Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Behavior on Nov 8th, 2012
Consider the various “green triumph” projects that are the subject of much analysis here at the Unbroken Window. Suppose folks accede to the simple findings that these projects rarely, if ever, pay for themselves on direct environmental or economic grounds. But suppose you did a research paper that found that for certain institutions, investing in […]
Posted in Behavior, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 31st, 2012
Increase dependence? Promote “affuluenza?” I didn’t say that of course. When we have a short discussion in class on the difficulty of applying the ethics of a family to the typical (extended) market order, we end up discussing the social responsibility of business. When the question of whether it is “OK” for businesses (publicly traded […]
Posted in Behavior, Economics Problems on Oct 22nd, 2012
In my inbox this morning: 6. Is Psychological Well-being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables? by David G. Blanchflower, Andrew J. Oswald, Sarah Stewart-Brown – #18469 (HE LS) Abstract: Humans run on a fuel called food. Yet economists and other social scientists rarely study what people eat. We provide simple evidence consistent with the existence […]
Posted in Behavior, ethical foundations, Inequality, Institutions on Oct 17th, 2012
There are many reasons to be concerned about poverty, even here in rich America. While I am almost sure that living on low income itself is not ipso facto that hard to do, it does correlate well with other things that are hard to do. For example, I intentionally make myself poor when I go backpacking for […]
Posted in Behavior, Health Care on Oct 11th, 2012
Look, if you put a bumper sticker on your car, I understand that to mean that you want other people to read it. If you do this, I suspect that it is well within my bounds to comment on it. So I was following a car two days ago that had this bumper sticker on […]
Posted in Behavior, Uncategorized, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 28th, 2012
A few days ago Alex attempted to be a voice of reason in the “debate” about the symbolism and status-seeking involved in the purchase of many environmental goods. The case of the Prius was used as an illustration. Here is one point he made: Despite this, I must speak in defense of Prius buyers. Sure, […]
Posted in Behavior, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 4th, 2012
“Russian despotism not only pays little respect to ideas and sentiments, it will also deny facts; it will struggle against evidence, and triumph in the struggle! For evidence, when it is inconvenient to power, has no more voice among us than has justice.” -anonymous Russian It seems to me that growing up with 6 siblings […]
Posted in Behavior, Religion, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jul 25th, 2012
Our university is spending $17 million on new student dormitories that students will move into next month. We reported briefly on the dorms back at Christmas-time. I've spent some part of my summer learning about LEED building, the claims made by green building advocates and whether or not those claims ever materialize and in a […]
Posted in Behavior on Jul 6th, 2012
According to this piece, the best reason to buy a Toyota Prius is: the feeling of satisfaction you will have as a responsible planet-dweller I have not done the calculations yet, but my back of the envelope tells me that since the hybrids are making more efficient use of existing combustion engines without tapping into […]
Posted in Behavior, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jun 15th, 2012
There are two reasons why modern macro irks me. First is that we simply don’t understand it, yet we act as if we do. Second is that for modern macro policy to “work” it has to rely on tricking people. And pardon me, but if we have to rely on tricking people for something to […]