Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Institutions on Dec 10th, 2012
“The Year Was 2012, and Everyone Was Finally Equal” 11 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Casey Martin, a player of considerable talent who was suffering from a terrible degenerative leg disorder, against the PGA TOUR (these are other players by the way, not some evil corporation) in his request to […]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, History, Institutions, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 21st, 2012
(1) One of the most influential and long-lasting Supreme Court Decisions was the Wickard v. Filburn decision in 1942 which basically said that anything is interstate commerce. In this case, a farmer in Ohio decided to grow extra wheat for himself, wheat that was never going to leave his farm and be consumed entirely by his family/farm […]
Posted in Economics Problems, Employment, Institutions on Nov 14th, 2012
Ezra Klein’s blog is typically very good. But this piece is terrible, pardon my French. It basically shows that people who defaulted on their mortgages today are not quickly getting new mortgages and buying houses, and among the reasons are that they don’t have money for a down payment. The author claims this is not […]
Posted in Institutions, Property Rights, Voluntary Society on Nov 12th, 2012
It is probably a given that people are averse to the idea that bargaining power between two parties be very far from equal. Think about how people feel about big box employers in their relationships with their “lowly” employees. But would there be much, if any, widespread aversion if the bargaining power tables were turned? […]
Posted in Institutions, labor markets, Macroeconomics on Nov 9th, 2012
Economists have long puzzled about why even some currently unemployed workers could not simply reduce their wage requirements by a substantial amount and encourage firms to hire them. There is a nice literature on this which includes explanations such as unmeasured productivity, the signaling implied by such an offer, the matching difficulty between potential workers […]
Posted in Education, incentives, Institutions, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 7th, 2012
My dear alma mater is a shining 21st century example of the Smallpox Blanket. I’d argue that the dissemination of the smallpox is not directly intended, as history suggests was the intention of our dear Old Lord Jeffrey, but rather the 21st century blankets are the unintended consequences of the appeals to symbolism that rule […]
Posted in Institutions, media on Nov 3rd, 2012
Much hand wringing has been done in the past century about the “professionalization” of athletics on college campuses, how athletics is corrupting the academic mission of higher education and so forth. Indeed, many more programs compete in college athletics today than in the past and schools are still regularly making the jump to Division I […]
Posted in Central Planning, Institutions, Regulation, Transportation and Infrastructure, Uncategorized on Nov 2nd, 2012
Today continues the Reasonable People series seeking questions and answers on policy that’s desirable in a world not with zero government failure, but rather in a government functioning near the higher end of its realistic range of performance in a high-trust (and highly trustworthy) society. First question today: is there any federal highway spending that a reasonable […]
Posted in Environment, Institutions, Price System, Property Rights, Regulation, Uncategorized on Oct 31st, 2012
A logical first topic to connect the new Reasonable People series to my earlier posts on carbon taxes: what might a reasonable person advocate? At minimum the “no regrets” price for carbon is appropriate but probably the ideal is likely the median damage estimate among studies published in reputable journals. Deep uncertainty about the extent, effects, […]
Posted in Central Planning, Corporatism, Economic Illiteracy, Environment, ethical foundations, incentives, Institutions, Politics, Resources, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 24th, 2012
The USA Today reports on its findings regarding the “sustainability” of LEED buildings. A triumph indeed. The saddest part: More than 200 states, cities and federal agencies now require LEED certification for new public buildings, even though they have done little independent and meaningful research into LEED’s effectiveness. LEED can add millions to construction costs […]
