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 Methodology, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jan 30th, 2012
I am sure those of you who defend markets based on the logic of supply and demand or on the logic of trade and comparative advantage have encountered this reaction. I get this regularly of course, even after I move from the models to dramatic illustrations of how they have worked in practice and even [...]
Posted in Behavior, Methodology on Jan 25th, 2012
In a working paper two students and I write: Stevans argues that, “most academic economists are concerned with studying such obscure topics as backward induction among chess players and the existence of monotone pure-strategy equilibrium in Bayesian games.” Does “most” mean more than half? Eighty-percent? Is there a right amount? He is onto something, of [...]
Posted in Environment, Methodology, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jan 18th, 2012
Tensions between the US and Iran are increasing. I see the threat of a nuclear Iran as a serious one, far more serious than the Iraq threat may have been. Reflect for a moment on the plea by folks to use the Precautionary Principle when it comes to environmental matters. Why, too, is this Principle [...]
Posted in Methodology on Dec 13th, 2011
It is not hard to find examples of markets not being able to deliver a solution to a particular social problem. Note that I did not say a market failed – because the concept doesn’t exist. As I’ve said time and again, humans interact with other humans to find out ways to make their lives [...]
Posted in Central Planning, Methodology, Voluntary Society on Dec 2nd, 2011
My readers have been e-mailing me asking for a response to your wonderful OpEd in a recent Wall Street Journal. Here is Mr. Stern’s major claim: “China has been growing like gangbusters, and they have central planning, so we ought to do more central planning here in the USA.” Mr. Stern needs a statistics refresher. [...]
Posted in Methodology on Nov 23rd, 2011
Another doozy of a suppressed e-mail from the climategate shenanigans … Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 21:47:57 +1100 From: “John L. Daly” To: Chick Keller CC: “P. Dietze”, mmaccrac, Michael E Mann, rbradley, wallace, Thomas Crowley, Phil Jones, McKitrick, Nigel Calder, John Christy, Jim Goodridge, Fred Singer, k.briffa Subject: Re: Hockey Sticks again Dear Chick [...]
Posted in Macroeconomics, Methodology on Nov 19th, 2011
If my wife and I gave birth to a third child, the average GDP per person in our household would fall by 20%. If, instead, on that same day, someone bestowed upon us a gift of a cow, the average GDP of our home would increase.
Posted in Environment, Methodology, Politics on Nov 16th, 2011
Sometimes it is extremely rewarding to get into the details and nitty gritty of an issue and other times it is pure torture and wheel spinning. For an example of the former, one can do no better then AW Montford’s incredible reconstruction (pardon the pun for those of you in the know) of the events [...]
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam, Methodology, Politics on Nov 8th, 2011
Some of you may be familiar with the work of the Economic Policy Institute -the organization that “Works for People Who Work for a Living.” You can imagine what that euphemism means. It means higher minimum wages, free health care for everybody, lots and lots of union jobs, and so forth. But don’t I work [...]
Posted in Methodology on Oct 29th, 2011
I was at a talk the other day on sustainability. During that talk the speaker used the term (B)leading edge of technology. It’s clever. I had not come across it before. Stay tuned for a post next week to illustrate why I think that term is coming into popular use. The context in which it [...]
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