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Political Economy
A Category Archive (395 entries)
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November 19, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Reacting to my recent post on the analogy Robert Higgs drew between libertarianism and abolitionism, a commenter wrote, Hans Hoppe, hardcore libertarian, once described what may be the crucial difference between a democratic state and slavery: the latter was private... MORE
November 18, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Robert Higgs writes, Slavery existed for thousands of years, in all sorts of societies and all parts of the world. To imagine human social life without it required an extraordinary effort. Yet, from time to time, eccentrics emerged to oppose... MORE
November 13, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Michael Strong talks about special economic zones as a way of creating competition in governance. The idea seems similar to Paul Romer's concept of charter cities. Strong is optimistic that the state will "wither away" (as Marx would put it)... MORE
November 11, 2009
Economic History
Arnold Kling
John Quiggin writes, The names of Asquith, Bethmann-Hollweg, Berchtold and Poincare are barely remembered, yet on any reasonable accounting they belong among the great criminals of history. Not only did they create the conditions for war, and rush (eagerly in... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
John Kay writes, Control of rent-seeking requires decentralisation of economic power. These policies involve limits on the economic role of the state; constraints on the concentration of economic power in large business; constant vigilance at the boundaries between government and... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Gordon Wood, in Empire of Liberty, writes, After all, wealth, compared to birth, breeding, ethnicity, family heritage, gentility, even education, is the least humiliating means by which one person can claim superiority over another; and it is the one most... MORE
November 8, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, What incumbents fear most is not losing an election, but being overthrown by their own military. When the international community can protect a government from such a threat, it should do so, conditional upon the election being properly... MORE
November 6, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
It looks like I will have two books come out in the same month. The first one will be out in two weeks, but you cannot pre-order it on Amazon. The second one will be out in three weeks, and... MORE
November 4, 2009
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Singapore is widely regarded as a dictatorship. Even the contrarian Gordon Tullock joins in the chorus; in Autocracy, he remarks that, "The dominant form of autocracy has been the non-totalitarian type presented by Franco, Lee of Singapore, or Mobutu of... MORE
November 1, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Am I too weak to resist financial crisis porn? The latest example of my shameful indulgence is The Greatest Trade Ever, by Gregory Zuckerman. As with Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail, I could not put it down. Even... MORE
October 30, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
What causes people to change their minds? On this blog, I have argued that people do not change their minds on ideological issues. I have argued that econometric regression results typically do not change people's minds. Why is that?... MORE
October 28, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
He writes, Humans overwhelmed by the social complexities of helping a bum nearby think they know enough about societies far away, so that ethics becomes the main concern there... Beware the easy confidence of advising worlds far from your knowledge... MORE
October 27, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
David Brooks writes, Ninety-four percent of college professors believe they are above average teachers, and 90 percent of drivers believe they are above average behind the wheel. Researchers Paul J.H. Schoemaker and J. Edward Russo gave computer executives quizzes on... MORE
October 25, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
When Elbridge Gerry proposed in the [Constitutional] Convention that no standing army exceed three thousand men, Washington is supposed to have made a countermotion that "no foreign enemy should invade the United States at any time, with more than... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
"Hold on, hold on," [Ruth] Porat said in disbelief. "You're calling me on a Sunday night saying that we just spent the entire weekend on Lehman and now we have this [AIG]? How the [foul language] did we spend... MORE
October 22, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Empire of Liberty, by Gordon Wood. Part of the Oxford series on American history, it focuses on the period 1789-1815. So far, I find myself thinking about it in the context of the Cowen-Hanson theory of political behavior and also... MORE
October 21, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Car Czar says GM mismanaged. Watchdo excoriates execution of TARP. Of course, in the case of GM, the CEO was fired.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Michael Cannon writes, Massachusetts also demonstrates that compulsory health insurance enables, and ultimately requires, politicians and government bureaus to control nearly all aspects of health care and medical practice. Lately, I've been thinking about Vietnam analogies. For example, mandatory health... MORE
October 19, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Daniel B. Klein takes a shot at something I have tried to do, namely, sort out the dispositions of progressives, conservatives, and libertarians. The configuration presupposed by social-justice leftists and social democrats generally is that all resources in society are... MORE
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Shane Greenstein writes, Russ Roberts is normally a free market economist, but in his essay he sounds like an old fashioned populist. When a firm does something to turn Russell Roberts into a populist then -- perhaps -- something is... MORE
October 15, 2009
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
