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May 2007
A Monthly Archive (97 entries)
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May 31, 2007
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Arnold Kling
Lant Pritchett writes The principal way rich countries disadvantage the poor world is not through unfair trade, or through intrusive and ineffective aid, or by forcing repayments of debts. The primary policy pursued by every rich country is to prevent... MORE
Economic Methods
Arnold Kling
There is a lively discussion at TPM Cafe over whether heterodox economics gets no love from the neoclassical crowd. Here is an excerpt from a summary. Chris Hayes kicks things off by boiling down his feature Nation piece into two... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
At Mahalanobis, Eric G. Falkenstein writes, I argue in Why Risk is Not Related to Return that a relative status utility function can explain the failure of the risk-return empirical relationship. Perhaps it can explain persistent irrationality on policy matters?... MORE
May 30, 2007
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
Tyler misstates one of the conclusions of Burgoon and Hiscox's work on female protectionism. Contrary to Tyler, B&H don't find that educated women are more anti-foreign than other women. Instead, they find that educated women are more anti-foreign than educated... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
My book has been excerpted as a Cato Policy Analysis.... MORE
May 29, 2007
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
Brink Lindsey writes, OK, so how do experts measure intergenerational income mobility anyway? Using survey data that tracks the income of the same individuals and families over time, researchers compare the income of parents at some specific age or age... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Advising would-be entrepreneurs with no business background, Ben Casnocha writes, Learn by doing, learn by failing. ...Leave the office and go immerse yourself in the life of the customer. ...Your network is probably larger than you think. Somewhere in this... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
1. Russ Roberts interviews Robin Hanson, for those of you who are curious to find out more about his thesis that when people do not pay for their own health care, the services that they obtain on average do as... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
From The Economist, Avner Ahituv of the University of Haifa and Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute found that “entering marriage raises hours worked quickly and substantially.” Married men drink less, take fewer drugs and work harder, earning between 10%... MORE
May 28, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
I'm supposed to be on RNN tonight at 8 PM. You can watch the videocast live.... MORE
Economic Philosophy
Bryan Caplan
I don't think I've ever quoted an entire post before, but today I'll make an exception for the incomparable Hanson: Today is Memorial Day. In a park near my home is a plaque that reads: We honor all those who... MORE
May 27, 2007
Microeconomics
Bryan Caplan
Believe it or not: This blog has given life to a baby girl! Michael Stastny, better known as Mahalanobis, has the story: My wife had a baby today, which implies with high probability that I had a baby today too.... MORE
May 26, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies: DONALD It's, like, I once saw this picture of a snake swallowing it's tail -- Kaufman collapses, puts his head in his hands. KAUFMAN Ourobouros. DONALD I don't know... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
The rumors are true - The Myth of the Rational Voter gets a write-up in tomorrow's New York Times Magazine. Here's tomorrow's story today: Caplan’s complaint is not that special-interest groups might subvert the will of the people, or that... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Kevin Grier replies to my reply to his MR post on Chavez. First, an apology: Bryan: Why in the world would you say my post was "calculated to offend"? In all honesty I find that labeling offensive.Sorry if the humor... MORE
May 25, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
My first domestic t.v. interview went well, but the airdate will probably be pushed to Monday. Rumor has it that Sunday's New York Times Magazine will mention me, so the producers thought it wise to wait and capitalize on the... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Christopher Hayes writes, the book eats its own tail. Caplan wants to grant a presumptive authority to the consensus view of economists, but the consensus view of economists is that voters are rational, which is, of course, precisely the position... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
One of the reasons that I'm not jumping on the bandwagon for Thomas McCraw's new Schumpeter biography is that I think that Jerry Z. Muller provides more insight into Schumpeter using many fewer words in The Mind and the Market,... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
The latest celebrity death match on the Wall Street Journal site features Richard Thaler and Mario Rizzo. Mario Rizzo writes: I repeat: "Is New Paternalism primarily about advising private individuals and firms? If so, why use a political term --... MORE
May 24, 2007
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
