Regulation Kills

Zheng Xiaoyu, China’s former FDA chief, was executed recently for taking bribes and allowing lethally tainted pharmaceuticals to be sold to his countrymen. Thus far, ten fatalities have been identified in the imbroglio. Zheng makes it eleven.

Inventor versus innovator

If you missed it, the creator of Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg), a popular social networking website, was sued three years ago by a company he had previously worked at.

The lawsuit lists a number of allegations, including the fact that Zuckerberg “took the original idea” and appropriated it for his own gain.

Counter-revolution!

When we discovered a solid stash of this book, the excitement in our offices was palpable. Hayek wrote it in 1952, several history before Mises wrote his final methodological treatise. It was unavailable for many years, and remains long sought after — rightly so.

In fact, Mises adored this book as a wonderful examination of the dramatic change in the way we think of sciences. In particular, the change that occurred in the last 100 years had a huge impact on economics.

From Bust to Boom

Seventy-odd years ago, Patrick Barrington penned a humorous debunking of Keynesian mythology (presumably while the General Theory was still being given its final polish).

Today, at the tail end of one of the most spectacular and widespread credit expansions ever experienced, attitudes are a little different, though human fallibilities remain the same. From the Depression:

‘And what do you mean to be?’

The kind old Bishop said

As he took the boy on his ample knee

And patted his curly head.

The Champion Inflator - Higher Education

I read where tuition and fees at private colleges are up 5.9% this year. well, first of all you know that number is no more reliable than the polls of KIm Jong-II’s popularity taken on North Korean streets — with the secret police standing by: about as meaningful as sticker prices on a lot full of Kias. I mean 75% of students get some kind of financial help. Gee, I wish I was an economist. Maybe then I could understand why amidst all the services and commodities that bless our world — college costs win the silver trophy every year. Up, up, up, and up they go.