The Washington Post reports, An internal industry study released earlier this week found that the Senate reform bill would cause premiums to rise sharply, but the report's findings have been widely disputed... Pelosi said the House may adopt a Senate... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Daniel Klein and Jason Briggeman find that leading conservative magazines are not libertarian. This is no surprise. Read Jordan J. Ballor. He cites an essay by Russell Kirk. This essay leaves no doubt about the distinction between Kirk's conservatism and... MORE
October 14, 2009
Central Planning vs. Local Knowledge
Arnold Kling
Biofuels digest reports, In Washington, the US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, broke with Obama administration renewable energy policy, telling stunned alternative energy developers at a recent meeting on alternative fuels that "if it were up to me, I... MORE
October 7, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
David Harsanyi improves on David Broooks. Mr. Hoover knows everything. He attended a high-brow graduate school and worked as a Senate aide before becoming a policy expert. (He even pretends to understand Jeremy Bentham.) He is a man who craves... MORE
October 2, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
This post is in part inspired by the "sentence to ponder" quoted by Tyler Cowen. Consider the following matrix: Pro-BusinessAnti-BusinessPro-MarketAnti-Market The point is that there really are four separate categories, not just the two pro's and the two anti's. On... MORE
September 30, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Cato's Caleb Brown and I recorded a podcast about Unchecked and Unbalanced, which I gather will appear in late November. If you listen for the eight minutes or so, I think you will get a rough sense of the issues... MORE
September 29, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
One of the themes in the second of my forthcoming books is that power is becoming concentrated while knowledge is becoming specialized. David Carr muses about how hard it is to know everything nowadays. In terms of what I call... MORE
September 28, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Neither a borrower nor a lender be. That's the way I feel after reading This Time is Different, by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. This is certainly one of the must-read books of the year. Some thoughts after... MORE
September 25, 2009
Business Economics
Arnold Kling
Make it an exercise in obtaining government money. Fisker Automotive, a private company based in Irvine, Calif., has received a $529 million loan from a Department of Energy program designed to fund the development of alternative vehicles. This was announced... MORE
September 14, 2009
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
In previous years, I've taught graduate Public Finance I. In designing the course, I treated "public finance" as a synonym for "public economics" or "economics of government." So while I spent several weeks discussing bread-and-butter public finance topics like the... MORE
September 11, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Keith Hennessey has an interesting question. What thought leader most clearly and effectively presents points of view with which you frequently strongly disagree? He proposes that awards be given. Would Tyrone be considered eligible? Presumably, my nominees have to be... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
An essay in the The Australian touches on issues that I often write about on this blog. The tendency to regard public opinion as the prisoner of irrationality informed the attitude of the elite towards the public display of emotion... MORE
September 8, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Who wrote this? Answer below the fold. The mystery author writes, The finance sector's increasing concentration and growing political muscle have undermined the traditional American understanding of the difference between free markets and big business. This means not only that... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, an audit of its monetary policies by the GAO -- which, remember, works for Congress -- could easily develop into something quite dangerous. Here is a not-so-unlikely hypothetical: sometime in 2010, the Fed, wanting to avoid inflation, will... MORE
September 7, 2009
Economic History
Arnold Kling
Doug Rushkoff says that our capitalist society is neither spontaneous nor an order. He thinks it came about because of some decisions made by monarchs in the 13th century. The first innovation was to centralize currency. What better way for... MORE
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
The Washington Post reports, Only one lender of consequence remains: the federal government...nearly 90 percent of all new home loans are funded or guaranteed by taxpayers...Government officials generally agree that it would be better for private lenders to resume their... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen draws up a list. I liked his last point: Responsibility is a more important value than either liberty or equality. The other night, we had a dinner party where my wife and I were the only ones who... MORE
September 2, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In Commentary Magazine, David Wolpe writes, Podhoretz's book is meant to explain why Jews do not vote their self-interest. I would say it is because they vote their self-conception, which is a very different thing. Jews identify with those who... MORE
August 28, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Edward Stringham writes, In an alternative conception of a non-government monopoly system, which is composed of vertically integrated proprietary communities that provide law, each region may include only one law enforcer but one that is private and motivated by... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen (or perhaps his evil twin) writes, So if you're "opposed to financial bailouts," as a libertarian, you're not for the market. You're saying that one scheme for governmental disposition is better than another. Of course you are entitled... MORE
August 27, 2009
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, Contrary to Arnold, I think it would be a vast improvement over the status quo. I've talked to plenty of left-wing economists about this topic. On balance, their views are much more reasonable than the median non-economist's. The... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Scott Sumner has repeatedly attacked Bernanke for his failure to base his monetary policy on his monetary economics. But yesterday he argued that leaders in non-totalitarian countries don't make much difference. Unlike Mao, current Chinese dictator Hu Jintao couldn't start... MORE
August 26, 2009
Economic Education
Arnold Kling