Kevin Grier, guest blogging on Marginal Revolution, makes an argument calculated to offend: In 1957, Venezuela's GDP per capita was 51% of the US, in 2003 it stood at 18.5% of the US. Existing institutions had no credibility with a... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
I'm supposed to be interviewed tomorrow on RNN's Real Politics Live with Richard French. Just when I was getting comfortable with radio, I have to adapt to TV! P.S. If they put up a videocast, I'll link to it.... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
Here's the podcast of my 40-minute Saturday interview with David Strom on Minneapolis's WWTC. Self-evaluation: Good performance by me thanks to a sympathetic host.... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Arnold Kling
Alvaro Vargas Llosa writes, Whenever there is a disconnect between the law and reality, reality finds ways of making the law irrelevant... It is always hard to oppose an emotional reaction with logical arguments and statistical evidence. Otherwise, the argument... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robin Hanson writes, The policy world can thought of as consisting of a few Tug-O-War "ropes" set up in this high dimensional policy space. If you want to find a comfortable place in this world, where the people around you... MORE
May 23, 2007
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Bryan Caplan
How's this for Trackback delay - the Economist blog just referenced last year's controversial Econlog post "Are Low-Skilled Americans the Master Race?" In the process, it accidentally underscores the case for congestion charges: America or Europe could easily be demographically... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
The Wall Street Journal refers to a Congressional Budget Office report which says, Average income for the bottom 20 percent of all households with children was 35 percent higher in 2005 than it had been in 1991. I am a... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
As my co-blogger pointed out, there is an argument for private law enforcement by Edward Stringham. Imagine if Duke University controlled law enforcement in the area around the university, rather than the city, county and local court system. It is... MORE
May 22, 2007
Economics and Culture
Bryan Caplan
One of my best friends at Princeton was Gordon Dahl. He's the kind of guy who never says anything stronger than "My goodness." His favorite show, as far as I recall, was "Touched By An Angel." But now he's got... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Bryan Caplan
George Borjas, the most academically reputable critic of immigration in economics, is now blogging. To be frank, I just don't get him. There isn't a decent economist alive who would oppose free trade in textiles by pointing out that it... MORE
Institutional Economics
Bryan Caplan
My co-author Ed Stringham has a nice op-ed on prosecutorial abuse and private law in today's Washington Times. Check it out.... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Bryan Caplan
Several readers have asked me to discuss the effects of immigration on policy, and sometime in the next few weeks I'm going to satisfy their request. But here's a quick reaction to Arnold's approving (?) link to Bill Whittle's worries... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Economic conferences rarely produce great papers. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Growth Mechanism of the Free-Enterprise Economies, a conference dedicated to the work of William Baumol, is typically pedestrian, with particularly forgettable contributions from Kenneth Arrow and Robert Solow. However, there... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
Greg Mankiw writes, The neoclassical theory of distribution teaches us that a person's earnings depend on his or her productivity. But earnings are not the same as wealth. The accumulation of wealth is mostly about the ability to exert self-control.... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Arnold Kling
A reader asks, Bryan Caplan's new book (which I look forward to) says voters are irrational. Do you think they would be more or less rational in a society with high migration rates? I am reading Amy Chua's World on... MORE
May 21, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
I was just on BBC Radio 3's Night Waves program. Here's the podcast - skip ahead about 20 minutes for my interview. Self-evaluation of my radio performance: Much improved. P.S. This is just a temporary URL; I'll post an update... MORE
May 20, 2007
Economics and Culture
Bryan Caplan
The first draft of my graphic novel, Amore Infernale, is now complete. To say that it would be cool to have it illustrated and published is a great understatement. It would be... the coolest thing in the history of mankind!... MORE
May 18, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
My Amazon sales rank has hit #552. What Brad DeLong hears from David Romer carries great weight in this world. Verily.... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Bryan Caplan
I've often heard opponents of Latin American immigration complain that they're lowering our average IQ. Here's Tommy commenting on Tyler: What matters in a society, in any society, is a healthy mean IQ. I've noticed a tendency on this blog... MORE
Economic Education
Bryan Caplan
The wise Alex Tabarrok just pointed out a fun fact: My best book publicity is coming from textbook authors: Greg Mankiw David Romer via Brad Delong Alan Blinder Tyler and Alex himself (textbook in progress) If I taught classes with... MORE
