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 Behavior, Government Gone Wild, Paternalism, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 26th, 2013
I think they are saying that we should ban abortion, and we should end the Endangered Species Act, CAFE standards and recycling. Here is three cheers for the nanny state: “What this ignores is that successful paternalistic laws are done on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis: if it’s too painful, it’s not a good [...]
Posted in Behavior, Economic Illiteracy, Paternalism, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 14th, 2013
Apparently we need to ban or limit Coca-Cola and Pringles and Oreos and all those things that are terrible for us not just because we don’t know what’s good for us, but because Coke and Nabisco and Food, Inc. advertise. Never mind the fact that the very essence of politics and governing is advertising, we [...]
Posted in Behavior, Classical Liberalism on Mar 8th, 2013
Stupid is as stupid does? Or what about what we say? In the most recent survey reported by the AP, it turns out that people really favor increasing spending on all kinds of things by the government. Of course, no one bothers to ask whose money is being spent and they certainly aren’t being asked, “given your [...]
Posted in Behavior, Extended Order, Institutions on Mar 5th, 2013
Did you ever spend gargantuan amounts of time obsessing about a particular decision or purchase? Which graduate school should you attend? What kind of car should you buy? Or spending weeks and weeks and weeks waiting for the perfect deal, or for a good-used version of some product that you want to come up for [...]
Posted in Behavior, Paternalism on Feb 21st, 2013
We’re doomed? The joke that is the Behavioral Movement? A reason to purchase a firearm? (click the image for a link, and check out the next project we are going to be treated to: a defense of your ability to stop me from having more children) Nonetheless, I enjoy living in a world where all [...]
Posted in Behavior, Classical Liberalism, Voluntary Society, Welfare State on Feb 20th, 2013
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Thus says the great physicist Richard Feynman. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around both the rhetoric and sentiments of the “Progressives” that live around us. And I do think I am onto something. I’ve talked [...]
Posted in Behavior, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jan 22nd, 2013
The pop wisdom on what economists (real economists) mean by “rational actors” or “rational decision makers” is ostentatiously misleading. That view basically suggests that rationality = “correct choice” or perhaps something like “omniscient beings.” This is of course silly not least of all that Hayek won a Nobel Prize in part for demonstrating how important [...]
Posted in Behavior on Jan 14th, 2013
It appears that it would make me as happy as a 50% income increase: Comparing the Happiness Effects of Real and On-line Friends by John F. Helliwell, Haifang Huang - #18690 (LS PE) Abstract: A recent large Canadian survey permits us to compare real-time and on-line social networks as sources of subjective well-being. The sample of 5,000 [...]
Posted in Behavior, Courses & Student Resources on Dec 30th, 2012
HT to Randy Parker of ECU.
Posted in Behavior, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Price System, Regulation, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Dec 7th, 2012
There are generally three types of discrimination (actually four) that may result in some economic actors being left shorthanded (we can define that in future post, but for now just conjure up the mental image of a worker being paid less than he/she “should”). These are: Employer discrimination: the owners of a firm treat individuals [...]
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