From Bryan's talk in Sweden. With rational voters, policy-makers have to do whatever the public wants; they can't "make a difference." With irrational voters, in contrast, policy-makers may be able to give the public the policies that it needs, rather... MORE
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
Jeff Miron explains, Medicare should be reduced or eliminated. Opposing government health insurance by defending government health insurance is disingenuous, at best, and utlimately counterproductive. Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, Nick Gillespie writes about the late Massachusetts Senator, In an... MORE
August 25, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Joel Kotkin writes, American cities are at a critical moment. Our competitive, commercial urban tradition certainly has its flaws, but it also has produced the advanced world's most dynamic roster of modern cities and regions. Ceding the power of urban... MORE
August 22, 2009
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
Someone asked for my comments on the Jeffrey Rogers Hummel piece. I think that the U.S. government would enact a wealth tax rather than default on its debt. Other countries that have defaulted have not had the option of enacting... MORE
August 21, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Matt Yglesias wonders why politicians are not more strongly motivated by higher ideals. Selling the public good down the river to bolster your re-election chances isn't like stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving children. The welfare rolls... MORE
August 17, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
(I got back from Minaki, Ontario last night.) The textbook I use for a Cost/Benefit Analysis course I teach is Public Finance, 8th edition, by Harvey S. Rosen and Ted Gayer. There's much good in that book. I particularly like... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Alex Tabarrok finds a screed by Bill Maher on the ignorance of voters. People bitch and moan about taxes and spending, but they have no idea what their government spends money on. The average voter thinks foreign aid consumes 24%... MORE
August 13, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Following up on this post and this one, let me try to offer a hypothetical example of freedom without democracy. Maybe Will Wilkinson can comment on the example in a way that sheds light on what he is thinking, because... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My impassioned post draws a response from Will Wilkinson that is self-refuting. He writes, I've noticed that Arnold complains a lot about Montgomery Country, MD, but as far as I know hasn't moved. In other words, he would argue that... MORE
August 11, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
William D. Cohan gives the play-by-play of the Merrill-BofA-government saga. Lewis said Bernanke told him, "We view you as strong and having acted appropriately in difficult circumstances ... We'll make sure you continue that way ... We want to do... MORE
August 10, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Will Wilkinson writes, What the example of Hong Kong communicates is that authoritarian, illiberal, undemocratic regimes need not feel threatened by semi-independent city states with working "liberal" market institutions. It says to rulers that their countries can get rich without... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Inspired by Tyler Cowen, let me offer my most generous characterization of progressivism: Progressives are the proud heirs to a tradition of experiments in public policy that brought about significant social improvements. Its antecedents go back before the Civil War... MORE
August 9, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mark Thoma highlights a story that I had missed--a bargain between the pharmaceutical industry and the Obama Administration on health care reform.... MORE
Institutional Economics
Arnold Kling
In 1961, Leoni wrote, In reality, the law is something which is not pre-fabricated in some specially-designated place, by some specially-designated producer and with some pre-established technique. In much the same way, no followers of the artificial languages such as... MORE
August 6, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I am going to write down what I think progressives believe. If I'm creating a straw man, then y'all can correct me where you think I need correcting. You believe that: 1. Unfettered free markets nearly always produce sub-optimal outcomes.... MORE
August 5, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In comments on this post, SydB argues that I have created a straw-man characterization of Progressivism when I suggest that the Progressive mindset sees a technocratic solution to every problem. He writes, In Mr Kling's analysis, L's are associated with... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Think of three points on an ideological triangle: 1. Point L, where you believe that markets are effective at processing information and solving problems. This position is to take a radically pro-market view, and to let markets fix their own... MORE
August 4, 2009
Monetary Policy
Arnold Kling
I've been away, mostly in Prague (where the big economic question is why so many older buildings have so many fancy details. My answer is that there must have been a very unequal distribution of wealth, so that rich folks... MORE
July 31, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Derek Thompson writes, I get the distinct sense from the transcript that [President Obama is] a bit miffed by the accusations that he's anti-business. He emphasizes (possibly even exaggerates) the "great political expense" with which he bailed out the banks.... MORE
July 29, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He is going to take care of executive pay. Also, He is going to clamp down on oil speculators. After all, we would not want the private sector to cause energy prices to rise and to promote conservation. Only Wesley... MORE
July 25, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Steven Pinker writes the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes got it right. Life in a state of nature is nasty, brutish, and short--not because of a primal thirst for blood but because of the inescapable logic of anarchy. Any beings with... MORE
July 20, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
I want to make a few comments on this issue, which David has touched on On balance, I think I would support auditing the Fed. 1. The conservative case against auditing the Fed is that it will reduce the Fed's... MORE
