ARNOLD KLING
August 14, 2011
The Top Political Contributors
August 11, 2011
Gender and the New Commanding Heights
August 11, 2011
Jamie Galbraith Makes an Assumption
August 11, 2011
Macroeconometrics: The Science of Hubris
August 10, 2011
Real and Nominal Bond Yields
BRYAN CAPLAN
August 14, 2011
The Effect of Thumb Sucking on Income
August 12, 2011
The Voice of Cold, Hard Truth to All Would-Be Educators
August 12, 2011
Ability, Morality, and Prosperity: A Paper and a Report
August 11, 2011
The Theory of Time and Frittering
August 10, 2011
Male Variance and the Remnants of the Gender Gap
DAVID HENDERSON
August 9, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken", Part Two
August 8, 2011
Hayek in "Unbroken"
August 5, 2011
James Bovard on the Peace Corps
August 4, 2011
Summers Way Off on FDR and 1941
August 3, 2011
The "Amazon" Tax
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At least we agree on music. :-)
Wonderful anecdote.
That fits with a recent New Scientist article Why cops should trust the wisdom of the crowds. Apparently, most mobs are orderly, it is only when authority steps in to control things that mobs become unruly.
(HT Reason's Hit & Run Blog )
[html typo corrected--Econlib Ed.]
[Comment removed for supplying false email address. Email the webmaster@econlib.org to request restoring this comment. A valid email address is required to post comments on EconLog.--Econlib Ed.]
That's awesome. I've often wondered why comedians don't use such an approach with hecklers. It seems so anonymous to yell something from the middle of a crowd, but as you note, the people right next to the heckler know who's doing it.
I once saw DC band Fugazi do the same thing with someone who threw a plastic glass full of beer onto the stage at one of their concerts. The culprit was identified, invited up to wipe up the mess, then thrown out by the back door by the bouncers. He did escape arrest, though.
I love applying Hayek too. But what would a "Keynesian" response be? I am not sure.
Decades ago I spent six months in Tehran where traffic is among the worst in the world. Most people had insurance, but refused to file on it because their rates would go up. So when an accident happened, and I had several, a crowd would instantly form and debate who was in the wrong. Those involved in the wreck would just stand around, maybe argue with the crowd, but mostly wait. The crowd, often 30 or more people, decided who was in the wrong and how much he had to pay the victim. On one occasion, I just took out all of the paper money in my pocket and held it out, my Farsi not being to good at the time. A young man picked out the amount that the crowd had decided I owed the victim and gave it to him, then the crowd dispersed.
"But what would a "Keynesian" response be?"
I think I know: "Print a trillion dollars. Buy a trillion whiskey bottles and give them to everyone in the crowd to smash them. This will restore animal spirits and turn this into the greatest concert ever, of course. And here's a bunch of math that proves it..."