggrieved parties deal with pollution? If you do [...]
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