July 16, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Will Chamberlain writes (Will, not Wilt), Romer, clearly having been influenced by our ideas about bloodless instability, argues that we need to be able to create new countries, without the use of military force, in order to gain access to... MORE
July 15, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I should hold off on plugging the book until it's closer to publication date, but reading it over gets me really excited. We include interviews with a number of famous economists, and there are little nuggets of insight buried in... MORE
July 14, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Simon Johnson thinks that CIT, a troubled lender, will not be bailed out. Traditionally, CIT provided vanilla loans to small and medium-sized business. "But under its current chief executive, Jeffrey M. Peek, a well-liked Wall Street veteran who lost out... MORE
July 7, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen lists five major strands, taking a swipe at one. 3. Mises Institute nationalism. Gold standard, a priori reasoning, monetary apocalypse, and suspicious of immigration because maybe private landowners would not have let those people into their living rooms.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Today's Washington Post has six op-ed pieces. Three are on Sarah Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska the other day. The other three are on Robert McNamara, who died yesterday. Palin is known for hunting moose. McNamara is known... MORE
July 6, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
A commenter points to Bryan's critique of A Conflict of Visions, which makes a number of good points. Bryan concludes, What really puzzles me is why Sowell did not try a much simpler typology. Why not simply distinguish between advocates... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
My excuse for not reading A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell was that I had already read a fair amount of his other work, and how much new could he have to say? But John Baden pressed me to... MORE
July 3, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
How do economists and other social scientists influence public policy? Yesterday, I recommended Jeffrey Friedman's article on the financial crisis. Its theme is regulatory hubris, and Friedman disparages "economism," which might be described as a belief that wise economists can... MORE
July 2, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Patri Friedman launches secession week, a discussion of secession. In one of my forthcoming books, Unchecked and Unbalanced, I discuss a number of mechanisms for limiting the power of government. You can think of these as mechanisms for achieving virtual... MORE
June 14, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Dan Balz summarizes the grim demographic statistics. He quotes Robert Lang of Virginia Tech. "There's just not enough rural folks and small-city people left in America." For Republicans, the most hopeful statistic is this: Democrats lost white college graduates by... MORE
June 10, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Newt Gingrich connects some dots. In 2008 alone, the UAW gave $4,161,567 to the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama. In return, the UAW received 55 percent of Chrysler and 17.5 percent of GM, plus billions of dollars.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
It's hard to decide what to excerpt from Will Wilkinson's article. A fresh-faced 31-year-old, Deese dropped out of Yale Law School last year to work for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. When Clinton sank, Deese skipped over to the winning ship,... MORE
June 9, 2009
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
The Bradley Symposium transcript is now available. Mitch Daniels (p.13): You can be a silver-spoon, blue-blood, wind-surfing, coastal elitist, but if you wear the Democratic label you are presumed to be connected and empathetic and to understand the problems of... MORE
June 6, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
University of Chicago economist Gary Becker, in his Ph.D. dissertation, later made into a book, The Economics of Discrimination, showed that free markets make racial discrimination costly. His basic argument is that discrimination is a self-imposed restriction on trade that... MORE
June 5, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Kevin Kelly says yes: Did we really believe we could collaboratively build and inhabit virtual worlds all day, every day, and not have it affect our perspective? The force of online socialism is growing. Its dynamic is spreading beyond electrons--perhaps... MORE
June 3, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I went to an event on the future of conservatism, described here.... MORE
May 29, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
My review of Friedrich Hayek's classic, The Road to Serfdom, is on-line. In it, I summarize the book's message and discuss its relevance today. One passage: In the United States today, the intellectuals' and the public's belief in freedom seems... MORE
May 28, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
On William Easterly's blog, Laura Freschi writes, Efforts to curb corruption in Afghanistan are failing, says a new USAID report. Based on dozens of interviews and a comprehensive review of existing studies and polls, the report describes the sources of... MORE
May 27, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robin Hanson writes, it looks bad to admit we do politics to selfishly show off, instead of to help society make better policy. So we are built to instead talk, and think, as if we do politics for its influence... MORE
May 26, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Jonathan Chait writes, Do Kling and Schulz think that interest groups can have that much influence over the outcomes of elections -- so much influence that the Democrats will have a near lock on power? If so, shouldn't they support... MORE
May 24, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
Pinch me A few months ago, I posted about the economic freedom that allowed my wife and me to help our daughter move from San Jose to San Francisco in less than a day. I had another "pinch me; I... MORE
May 20, 2009
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
Antonio Fatas and Ilian Mihov write, China has sustained high growth rates in recent years despite its poor institutions because institutional quality is relatively less important in developing economies. However, we find that as their incomes increase, such countries need... MORE
