The Unbroken Window

A site I enjoy reading is John Hanger’s. Like many others, Mr. Hanger claims to be non-ideological, but no one really can adhere to that standard. I can’t. But I don’t pretend to and I do try my best to be honest about when I AM being that way and when I am trying NOT [...]

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If we are to be generous to the ideas of those who are concerned about obesity in America, you would argue that there are two reasons for the worry. First, people might reasonably be concerned about the impacts of your obesity on them. In other words, there are external costs of obesity that the obese themselves are not taking [...]

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This interesting piece describes how progressives and conservatives seem to be aligning against the Common Core state standards. Without commenting on the Common Core itself this little marriage helps me really understand the challenge I have as an economist and someone who appreciates voluntary association and private property rights. People have no clue what “capitalism” [...]

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We hate hospitals and medical care because “they” charge prices that are too high, especially for “important stuff.” We hate Walmart because “they” charge too little. And no, people do not have theories of positive and negative external costs to justify holding both positions.  In other news, I just received a notice from New York [...]

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6 ways to make a difference with your dollar.  Once again, well sourced, thoroughly researched, and thoughtful commentary on the environment and the economy. Here are the helpful suggestions: 1. Purchase used as opposed to new items, or items made from recycled materials. Used items, available at antique or thrift stores as well as private sales, are [...]

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The “plan-o-cracy” is at it again. After citing research that suggested that mandatory calorie labeling of food in New York City has no measurable impact on the consumption choices of New Yorkers, the planning navel gazers just HAVE to figure out a way to make us eat less of the stuff that they do not [...]

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It’s just so awesome to know that gasoline refineries and major oil companies are letting go of some of their greed.     Since gas prices are down about 4% over the past month and almost 6% since the start of the academic year, they must be 4-6% less greedy today than they were in [...]

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We get another treat from the Green Dandelyin’ this week: Buying local foods also helps to reduce your environmental impact Long time readers know this is far from true. We’d ask the student to prove it. But you know the answer we’d get. If you are a U of R student, you just get to [...]

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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 [...]

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Read about it here. Just a little more research is all they want, that’s all. Sure. Can we get a 2 year moratorium on ______ (insert comment here)? UPDATE: It just came to my attention that paleoclimatologists have just published the “killer” temperature reconstruction that tells us that today’s temperature are as hot as they [...]

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