May 17, 2007
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Bryan Caplan
Further down the comments on Tyler's piece on education, Steve Sailer asks a (seemingly) pointed question: Tyler, If you came flat out and told the truth -- that IQ matters a lot in terms of overall economic productivity and that... MORE
Economics of Education
Bryan Caplan
I haven't had a joint lunch with Robin Hanson and Tyler Cowen for two weeks, but we're having a substitute meal (minus food) in the MR comments section. Tyler: Income distribution thus depends on the balance between technological progress and... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Brad DeLong passes along a book recommendation. Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter is, [David Romer] says, brilliant: everybody should read it. But you already have ordered your copy, right?... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Robert Solow, in the guise of a review of McCraw's biography, reviews Schumpeter himself. The man was all problems, and one very important idea. Earlier, Solow describes his own experience of Schumpeter. I attended his courses on advanced economic theory... MORE
Economic Methods
Arnold Kling
In the latest Econ Journal Watch, at least two articles are about what is not found in economic literature. John Dawson argues that The Economic Freedom of the World index is under-utilized in studies of economic growth. Charles Blankart and... MORE
Economic Methods
Bryan Caplan
Few economists bother to explain in writing why other people's articles are a waste of time. Even fewer economists bother to explain in writing why entire journals are a waste of time. As far as I'm aware, in fact, there... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
(I swear I posted on this first thing this morning, and now it's gone. It was a good post, too. I'm attempting to remember it here.) Tyler Cowen writes, For the economy as a whole, labor’s share of national income... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
Robert H. Frank writes, But the biggest winners of all have been top earners in the financial services industry. Thus, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, James Simons, a hedge fund manager, earned $1.7 billion last year, and two other... MORE
Cross-country Comparisons
Arnold Kling
Edward Luttwak writes, We devote far too much attention to the middle east, a mostly stagnant region where almost nothing is created in science or the arts—excluding Israel, per capita patent production of countries in the middle east is one... MORE
May 15, 2007
Labor Market
Arnold Kling
For those, like my co-blogger, who are interested in the issue of labor market discrimination, I again recommend Kevin Lang's new book, Poverty and Discrimination. On p. 314, Lang writes, if there is discrimination in the labor market, it is... MORE
Economics and Culture
Bryan Caplan
Mitt Romney: "I cannot imagine anything more awful than polygamy." Here's the clip, with Steven Colbert's hysterical response. Which reminds me: Season two of Big Love starts in June. If you missed the first season, see it ASAP. P.S. Have... MORE
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
One of Tyler Cowen's readers asks for recommendations of books that examine the cultural requirements for liberty, and Tyler has a number of good suggestions. My instinct is to start with an evolutionary perspective. How did we get out of... MORE
Economics of Crime
Bryan Caplan
You've read Somin; now try Peter Klein.... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
My latest TCS essay says, Many people began to agitate for universal, government-provided prostitution insurance, arguing that such systems were working in Canada and in many European countries. Such a single-payer system for prostitution would solve the growing problems of... MORE
May 14, 2007
Economic Methods
Arnold Kling
Daniel J. D'Amico and Daniel B. Klein write, scholastics are more concerned with speaking to each other, distilling results, and passing them down through intermediaries to the laity. Pietistic figures are more interested in speaking directly to the everyman. They... MORE
Labor Market
Bryan Caplan
Herrnstein and Murray's (HM) The Bell Curve famously reported that, controlling for cognitive ability, most or all of the black-white earnings gap disappears. An interesting chapter in Intelligence, Genes, and Success: Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve challenges this result... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Bryan Caplan
Hansonian doubts aside, I've been thinking about getting LASIK (laser corrective eye surgery) for a couple of years. By making a small investment of discomfort and cash, I could save about 30 hours of time per year (cleaning glasses, doctor... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
The Baltimore Sun reports National Imaging Associates estimated several years ago that as many as 30 percent of imaging studies were not needed or not the correct test, although NIA believes the number may have declined as insurers have tightened... MORE
May 12, 2007
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
In Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, and Carl J. Schramm write (p.91), Of the twenty-five largest firms in the United States in 1998, eight did not exist or were very small in 1960. In Europe,... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I've got an op-ed based on my book in today's Wall St. Journal! You'll soon see me at Wegmans buying a stack of ten copies.... MORE