May 18, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, it's not obvious that Republicans actually offer more free-market politics than Democrats do. Probably true, but beside the point. I am not upset with political trends because I want Republicans to win. I am upset because I foresee... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
When libertarians (as well as economically literate conservatives) worry about immigration, they usually focus on its undesirable political consequences. As my co-blogger Arnold puts it:The demographic picture, in which traditional Republican voting groups are shrinking as a proportion of the... MORE
May 17, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Indeed, Violence and Social Orders is an important book. My guess is that many reviewers will complain about the editing and organization. Many points are repeated ad nauseum. Some reasonably important points are tossed off more casually. I'll quote some... MORE
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Arnold Kling
William Voegeli, in an article for the Claremont Review called "The Wilderness Years Begin," cites an article by Ronald Brownstein. Start by considering the electorate's six broadest demographic groups -- white voters with at least a four-year college degree; white... MORE
May 13, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The Obama Administration wants it. Wall Street pay has long been a hot-button issue in Washington, but the public outrage over excessive compensation has erupted in recent weeks. I interpret the public outrage a bit differently. It seems to me... MORE
May 11, 2009
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
He writes, The President is attempting to claim credit for [health care] savings that (a) do not yet exist, (b) are not backed up by any specific changes in industry practices or government policies, and (c) are related to him... MORE
May 6, 2009
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Paul Collier's "The Dictator's Handbook," is truly excellent. The lead-in:The old rulers of the Soviet Union were terrified of facing contested elections. Those of us who studied political systems presumed they must be right: Elections would empower citizens against the... MORE
May 5, 2009
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
USA Today reports, In a historic first, Uncle Sam has supplanted sales, property and income taxes as the biggest source of revenue for state and local governments. Thanks to Nick Schulz for the pointer. The gist of the story is... MORE
May 4, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Will Wilkinson writes, People who finally gained equal political rights through a long democratic struggle cannot have been unreasonable to see democratic politics as a morally and politically progressive force. Basically, what I read into this sentence is the notion... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, [BTW, Bill Gates essentially taxed middle class consumers all over the developed world, and is giving almost all of the money to the disadvantged in poor countries. That's something governments don't do, and yet for his "monopoly profits"... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
A recent piece by Joshua Kurlantzick in Foreign Policy argues that middle-class reformers around the world are turning against democracy:Despite its name, the People's Alliance is explicitly antidemocratic. In its platform, the group seeks election reform measures that are basically... MORE
Macroeconomics
Arnold Kling
Tyler and Alex have new textbooks on micro and macro. Both begin with the same anecdote. In 1787, the British government had hired sea captains to ship convicted felons to Australia...On one voyage, more than a third of the males... MORE
May 1, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Edward P. Stringham and Jeffrey Rogers Hummel write, According to the Mises-Bastiat view, governments are able to get away with as much as they do only because they have the support of enough people. Bad policies persist only because the... MORE
April 29, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Cato Unbound this month deals with a core issue. Peter Thiel writes, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible... As one fast-forwards to 2009, the prospects for a libertarian politics appear grim indeed. Exhibit A is a... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I've long remembered this passage from John Mueller's Capitalism, Democracy, and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery:For generations (actually, for millenia) homosexuals have been persecuted both in democracies and nondemocracies, and their defining sexual activity has been routinely outlawed. This tiny minority... MORE
April 27, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robert D. Kaplan writes mostly about politics and conflict. But there is much of importance to economists. Some excerpts follow.... MORE
April 23, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen finds research suggesting that the more highly you think of your morals, the less altruistic you are. I could think of so many things to say about this, and how it explains who gives to charity and who... MORE
April 20, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A reader asks, Do you believe that it is moral for universities to receive state funds? If so, how would you justify it? As a student that attends a state-funded university, I've had to think about this myself. I remember... MORE
April 19, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
James Kwak muses, I like to think that maybe there are people on the House Financial Services Committee who are secretly not so sure about the difference between preferred and common stock, and maybe they will read Financial Services for... MORE
April 14, 2009
Austrian Economics
Arnold Kling
A quarter century ago, by a pre-white-haired John O'Sullivan, for The Foundation for Economic Education. Very rewarding to listen. For example, a bit over an hour into it, he makes the point that unions that force up wages in one... MORE
April 13, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
In chapter one of his economics textbook Hidden Order, David Friedman writes, Economics is that way of understanding behavior that starts from the assumption that individuals have objectives and tend to choose the correct way to achieve them. ...For a... MORE
April 11, 2009
