Search results matching tag 'economics'

How B.S. and Sophistry Rule

donaldmrembertsr — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:31:07 GMT

It is truly amazing how our congress has been able to deflect the financial turmoil onto our banking and financial systems, when they are directly responsible for creating the turmoil.

Their GSE's Freddie and Fannie; their created moral hazards of implied guarantees; their mindless regulatory schemes and their coersive mandates and dictates have so far escaped public scrutiny. Eventually one would hope that the bright light of truth will surface.

Given that congress has breached the moral trust conveyed to it by our citizens through our constitution, it may happen sooner than later.

The recently passed House Medical plan (with its 1900 unread pages) indicates to me that Congress is totally out of touch with American public opinion.

As we enter the next round of legislative antics, I can't wait to witness the public's push back.

As Von Mises observed, truth is truth even if no one is left to listen.

Catholic Economics

narrowway — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:16:48 GMT

The Remnant recently posted an article titled Economics for Catholics. In the article, the author, Brian McCall, attempts to describe the difference between Liberal Economics (as held by Thomas Woods) and Catholic Economics. In one section McCall takes on Woods' understanding of supply and demand. Truly laughable stuff:

“Take one of Wood’s favorite examples of an “economic law” akin in his mind to gravity: supply/demand price relationships. When supply goes down or demand goes up, prices go up. He asserts that empirically this can be observed and therefore the movement of prices up as supply declines or demand increases is morally neutral; it just happens by force of an economic “law of nature.” This assertion is false. Prices are not autonomous forces independent of human choice. Prices go up because people choose to increase them.

“Now, it may be true that since the dawning of the Liberal Age people raise prices in these contexts because they believe, erroneously, that they have no choice: “Since prices always rise with supply decreases, I have to raise my prices.” In a Catholic Age, however, when people were not drunk with the propaganda of Economic Liberalism, this was not the normal reaction. The causes, nature and duration of the supply shortage, or demand increase, had to be considered before a guild, or a public authority, or a father confessor would permit a merchant to increase prices. Thus, prices could be altered, but only if there existed a morally licit reason to do so, such as a sustained increase in the cost of transportation of the goods.”

Colleges with a good economics department

tholton11 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:45:52 GMT

So I'm in highschool now, and I am considering the possibility of pursuing a major in economics. Which colleges/universities can I go to, to receive a good economics education of the Austrian School of economics? (it wouldn't do much good to be indoctrinated by Keynesian blockheads...)

Everywhere In Chains

Tiberius — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:32:14 GMT

I'm new to this forum, but I don't plan on staying for very long. I've just come to introduce my blogel (blogged novel, if you didn't know). I'm calling it "Everywhere in Chains", after the infamous Rousseau quote, "Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains." (After becoming a laissez-fairist, it struck me that Rousseau did not try to eliminate the chains, he did not even merely try to explain them; he tried to legitimatize them.)
The novel is the story of a young man who is a bit of a celebrity at his school for his defiance of the state, and managing to avoid any serious punishment. Following the death of a certain member of the Government, he and his friends commit a serious defiance of the Censorship Laws. When the government puts out an arrest warrant for him, the young man finds himself in the middle of a rebellion in his city.
I can promise you, it'll be filled with praises for Capitalism, denunciations of Socialism, and blind faith in government portrayed as a destroyer of civilization.
So if you want to check it out, please do so. The first chapter comes out September first. Here's the address: http://everywhereinchains.wordpress.com/

Critique of Peer To Peer Foundation socio-economic arguments needed

Gernot Hassenpflug — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:18:52 GMT

On the Debian User forums at

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44052

there is a thread on the interview with Michel Bauwens, founder of the Peer to Peer Foundation. He is one of those who believe in open spaces and creation without incentive. In this interview he talks about the Free Software and Wikipedia movements as pointers to a genuine change in the way we think, create and distribute goods. He believes that we have never before had such real-time possibilities for human cooperation and collective intelligence on a global scale. The link is here:

http://infochangeindia.org/200907137829/Technology/Features/Dreaming-of-a-peer-to-peer-world.html

In the Debian User forum thread, there are plenty of economically coherent arguments, but perhaps it would be even better if one of the von Mises staff would be able to present an analysis and critique that would be something those of us who both value open source software & free economic systems can grasp at when we try to make sense of the arguments around licensing and economic activity promoted by activists in the software community, much of which is not economically sound yet the authority of those people is hard to question given their influence. A more distanced argument from the von Mises Institute I think would be absolutely fantastic!

