In an effort to spice up the otherwise dreadfully boring section in my micro class on different industry types (price takers vs. searchers, oligopoly, etc.), I always have an “experiment” to demonstrate the difficulties of cartel formation. These aren’t controlled experiments so I don’t bother keeping accurate figures, but I can share some highlights.First, let me explain the setup. I tell everyone to rip off a small piece of paper and put his/her name on the top. Then on the bottom they will write a C or a D.

Murray Rothbard often quipped that he was immune from Rothbard’s Law -- the tendency of scholars to specialize in what they’re worst at -- because he didn’t specialize in anything. Unfortunately, it’s more and more difficult for a generalist to survive in today’s academic climate, which encourages hyper-specialization by rewarding increasingly narrow, technical studies. Each sub-discipline and sub-sub-discipline has its own jargon, its own specialty journals, its own programs and workshops, and so on.

From a Fortune article on Cubicles: The great mistake:

Among current proponents of activist government, few have greater name recognition than Paul Krugman. While most economists focus on communicating their ideas to their students and peers, professor Krugman has targeted the educated public with his work. This work now includes an introduction to The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, by John Maynard Keynes. Brad Delong has posted an abridged version of this book on his website.

The jock tax: one of the most odious taxes to come down the pike in a long time.

The environmental movement maintains that science and technology cannot be relied upon to build a safe atomic power plant, to produce a pesticide that is safe, or even to bake a loaf of bread that is safe, if that loaf of bread contains chemical preservatives.

I did something yesterday that I have not done in a very long time—I voted. No, I didn’t vote for a Republican or a Democrat. I voted against a tax.