May 11, 2007
Economics of Crime
Bryan Caplan
My collaborator Ilya Somin has a fascinating post on the law and economics of The Godfather. It's a must read. My only quibble is that it overlooks this part: Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any... MORE
Regulation and Subsidies
Bryan Caplan
Penn and Teller had an interesting episode debunking the Americans With Disabilities Act and related regulations. But even a Non-Bleeding Heart Libertarian like myself spent most of the episode furrowing his brow in puzzlement. Penn and Teller appeared to be... MORE
Economic Philosophy
Arnold Kling
Edward Glaeser writes, there are cases where freedom to contract is and should be imperfect. For example, many contracts rely on expensive government enforcement, and it is reasonable to set limits on the scope of government action in this, as... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
From the book du jour, Thomas K. McCraw's Prophet of Innovation: Compared to Keynes, Schumpeter had no reason to think that life was something a person could expect to enjoy automatically. It was one thing to grow up in Britain--stable,... MORE
May 10, 2007
Economic Philosophy
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, Suppose that in Libertopia, you're extremely undesirable, so no woman will marry you. In Paterfascista, you're extremely desirable, but it's illegal to marry you. In both Libertopia and Paterfascista, you're not able to marry. So you could say... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
One of the most common questions I get about my research on systematically biased beliefs about economics is: Yes, but why do people have these biases? Why do people underestimate the social benefits of the market? Why are they particularly... MORE
Economic Philosophy
Bryan Caplan
Arnold's a bit hasty to dismiss a compelling line of reasoning: Suppose that in community Libertopia, in response to customer preferences, all of the better restaurants ban smoking. In nearby community Paternafascista, there is a law that bans smoking in... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From my latest essay. Suppose that in community Libertopia, in response to customer preferences, all of the better restaurants ban smoking. In nearby community Paternafascista, there is a law that bans smoking in restaurants. ...In both Libertopia and Paterfascista, smokers... MORE
May 9, 2007
Economic Philosophy
Bryan Caplan
Steve Levitt assures us: In general I am not much of a libertarian... But then he holds government policies up to a standard many can't meet: ...but our government’s policy towards gambling is completely idiotic and rife with internal contradictions.... MORE
Economics of Education
Bryan Caplan
Arnold makes a very interesting remark: I think that it is difficult for an entrepreneur to compete in the signalling market, because it is hard to establish the credibility of your signalling mechanism. I would go further. It is difficult... MORE
Economics of Education
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, If you think that entrepreneurs can easily find a cheaper way to certify worker quality, why can't entrepreneurs easily find a cheaper way to reinforce membership in the "upper and/or upper-middle class tribe"? The context is that we... MORE
May 8, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Russ Roberts, in this speech, offers a theory of political pandering. He suggests that politicians know that they are exaggerating problems, because the solutions they offer are so pathetic. If you really thought that all the gains in the economy... MORE
Economics of Education
Bryan Caplan
Arnold repeats an earlier argument against the signaling model of education: I don't believe the signalling story, because of the point Wilkinson makes. If it costs $200,000 for a person to go to an elite private school, and this does... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
I'm guest blogging for the Britannica website. Topic: Economists Agree?!... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
What is this Hansonian view of medicine that you hear me talk about? Robin Hanson explains. The bottom line is that thousands of people randomly given free medicine in the late 1970s consumed 30-40% more medical services, paid one more... MORE
Economics of Education
Arnold Kling
Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy make the case. For many, the solution to an increase in inequality is to make the tax structure more progressive—raise taxes on high-income households and reduce taxes on low-income households. While this may sound sensible,... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Arnold Kling
Michael Barone writes, Start with the Coastal Megalopolises: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago (on the coast of Lake Michigan), Miami, Washington and Boston. Here is a pattern you don't find in other big cities: Americans moving... MORE
May 7, 2007
Economic Philosophy
Arnold Kling
Daniel Klein writes, In my view, economic understanding, by experts and the general public alike, would gain by economists doing more of the following: (1) using the voluntary/coercive distinction in their formulations, analysis, and discourse; (2) making that utilization explicit... MORE