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Don Boudreaux writes, progress necessarily involves freeing individuals from their status stations -- freeing persons from stations assigned by circumstances such as skin color, family name, genitalia, sexuality, nationality -- and thereby allowing individuals to determine as best as each... MORE
April 10, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Michael Strong has an interesting guest post at a new blog on competitive government. He writes, Another direction that I've been encouraging libertarians to consider is the option of a global free zone industry in which private corporations specialize not... MORE
April 9, 2009
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Today I got a wonderful coincidental birthday present: I met Patri Friedman. I also got to enjoy his Cato Unbound essay on "Folk Activism." It's highly recommended, but here's a passage I've got to criticize:In the modern world, however, bad... MORE
April 8, 2009
Economics of Health Care
Arnold Kling
In the comments on my health care rationing post, I received many standard attacks as being cold-hearted and willing to deny health care to people who need it. From a libertarian perspective, your generosity is reflected in what you do... MORE
April 6, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, When we read in the evening paper that we're footing the bill for another bailout, we react by complaining to our friends, suggesting alternatives, and trying to build coalitions for reform. This primal behavior is as good a... MORE
March 31, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Jonah argues that we have become belated converts to the Liberal Fascism thesis. And Arnold Kling who said my book was in fact written by three people -- "Goldberg the revisionist historian, Goldberg the outraged conservative child, and Goldberg the... MORE
March 30, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Matt Taibbi writes, What had brought us to the brink of collapse in the first place was this relentless instinct for building ever-larger megacompanies, passing deregulatory measures to gradually feed all the little fish in the sea to an ever-shrinking... MORE
March 27, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Glenn Reynolds comments on the plight of Freddie Mac as reported in today's Washington Post. [The Post reports] When Freddie Mac's executives concluded a few weeks ago that they had to disclose that the government's management of the McLean company... MORE
March 17, 2009
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
Philip Greenspun writes, The logical conclusion from reading this book is to prefer a new state to an old state, a newly stable state to a long-stable state, and a new industry to an old one. Read the whole thing,... MORE
March 13, 2009
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
I'm reading Be the Solution, by Michael Strong. I'm about 50 pages into it. The book combines a passion for capitalism, a passion for solving social problems, and some New Age spirituality. Think Ayn Rand meets Stephen Covey. I see... MORE
March 11, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
David Henderson quotes Isaac to the effect that we would have had thousands of bank failures under market value accounting in the 1980's. That is wrong. If market value accounting had been in place in the 1970's, we would not... MORE
March 1, 2009
Macroeconomics
Arnold Kling
At the Kauffman forum that I attended in Kansas City the other day, I thought that the most interesting comments, neither of which I agreed with, were offered by Amity Shlaes and Michael Mandel, who blog here and here, respectively.... MORE
February 28, 2009
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
Jeff Cornwall summarizes the panel on the outlook for the economy and entrepreneurs at the Kauffman Foundation forum this past weekend in Kansas City. In a later post, I will discuss the interesting ideas that were brought up at that... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Only because I am too busy. Grant McCracken on whether restrained consumer spending will be temporary or permanent. Virginia Postrel on the same topic, based on discussions at the Kauffman Foundation Forum. It was great to see her looking so... MORE
February 24, 2009
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
From Brad DeLong, Michele Boldrin, Clive Crook, and David Brooks. Thanks to Greg Mankiw for the first two pointers. Comments below.... MORE
February 22, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
Yesterday my wife and I got on the road early to go to San Jose (we live 75 miles south in Pacific Grove) to help our daughter move her stuff from a storage locker to a shared apartment in San... MORE
February 21, 2009
Economic History
Arnold Kling
Christopher I. Beckwith writes, Viewed from the perspective of Eurasian history over the last four millennia, there does not seem to me to be any significant difference between the default underlying human socio-political structure during this time period--that is, down... MORE
Political Economy
David Henderson
That's the message President Obama is sending to those who have saved their money and waited on the sidelines to buy a house. One intended effect of his mortgage bailout plan is to support housing prices and the unintended effect... MORE
February 20, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A heroic public servant speaks. "Voters picked me because they wanted nursery schools, police and nurses, and not to buy loss-making car factories," From that bastion of heartless, free-market ideology, Sweden. Thanks to Richard Florida for the pointer.... MORE
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
Rasmussen reports, Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans oppose the federal government subsidizing mortgage payments for financially troubled homeowners, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Thirty-eight percent (38%) think government subsidies are a good idea, and 18% are... MORE
February 18, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Why do we have a housing bailout that spends $75 billion, plus $200 billion in "support" for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? By what test is this a public good? My test is this: would an overwhelming majority of Americans... MORE
February 16, 2009
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I'd like to think that I'm the but-for cause of this paragraph, but either way, the world should listen:[I]t is a mistake to assume that equality of democratic voice improves the prospects of the poor and working classes unless the... MORE
