Rome and America, through Schumpeter’s Eyes
From Imperialism and Social Classes by Joseph Schumpeter, translated by Heinz Norden (Meridian Books, 1955) pp. 50-52
THE BIG BUSINESS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Since economics and college athletics go together these days like post-dated stock options and 3-6 months in a minimum security prison, you ought to know about Mal Moore. Probably a fine man but tragically misplaced, economically speaking — as Athletic Director of the University of Alabama.
The problem with “government”: The rejection of federalism by libertarian centralists
As I’ve noted before, many libertarians display disregard for or ignorance of the federalist aspect of our Constitution, often manifested as references to federal constitutional limits on “government,” where “government” is used to mean state and federal government. Including both state and fed governments in the term “government” is a subtle way to put forward the centralist idea that the Fourteenth Amendment gives all kinds of power to the feds to police state actions.
AMT repeal?
Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), incoming and outgoing Chairs of the Senate Finance Committee, yesterday introduced The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax Repeal Act of 2007:
Has Card Been Misinterpreted?
Here’s an interesting excerpt from an interview with David Card by the Minneapolis Fed’s Region (December 2006).
Is Card making the Austrian point that the perfectly competitive model (a.k.a. the simple supply and demand model) does not explain what actually goes on in labor markets? Has the infamous Card and Krueger really been misinterpreted?
Suffering at the Hands of the EU Antitrust Police
Antitrust policies of the EU represent a deplorable distortion of the workings of free competition, writes Massimiliano Neri. In two milestone cases, European antitrust authorities have ruled not by following the rule of consumer welfare, but by applying those arbitrary measures in order to be able to control by decree the process of market integration. And when the free market has presented a product or a business practice that violated this decree, even if it was beneficial for the consumer, the European antitrust authorities declared it illegal.
Our Techno-Utopian Future: Fallacies and Predictions
What’s the ultimate destiny of our civilization? David Veksler asks: Are we destined to become “living batteries” a la Matrix, refugees in a post-apocalyptic radioactive desert landscape, or peons of a totalitarian surveillance state? Or, can we look forward to a luxurious but boring utopia, with robot servants and automated factories to meet our every whim, but nothing to do? No, but voluntary human interaction has created an industrial civilization capable of generating unprecedented wealth, even if there will be no flying cars.
The Minimum Wage and the “Blood Tax”
Just before Christmas I received the following from Joe Fullmer, and submit it to readers for their consideration:
“I am a lay economist — I have no formal training, but I read much, and annoy my friends and associates. So, my comments aren’t those of a trained professional economist.
“To lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go”
Jeff Bezos, founder of amazon.com, is releasing images and videos of his new private spacecraft. His “Goddard” vehicle recently made a short test flight and is the first step towards achieving commercial exploration of space.
Says Bezos: “We’re working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go; and so that we humans can better continue exploring the Solar System.”
3D Printers and IP: A Modern Fable
Coming across a mention of 3D printers in the latest Charles Stross novel, the following way of framing some of the controversy surrounding intellectual property occurred to me.
