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Category Archive for 'Economic Illiteracy'

“This is, of course, a very unrealistic assumption … these operations are often extremely costly … to prevent many transactions.” That was him referring to the oft-straw man argument by opponents of Coasean insights about “transactions costs being zero.” Coase obviously knew that. And he obviously was making a different point. The Coase Theorem as […]

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Just a few scattered thoughts: Universities are corporations It is probably closer to the truth to appreciate that non-profits exist to serve the interests of their donors and workers more than they do their stated “charitable” objective Almost every entity that engages in some kind of production and planning, from the most wild free-market agencies […]

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… for the “rules of economics” not to apply! How often have you heard things like, “during an emergency, the rules of economics don’t apply!”? Or, health care and the environment are too important for the rules of economics to apply. Economics just doesn’t belong here. If only! To suggest that the rules of economics […]

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When you sit through a Physics 101 course, you are taught fundamental laws of motion, particularly Newtownian mechanics. You are then assigned problems that may go something like: you jump naked off of the Freedom Tower, and there is no wind velocity in any direction. How long until impact? And then you go ahead and […]

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Conscientiousness

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The annual student program at PERC is just fabulous. It really is aimed at students who have not have had much exposure to thinking about the environment through an economic lens, especially with an eye toward the role property rights play in environmental quality. It is a really fun, interactive program with students from a […]

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Hobgoblins

I have written this a zillion times before … but I have been in and around economics since 1993, and never in my entire career have I had a teacher or article or book teach me about “trickle down” economics. This is a perjorative term conjured from the ether by anti-market proponents, and the strawiest […]

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As you ponder the inane debates about tax “reform” (i.e. deck chairs and symbolism), suppose you take the work of Martin Feldstein seriously. He has previously estimated that the dead weight loss in an economy due to taxation would be up to 30% of the size of the tax take. Now, I suspect the direct […]

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A quote: When it comes to the environment, we are asking how we can maintain a healthy environment with our continuing human activity? Emissions projections U.S. Energy Information Administration predict that we will likely continue to pollute at an exponentially increasing rate as the years go on.  But hey, it’s an actual link to the US government, so it […]

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And soon we’ll be drafting a statement opposing minimum wage hikes, honerous employment legislation, the Estate Tax, and higher income taxes on exactly the same grounds:  http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/proposed-tax-bills-increase-cost-college-taxes-private-universities/ … #Meliocre

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