February 15, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, ...a bigger-tent liberalism - somewhat chastened, perhaps, by some big-government failures in the Obama era - that makes libertarian intellectuals feel welcome, engages them in conversations about smarter regulations and more efficient tax policy, and generally woos them... MORE
February 11, 2009
Economic Education
Arnold Kling
A poll says that two-thirds of the American people think they could do a better job on the economy than Congress. Forty-four percent (44%) voters also think a group of people selected at random from the phone book would do... MORE
February 6, 2009
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
Greg Mankiw writes I would institute an immediate and permanent reduction in the payroll tax, financed by a gradual, permanent, and substantial increase in the gasoline tax. I think if you put leading economists into a room to negotiate on... MORE
February 5, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Ed Glaeser does not like the Republican mortgage plan any more than I do. I am not sure that plan is still alive. It may have been superceded by another ill-conceived idea, a tax break for home buyers. See Tyler... MORE
January 25, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
From James Hamilton if everybody and their grandmother is lining up for a bailout, and pulling political strings ([1], [2]) to make sure they get it, I read that as prima facie evidence that the taxpayers' interests are not being... MORE
January 20, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Some excerpts from his 1999 book, Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" say. Chapter three is called "Spectacle."... MORE
January 18, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Radley Balko writes, After the 2000 Census, the richest county in America was Douglas County, Colorado. By 2007, Douglas County had fallen to sixth. The new top three are now Loudon County, Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia; and Howard County, Maryland.... MORE
January 16, 2009
Political Economy
David Henderson
One of the columns in the Wall Street Journal I read almost every week is Peggy Noonan's weekend column, "Declarations." A former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, Ms. Noonan has a way with words. The content can range from the incredibly... MORE
January 10, 2009
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
He writes, among the biggest supporters of both [the bailout and the stimulus] have been the world's investors, at least insofar as their collective judgment is reflected in market prices. As I showed yesterday, investors overwhelmingly supported the Paulson plan:... MORE
Political Economy
David Henderson
Alex Tabarrok went to see President-elect Obama speak at George Mason University on Thursday and came away impressed. Why? Here are Alex's words: His [Obama's] goal is "not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for... MORE
January 8, 2009
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
Mark Thoma gives us Joseph Stiglitz and Martin Feldstein being interviewed by Charlie Rose. I listened to it last night, and I found it so chilling that it adversely affected my sleep. Two issues stand out. 1. Both of them... MORE
January 6, 2009
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bryan discusses policy libertarianism and structural libertarianism. If they were 60's leftists, the policy libertarians would be willing to work within the system and the structural libertarians would want to change the system. In this case, I feel ambivalence, of... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Out of all the Structural Libertarians named in my last post, there is one counter-example to my claim that "It's policy all the way down": Patri Friedman's "seasteading" proposal. The whole point of seasteading is to get outside of existing... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Are policy reformers naive? Both libertarians and public choice economists (and especially libertarian public choice economists) often say so: "The policies we have are a rational response of political actors to the institutional incentives they face. The only way to... MORE
December 29, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Reason TV has a video of a panel discussion that really articulates the frustration that libertarians feel about the financial bailout. As Tim Cavanaugh points out, the bailout redistributes from the prudent to the profligate. As Veronique de Rugy points... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Louis E. Carabini writes, There are those inclined to liberty--freedom of the individual to live his or her life in any peaceful way. And there are those who are inclined to mastery--permitting others to live their lives only as another... MORE
December 26, 2008
Economic History
David Henderson
In his column in today's New York Times, Paul Krugman claims that Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was "clean" and avoided corruption. So clean was FDR's Works Progress Administration, writes Krugman, that "when a Congressional subcommittee investigated the W.P.A., it... MORE
December 21, 2008
Political Economy
David Henderson
We often hear the word "Scrooge" used to refer to people who oppose government programs for the poor. Yet a close reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol shows that this usage is in appropriate. In fact, early in the... MORE
December 15, 2008
Business Economics
Arnold Kling
Management systems degrade. As a manager or a regulator, if you stand still you fall behind. This year, the Washington Redskins hired a new coach, Jim Zorn. They started out 6-2, but they have since lost 5 out of 6... MORE
December 11, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
David Schleicher continues to turn his powerful intellect to the under-studied subject of urban political economy. Lack of information is always a problem in democracy, but......voters in national elections are provided with a coping mechanism, a bit of publicly provided... MORE
December 10, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
As promised, Volokh guest blogger David Schleicher posted his preferred explanation for the persistence of one-party urban democracy. As first glance, his story seems pretty different from mine. Here's his lead-in: "I argue that the lack of competition in city... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, guest blogger David Schleicher tries to explain why so many cities are, like Singapore, one-party democracies. He begins by pointing out that the "obvious" explanation is wrong:It is true that in almost all major American... MORE
December 9, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
