The Unbroken Window

The following is a guest post by my friend Michael Stahlman. Profit (and loss) is an amoral market signal that guide economic transactions.  It works automatically within the price system to direct goods and services to the persons most willing to pay for them, and this usually reflects society’s collective demand for scarce goods and [...]

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My introductory students write papers for me on various ethically difficult topics such as “should a mother be permitted to sell her child,” “should it be legal to sell a kidney,” and so on. One of the topics happens to be, “Is it OK to have a market for sex?” The prompts are far more [...]

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One of the important debates in macroeconomics is whether micro-foundations matter. For example, people like me argue that it makes no sense to talk of “GDP” as a single good with all units alike, and it certainly makes less sense to talk of “their” price. I know why we “have” to have these discussions, but [...]

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The “tragedy” part of the tragedy of the commons problem in economics is that people knowingly trash the commons. As a brief review, when it is difficult to exclude “non-payers” from using a resource, then that resource is likely to be over-exploited (not always). Think of why, for example, when you are hiking, the raspberry [...]

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Another honest mistake I am sure. Some background from the original “hide the decline” from Steve McIntyre here Despite relatively little centennial variability, Briffa’s reconstruction had a noticeable decline in the late 20th century, despite warmer temperatures. In these early articles [e.g. Briffa 1998], the decline was not hidden. For most analysts, the seemingly unavoidable question [...]

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(1) You know how “hair of the dog” strategies help with a hangover? How come the same isn’t true of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie! (2) I am seriously disturbed by Black Friday, and yes I am one of the world’s most ardent proponents of free-market capitalism. Have a nice day.

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After reading this, I just saw this in the news. I’m sure it is all just made up, falsification by the oil companies. Actually, now that I think about it, would that be comforting to find out? Here are some treats: the important thing is to make sure they’re loosing the PR battle. That’s what [...]

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Each year my wife and I destroy an acre of open space. Do we go to some untrammeled piece of land and dump chemicals on it, or pour cement on it or otherwise desecrate it? Of course not. But what we actually do is not much different. We have season tickets to the Rochester Americans [...]

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I am perhaps among the economists who wields a heavy bludgeon of, “as compared to what” any time I see a proposal that “we” ought to do something, or some paper analyzing the desirability of some program. You might criticize me for that, but I am happy to take the criticism as compared to being [...]

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From the same book I referenced earlier: We realize that to continue our use of fossil fuels is morally wrong. Like the economies (and consumers) dependent on slave labor, we can no longer rely on the cheap but perilous use of petroleum, natural gas and coal. New energies must be discovered, and the use of [...]

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