ARNOLD KLING
October 6, 2011
Steven Jobs as a Baumeister Male Archetype
October 6, 2011
Who Are the Good Guys?
October 6, 2011
An Economic Bill of Rights
October 5, 2011
Bruce Meyer on Income Distribution
October 5, 2011
Joseph Stiglitz on Recalculation
BRYAN CAPLAN
October 6, 2011
Did IQ Research Cause U.S. Immigration Restriction?
October 5, 2011
Goolsbee, Friedman, and 1980
October 3, 2011
Grading the Four Faces of Progressive Education
September 30, 2011
Single Motherhood and Poverty: A Few More Replies
September 30, 2011
When to Wash Your Hands
DAVID HENDERSON
October 7, 2011
How Important Was Smoot-Hawley?
October 6, 2011
Most of the Devils Are Here
October 6, 2011
The Anti-Terrorist Bureaucracy
October 5, 2011
Steve Jobs: Insanely Great
October 3, 2011
Leon Louw's Talk at Mont Pelerin
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If you ever want to look at a sad case of regulations, you should look into Ben & Jerry's and their "factory seconds". Way back when you used to be able to buy factory seconds after the factory tour (think chocolate fudge brownie with no brownie or, the best, only a little ice cream), then the USDA came and said you can't sell factory seconds. So they stopped selling it to people and sold to hog farmers. Next up as the EPA - ice cream is hazardous waste due to the bacteria count. So for at least a couple years they just threw it out - while they went about getting all the necessary regulatory approvals to feed ice to pigs. It always amazes me that the people that decry the homogeneity of our food are often the ones most in favor of regulations, that help no one and eliminate variety.
@mdb,
Thank you for that information. I hadn't known any of this. Notice that it means that the feds have raised the cost of food disproportionately to poor people.
I think the non-monetary costs of eating a doughnut are high enough that I don't think I'd want to buy a day old one to save $.50. If you're going to enjoy one, get the best. The pleasure of eating an OK doughnut is not worth the cost of eating one. It takes the pleasure of the best doughnut to push me over the edge.
A doughnut isn't worth eating if it isn't still hot.
In other words (on the donut) you seem to be confusing price with cost
Free markets are better still. In high school, I used to work at a donut shop at night, and we did just throw out the donuts at closing time. That donut shop is long since out of business, because there is just no way that a business that wastes like that can compete over time against firms that waste so much less.
@Fmb,
I'm not sure if you're addressing me. I'm not confusing price and cost. The cost to me of the donut is the price + the damage it does to me. I weigh that off against the pleasure. Unlike some of the other commenters, I don't have a strong preference for fresh doughnuts.
The marginal utility of each donut decreases as the supply of donuts increases. This also works with hotdogs, and cocaine. Go figure!
Funny, i was just thinking about the same thing the other day. Does anyone else remember it being impressed upon them in school that Native American culture was morally superior to to modern culture simply because it used every part of the Buffalo?
Hog farmers buy spilled and unused breakfast cereal also. Sometimes their kids eat it too:)