Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Adaptation, Environment, Innovation on Dec 12th, 2020
The “experts” tell us we have only a few decades. Many of the climate models, for what it’s worth (such as RCP8.5) do not assume much adaptation. Here is a glimpse of the challenge: Seoul, South Korea 1960 vs. Seoul, South Korea today:
Posted in Disingenuous, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Knowledge, Special Privilege on Nov 7th, 2017
So, it turns out that this is what is being taught to students about markets outside of our economics classes: I suppose then that when I discuss “single-payer” health care (I don’t actually talk about it, but if I did …), I should hand this printout to students with the title, “Crazy Ideas” … the […]
Posted in Innovation, Knowledge on Aug 27th, 2017
So, the only shilling I do at the moment is for my current employer, I’ve turned down a few smaller chances to shill recently in part because I just don’t want to do it, but also in part because I am not in the mood to fight the “I really am not a shill fight” […]
Posted in Dynamism - Not, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Special Privilege, Tribalism on Mar 12th, 2017
THE highlight, among many: when Bill Gates talks about taxing robots, does he mean taxing the Microsoft software that is doing things that a lot of people used to do?
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Disingenuous, Education, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Special Privilege, Tribalism on Mar 5th, 2017
Well, I can’t talk about it. But let me suggest one or two things to keep in mind. I feel like some part of the campus conservative movement is, itself, to blame for this. I know, I sound like blaming the victim, but my sense is that they are inviting controversial speakers to campus not […]
Posted in Environment, Innovation on Feb 17th, 2017
NYS Parent Teachers association joins the ranks of the climate deniers. At the end of 2016, the NYS-PTA passed a resolution that aims to remove genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) foods from school cafeterias throughout the state. Resolutions adopted in November will: • Support mandatory labeling of GMO and GE foods. • Support regulations […]
Posted in Disingenuous, Environment, ethical foundations, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation on Oct 6th, 2016
There’s always something fun brewing down at ye ol’ alma mater: Dear Dean Boor and Trustees of the University: As New York State organic farmers, we object to the presence of the “Alliance for Science” on the Cornell campus (http://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/). This advocacy group for the highly controversial agricultural genetic engineering industry, funded almost entirely by […]
Posted in Central Planning, Development, Entrepreneurs, Extended Order, growth, Innovation, Macroeconomics, Market Failures on May 27th, 2016
In revisiting my class discussions on the economics of public goods, I came across a paper from the OECD that incredibly I had never been aware of. One of the major results in the paper is shocking. Now the sample size, as with all cross-country analyses, is small, and there are the usual caveats about […]
Posted in Extended Order, Innovation on May 10th, 2016
Russ R. has an interesting podcast this week with Pedro Domingos on Machine Learning. Part of their discussion surrounds how knowledge intensive companies develop algorithms that either send you advertisements or help you choose things to purchase. The most common examples are the Ads that run in Google that are instantly customized to the end […]
Posted in Central Planning, Education, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Special Privilege on Feb 9th, 2016
I think I have stumbled upon a way to teach comparative advantage to those otherwise predisposed not to understand it, or to simply reject it because their tribal affiliations suggest they are supposed to. The beautiful insights from the basic Ricardian setup lead one to conclude that while Wintercow is surely the least intelligent economist […]