Best regards, Gernot Hassenpflug

Re: What is the effect of cash hoarding?

AstroAlice — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:13:46 GMT

A delay of consumption, IE a temporary increase in the standard of living of others due to an increase in the real purchasing power of money.

Decreased supply = higher marginal value for existing units.

Re: Do minimum wages raise employment?

AstroAlice — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:00:12 GMT

[quote user="process"]

This paper examines the impact of minimum wages on earnings and employment in selected branches of the retail-trade sector, 1990–2005, using county-level data on employment and a panel regression framework that allows for county-specific trends in sectoral outcomes. We focus on specific subsectors within retail trade that are identified as particularly low-wage. We find little evidence of disemployment effects once we allow for geographic-specific trends. Indeed, in many sectors the evidence points to modest (but robust) positive employment effects

[/quote]

Ceteris paribus, it is impossible for a raise in price to increase demand. One of the uses of economic reasoning is to enable us to perceive whether or not any of the given possible explanations for historical facts is plausible or possible. Employment can increase simultaneously with raises in minimum wage, but it is untenable to attribute this rise to an increase in minimum wage. Such an increase must lower the demand for wage-labor, to the extent it does anything whatsoever. Whether other effects increase demand is another question altogether.

Is it time for a "Liberty Manifesto"?

LibertyPatriot — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:32:35 GMT

Greetings -

First, thank you for these scholarly forums -- it is a time when clear thinking is again needed at the forefront of politics and economics.

WANTED POLITICAL/ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHERS: Is it time for a "Liberty Manifesto?" <-- click to download PDF. We will publish the finished Manifesto in book form in time for the 2010 elections. Essays needed too.

Debate the Manifesto here, or go help shape it at link in document.

In Liberty -
Scott

Someone should question Bernanke on this

libertyman — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:38:21 GMT

Over the last week, I have been somewhat pleased at the grilling of Bernanke by certain members of Congress. I know Ron Paul has questioned Bernanke over and over about the definition of Inflation and the role the Fed plays, but has anyone brought this to Bernanke's attention http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/voorhees1.1.1.html ?

Btw, I strongly encourage you guys to forward the link to anyone you know, so we can destroy the notion that most people have that a central bank can somehow fight inflation.

I am really curious to hear his response, and how, in light of these facts, he would try to defend the idea that the fed promotes stable prices (the idea that inflation of around 2% can be considered 'stable' is ludicrous to me).

Thoughts??

A Few Beginning Thoughts on Egoism, Economics, and Charity

krazy kaju — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:45:44 GMT

Every once in a while I begin looking into and thinking about a certain problem facing society and how/if capitalism can solve that problem. Reading Doug Casey's article Charity? Humbug! (the URL is http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2006_11/casey-charity.html) made me think about the subject of the extremely poor who have no possibility of helping themselves - e.g. the severely mentally and physically retarded and the very young (e.g. Casey's "trashcan baby"). This paragraph from Casey helped clarify some of my own thoughts:

The usual straw men beg to be set up: "What about the blind baby that's thrown into a trash can?" and such. My answer is that most people would want to see the baby rescued. And the richer the world is, the more likely it is that people will try to do so. In poor countries babies in trash cans are hardly noted; here they make headlines simply because they're so exceptional. Are we more moral than poor Third Worlders? No. We're just richer.

This led me to think about the subjective theory of value and marginal utility. To someone who is extremely rich like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, money does not have much value. The next billion earned is not much different from the last billion earned to the wealthiest. To them, giving a couple hundred thousand dollars to make sure someone will survive a few more years might well be worth the cost. In other words, the money given is worth so little to the extremely wealthy that they value the goodwill from the benefactor more than they value the money they have given to keep that person alive.

Thus, economic growth and wealth creation - which is capitalism's specialty - is the best way to make sure that those "trash can babies" and the severely mentally and physically handicapped can survive.