International Trade
Bryan Caplan
Alan Blinder's been making waves by fretting about outsourcing. But here's the bottom line, via Mankiw: After the Blinder-Bhagwati debate last week, there was a dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club at which Ben Friedman asked Alan a good question:... MORE
May 5, 2007
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
I've never denied it: Some surveys are really stupid: If women ruled the world, stay-at-home moms would earn an annual salary equal to or more than $100,000. That’s according to a new poll from Woman’s Day magazine and AOL.com, which... MORE
May 3, 2007
Economic Philosophy
Bryan Caplan
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales made the cover of Reason. I immediately remembered our protracted debate on Ayn Rand's meta-ethics on the Association for Systematic Philosphy's listserv (set up by the other Wikipedia co-founder, Larry Sanger) way back in the... MORE
Economic History
Bryan Caplan
I rarely care about symbolic issues, but for the Estonian statue controversy, I'll make an exception: Young Russians staged raucous protests in Moscow on Wednesday to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, and the... MORE
Institutional Economics
Arnold Kling
Reviewing a new edition of The Road to Serfdom, Roger Kimball writes, In the end, though, the really galling thing about the spontaneous order that free markets produce is not its imperfection but its spontaneity: the fact that it is... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
My latest essay concerns poverty. the results of centrally-planned anti-poverty efforts are small, and perhaps negative (certainly very negative in the case of Communism). Decentralized capitalism, in which no one sets out to broadly reduce poverty, is the best anti-poverty... MORE
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Hal Varian writes, An investor who bought a value-weighted portfolio of stocks in the New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange in 1926 and held them until 2002 would have earned an average annual return of about 10 percent.... MORE
May 2, 2007
Business Economics
Arnold Kling
Jane Galt (who showed up at a lunch at Cato today) found this story. Several electronics outfits now sell head-mounted displays that they claim are the next frontier in gaming and movie watching. Rudimentary virtual-reality tech has been around since... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Quite possibly, it's this guy. He's straight out of last night's rerun of the Twilight Zone. HT: Eric Crampton... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
Here's me on the BBC's "Thinking Allowed." Just skip ahead about two minutes to get started. I stumbled at the beginning, and I'm still kicking myself for it, but at least it was a learning experience. Hopefully I'll be posting... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
With his new book, Poverty and Discrimination, Kevin Lang becomes my go-to guy on poverty. I disagree with him on some important and emotional points, and I'll have more to say about that at a later date. But I want... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, Sincere question: Have you personally reviewed the evidence on smoking, Arnold? I haven't. I believe that smoking causes cancer based on scientific consensus. ...Still, Arnold seems to be saying that you should base all your beliefs on direct... MORE
Energy, Environment, Resources
Arnold Kling
Robert Haddick writes, Unless China, India, and other rapidly expanding economic centers in the developing world fully participate in greenhouse gas reduction efforts, regulatory schemes in the west will simply displace economic activity from the "clean" developed world to the... MORE
May 1, 2007
Energy, Environment, Resources
Bryan Caplan
Arnold also writes: Pearce himself said, and I agree, that skepticism about climate models should increase one's concern about both tails. That is, the models may under-predict global warming. In fact, that is my number one concern with the issue.... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Bryan Caplan
Arnold writes: It is not the scientific consensus that makes me believe that there is a link between smoking and cancer. It is the evidence for such a link that is compelling. It is the weakness of the evidence of... MORE
Economic Education
Bryan Caplan
I'm going to be on the BBC's "Thinking Allowed" program tomorrow at 11 AM EST, 4 PM London time. In case you haven't guessed, I'll be talking about my book.... MORE
Economic History
Bryan Caplan
Once again, the folks at Catallarchy (now The Distributed Republic) offer an eloquent May Day Tribute to the victims of Communism, past and present. Check it out.... MORE
Economic Philosophy
Bryan Caplan
When Milton Friedman passed away, he was clearly the most famous free-market economist on the planet. Who would you say has taken his place?... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Bryan Caplan
A student has pointed out that Barnes & Noble is selling my book for just $23.96, 20% off the Amazon price.... MORE
Energy, Environment, Resources
Arnold Kling
First, there is Larry Summers. Those who still deny that human activity is warming the planet, or claim that “business as usual” can continue indefinitely without profoundly adverse consequences, are increasingly seen as the moral and intellectual equivalent of those... MORE
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