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 Institutions on Sep 23rd, 2010
There is a reason they say that, “the devil is in the details.” A much neglected work of Hayek is his 1939 manuscript, “Freedom and the Economic System.” In it he points out something that would probably open up a lot of my students eyes, especially those who ask things like, “if X is so [...]
Posted in Development on Sep 22nd, 2010
From Bret Stephens at the WSJ: but my own impression of Ahmadinejad was that he was easily the smartest guy in the room. He mocked us in a way we scarcely had the wit to recognize. We belittle him at our peril.
Posted in Entrepreneurs on Sep 22nd, 2010
Western, NY has some of the finest farmland in the United States. One reason our family was attracted to the area was the abundance of scenic and productive and tasty and fun farms! However, as nice as the place is physically, the Wesley Mouches of the world are doing their best to see more houses [...]
Posted in Resources on Sep 22nd, 2010
When I graduated from grad school in 2004 and started teaching, I would start classes by showing students just how much oil was “left” for the world to use up. When I started, there were thought to be 1.265 trillion barrels of oil left. At the world annual rate of consumption at that time (30.08 [...]
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Sep 21st, 2010
One of the propositions which comes through strongly after reading Ayn Rand’s novels is that one of the most important values of man is his achievement. Implicit (actually, very explicit in the famous speeches throughout her works) in this is that this achievement is a function of man’s unique ability to reason, and that his [...]
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 20th, 2010
And in this week’s scare, genetically modified fish (as if animal breeding isn’t genetically modifying things … have you ever seen a “normal” chicken with a 9 pound breast!) “Critics call the modified salmon a “frankenfish” that could cause allergies in humans and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population. Representatives from consumer, environmental [...]
Posted in Property Rights, Socialism, Taxation on Sep 20th, 2010
Tyler Cowen weighs in on a debate “raging” regarding the complaints of a rich guy about his impending (increasing) tax bill: Oddly — or perhaps not – it’s the people who feel they deserve their money who are the most likely to give it away. I’m not going to weigh in. Rather, I’ll ask, is it OK [...]
Posted in Market Failures, Regulation on Sep 20th, 2010
There is a well worn belief that not all forms of price reductions by firms are socially beneficial. Such price cutting is typically referred to as “predatory pricing.” In other words, while you and I and most rational people understand that when firms lower prices, this is a reflection of improved efficiency on their part, [...]
Posted in Education, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 19th, 2010
Here are the current education czars on government involvement in higher education: Last month, the Department of Education proposed new “gainful employment” rules that would cut off federal student aid to for-profit institutions, such as DeVry and the University of Phoenix, if a certain percentage of their students default on loans or don’t earn enough [...]
Posted in Macroeconomics, Methodology on Sep 19th, 2010
Krugman and the Keynesians argue that this recession is all about plain-vanilla aggregate demand problems. Those who might be put on the right reject that out of hand, and say it is just due to business uncertainty in the presence of political overreach. Here is a link to see where this is all coming from. [...]
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