The one question you must never ask an economist
Economists are everywhere. Steve Levitt, Tim Harford and Steven Landsburg use newspaper columns and best-selling books to show how economics can account for why drug dealers live with their mums, why you can’t find space to park, why school teachers cheat, why people share umbrellas and why sexually transmitted diseases are so rife. Simple economics, it seems, can explain everything.
Gas coupon from 1979
Wow, this is a surprise to me: a gas coupon printed by the government in 1979, but never finally issued.
From Spencer’s 1884 to Orwell’s 1984
Spencer was warning of the coming slavery in 1884, and George Orwell, in our time, has predicted that the full consummation of this slavery will be reached in 1984, exactly one century later.
The Dilemma of State Economic Development
I live in Alabama, and my state’s economic development agency is perhaps among the most active in the country. It is now certainly among the best funded, as voters here recently approved a referendum increasing a cap on the oil and gas royalties that fund its activities to $750 million. It will use this money (ostensibly) to generate jobs, retain existing jobs, attract capital investment, nurture nascent industries, and rescue stagnant ones.
Since state governments waste millions of dollars a year with conscripted capital, it is hard to oppose this spending. After all, this is spending not for special interests, but for everyone. Right?
Jonesin’ for a Soda
On the free market, consumers drive production, whereas under a system of protectionist corporatism, politicians and bureaucrats guide the market. With free competition, companies best able to satisfy consumer demand are the ones that expand production and stay in business; the consumer is king.
Does IQ Determine the Wealth of Nations?
[IQ and the Wealth of Nations, by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. Praeger, 2002, 298 pages.]
IQ and the Wealth of Nations attempts to make a serious, scholarly case for the thesis that the great variation presently observed in the per capita wealth of the nations of the world can be explained largely as the effect of the differences in inherited mental capacity existing between prosperous and impoverished countries.
Alabama Is At It Again
There’s a Noel Coward dance hall song called: “Alice is at it Again”. “Up the alley and down the lane, Alice is at it again.” And it means just what you think it means. But here in Alabama when the state goes dizzy with power, we say: “Alabama is at it again.”
The Fed Bought What?
The US Federal Reserve injected $38 billion dollars into the economy via temporary open market operations this Friday. This is the largest number of temporary repurchase agreements (specifically, one business day repos) entered into by the Fed since September 11, 2001. Back in 2001, Fed purchases of treasuries exceeded $30 billion for the four consecutive days after the collapse of the World Trade Towers, total temporary injections into the banking system amounting to a whopping $295 billion.
Fascinating theory. Is it plausible?
I was speaking to a banker this past weekend who put the blame on the subprime problem squarely on the campaign against “red lining“ and the Community Reinvestment Act enforcement, which forced banks to give super risky loans to people without savings or credit history — i.e. the poor.
