The proposal to redistribute Iraqi assets to the population, put forward by Vernon Smith, raises many more questions than it solves; e.g., doing so involves international social engineering, albeit in an allegedly ‘free market’ direction; the social engineering raises in turn the matter of by what right US authorities rearrange other nations’ institutions and economies.
Richard Hastings asks what the world would be like without Wal-Mart, and argues that the company’s critics entirely miss the point. “The world’s middle class is changing, partly due to Wal-Mart’s large buying capacity for consumer electronics, toys, bicycles, sports and recreational gear like fishing gear, shooting sports, and camping—activities that require skilled workers and technologically advanced factories to make these products.
The truth about smokeless tobacco is reported by Jacob Sullum: “Like chewing nicotine gum or wearing a nicotine patch, using smokeless tobacco does not involve inhaling combustion products, the main source of smoking-related hazards.
Those who hoped that GOP control of the White House and Congress would slow or cut the growth of government need to read this New York Times editorial summary of the calamity for liberty that GOP control has produced.
In a previous article, I criticized Hal Varian’s (orthodox) description of the current state of game theory. You see, there are many games in which there is a unique “Nash equilibrium”—that is, out of all the strategies available to the players, only one set will leave each player happy, given everyone else’s Nash strategy.
Will the tyrants in D.C. soon be outlawing the ownership of gold, FDR-style? According to Underreported.com:
HR 2417 redefines “financial institution” to match U.S. Code Title 31 Section 5312:
(2) ‘’financial institution’’ means -
[...]
(N) a dealer in precious metals, stones, or jewels;
The National Catholic Reporter: “On Dec. 20, the Vatican announced the appointment of Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning American economist and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. In that capacity, he will help guide Vatican policy on global economic issues. Stiglitz is a personal favorite of Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, the academy’s chancellor.
John Kay, writing in the Financial Times ($), takes issue with Michael Levin’s piece on Christmas Movies and Bad Economics. Reading the article on the FinTimes site requires a subscription, but the same piece appears on Kay’s own site.
News: “Several nations, including Chile, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, halted U.S. beef imports within hours after the Agriculture Department announced Tuesday that a cow at a farm near Yakima, Wash., had tested positive for the brain-wasting disease. Japan is the largest overseas market for U.S. beef.”
