The Unbroken Window

Number of farmers in America (1900): 11.1 million

Employees in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1900): 2,900

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Think of the knowledge required to create something like this. Does any one human, or government or religious organization have even the remotest capability of assembling it? And to imagine the potential applications from something like this, and all relying on the personal (selfish) input of millions and millions of internet users. And economic processes are far more complicated than tagging photos.

In a CNN Money article:

People’s views have a greater effect on the economy these days since consumers are more likely to act on their feelings, experts said. So if they are worried about their financial well-being, they’ll be more likely to pull back on their spending. This, in turn, hurts the economy.

“If there is a bit of a dark cloud, the impact on the real economy is bigger than it was in 2001,” said Michael Rizzo, economics professor at the University of Rochester. “Whether justified or not, expectations matter. It puts a brake on the economy.” 

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Tags: expectations, saving, spending

As the economy seems to be sliding into recession, and pundits claim the walls of the world are crumbling all around us, my experience of the past three days helped me put things into perspective. (particularly in regard to how things compare even to 7 years ago during the last recession)

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Tags: prosperity

I will not pack my knives and go. Thanks Tyler for making me feel better about indulging in one of my guilty pleasures!

Today I purchased a parking pass at my new employer - and I had lots of choices. Being the “economizer” that I can sometimes be, I decided to get a pass for Zone 3 parking.

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Tags: time, value of life

Three economic questions frame nearly every debate on the immigration issue.  First, can America absorb the latest wave of immigrants?  Second, what is the impact of immigrants on the labor market prospects for low- and high-skilled natives?  Third, do immigrants represent a strain on public services?  In answering these questions it is important to appreciate that non-economic considerations are not abstract from an understanding of whether the nation would be better off economically without immigrant workers - legal or otherwise. 

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My wife and I are big fans of Cornell Hockey.

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The fully-loaded gross aggregate cost to all of the students that I will be teaching this academic year is around $25 million.

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Tags: entrepreneurship, kirzner, local knowledge

In a continuation of the previous post, here are the remaining 27 topics:

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