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 Central Planning, Environment, Politics on May 13th, 2013
I was reading a short piece this morning wherein the author was making an observation that it is really hard to get a government official to tell him what their estimates for the whooping crane population. There are less than 300 of them in California as I understand it. The government used to do an [...]
Half of the $60 million that Governor Cuomo has pledged to support tourism to New York is coming from the Federal government’s Hurricane Sandy relief fund. These funds, not ironically, were never earmarked for relief, but actually just for this purpose. Another pet peeve – in a YNN interview with a director of the State’s [...]
Posted in Methodology, Politics on May 8th, 2013
Several of my more classically liberal oriented friends work for government universities. And you can imagine what the response of their critics might be when they learn of this fact. “What a hypocrite!” is the closest response, meaning that someone who promotes the principle of limited government, the importance of private property rights and contract [...]
Posted in Health Care, Politics, Taxation, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 12th, 2013
The town and county portion of my property tax receipt came in the mail today. (This comprises about 1/3 of my total property tax bill – the government schools take the other 2/3). I found their new itemization of uses of tax funds to be interesting. Years ago I noticed that in my TOWN offices, [...]
Posted in Methodology, Politics on Apr 8th, 2013
What is the methodology used by folks who argue at the same time that: (1) We should NOT push hard for laws that require voters to present valid identification (the proposed laws are more nuanced than that). (2) WE SHOULD push hard for laws that require valid identification (and background checks) for people who wish [...]
Posted in Economics Problems, incentives, Methodology, Politics on Mar 22nd, 2013
What can the economics of altruism inform us about why we might hold particular political beliefs? Lots, I think. Let’s assume for simplicity that altruism is an act or emotion that provides no benefit to oneself and which redounds exclusively to someone else. Some may go so far as to suggest that true altruism must [...]
Posted in Politics, Special Privilege, Taxation, Unintended Consequences on Mar 15th, 2013
Assume our preference for redistribution is fixed and that there is an inherent and unchanging desire in the population to equalize incomes, for whatever reason you wish to believe we have that feeling. I for one do not share this belief, nor am I rich. In any case, I believe that one reason folks like [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Personal Finance, Politics on Feb 28th, 2013
Lost in the stupid, yes stupid, handwringing about the sequester is a simple bit of personal perspective. No, this is not an analytic point, but it should nonetheless appeal to the folks who are fueled by narrative and emotion. Think of the following. Can you even tell me how much you spent, yourself or your [...]
Posted in Politics, Standards of Living on Feb 28th, 2013
This is a true story. My income today is 9% lower (in pure nominal terms) than it was a full seven years ago in 2006. Furthermore, if you would compute my expected lifetime income path like our dear “leaders” in DC do, and you would have suggested that my income each year since 2006 “should” [...]
I spilled my water when I read this. Student GOP Group Lures Big Name to Campus — A smartly dressed and enthusiastic crowd of Amherst students turned out to hear former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) speak at Johnson Chapel on Feb. 12. Brown’s talk was sponsored by the Amherst College Republicans, in an event marking the group’s [...]
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