After the hearing on Freddie and Fannie, my wife said, "You know, after I was finished with jury duty, I was feeling pretty patriotic. I wasn't feeling patriotic after this." C-span took this photo. The hearing covers two c-span videos,... MORE
December 3, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Don Boudreaux writes, Detroit auto executives advocate "government getting a stake in the auto companies that would allow taxpayers to share in future gains if they recover" ... I remind these executives that each American is already perfectly free and... MORE
December 1, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
While we're on the subject of differential tax treatment, I don't think Rod or his critics ever mentions the notorious double taxation imposed by the corporate income tax. This tax matters less than it used to, but the U.S. federal... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
As I've said before, the conversation sparked by Rod Long's Cato Unbound essay has been rididulously lively. Now I'd like to append a few points that - as far as I can tell - no one else has made. (Please... MORE
November 26, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Responding to Bryan, Will Wilkinson writes, bureaucrats in a technocracy will be motivated to explore ideas, while bureaucrats in a democracy will be motivated to signal and recruit fidelity to the coalition's pre-assigned ideas. The point is that a country... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
When I was flying to Singapore I kept thinking about Roderick Long's Cato Unbound piece on "Corporations versus the Market." Now that I've returned, I see there's been a ridiculously lively followup discussion. I'm sorry to have missed it, but... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Here's a question that got a big laugh around a Singaporean lunch table: "So, do most people here support Electronic Road Pricing?" Not on your life! If you want to see how S'poreans really feel about ERP, check out this... MORE
November 14, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
I have been invited to speak for ten minutes on the financial crisis. As you will see below, I do not agree so much with President Bush (via Mankiw). Unlike the President, I see no benefit in putting credit default... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Wilkinson, that is: We're going to get lectured a lot-probably by many of the same twenty-five year olds who have invested heavily in home decor featuring presidential power porn-on how the failure of this or that is due to a... MORE
November 13, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Consider two propositions: 1. Market failure is inevitable. 2. Government failure is inevitable. In talking about the financial crisis, I believe that to speak the truth one has to accept both propositions. Most people prefer narrative, which either explicitly or... MORE
November 12, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
The Associated Press reports, Under the law, companies facing shortfalls must bring their plans up to full funding over the next seven years. Those that fall short will be forced to take steps such as freezing the accrual of new... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The new issue of Cato Unbound promises to be interesting. It starts with an essay by Roderick Long. because corporate power and the free market are actually antithetical; genuine competition is big business's worst nightmare. But also, in all too... MORE
November 11, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Megan McArdle writes Money is weird. Finance is weird. There is no other industry that is, first, so tightly coupled, and second, severely affects every other industry in the country. She Is trying to ward off cognitive dissonance over the... MORE
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Below are various links, including some that pertain to AIG. The government is eventually planning to sell the normal insurance lines of AIG. The proceeds from those sales then can be used to fund losses on the credit default swaps... MORE
November 10, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
P. J. O.Rourke writes, The free market is just a measurement, a device to tell us what people are willing to pay for any given thing at any given moment. The free market is a bathroom scale. You may hate... MORE
November 3, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From Patri Friedman. Only without political freedom can economic freedom thrive (see Hong Kong, Singapore). With political freedom (democracy) comes a welfare state and loss of economic freedom.... MORE
October 31, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Some random thoughts. 1. In my county, and in many locations in the U.S., we have had one-party government for longer than the Communists had control of Eastern Europe. 2. In spite of the fact that Congressional approval ratings are... MORE
October 30, 2008
Political Economy
David Henderson
I hadn't read Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom cover to cover for over 20 years. Today I did. I knew it was a good book but I concluded today that it's a great book. Here are two of the... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From The Tax Foundation The Treasury action invalidating SILO depreciation deductions encouraged the banks to look for any opportunity to get out of the contracts. The situation is exacerbated by an IRS settlement offer to banks that lets them keep... MORE
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
I recommend this lecture from Bill Bishop. By the way, I am finding an incredible amount of interesting videos these days. I think that somebody who is motivated to learn and has some good sources of recommendations could get do... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, I wonder what it is like for a country to be truly, permanently bankrupt. And a further difficulty lies on the horizon. Circa 2000, fish accounted for 70 percent of the country's export earnings. Here are many... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From Don Boudreaux. The fact that each of us depends upon the efforts of millions of others does not mean that some "society" transcending individuals produces our prosperity. Rather, it means that the vast system of voluntary market exchange coordinates... MORE
October 29, 2008
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
John Baden writes, there is diminishing support for institutions that generate wealth rather than redistribute it...both positive and negative values increasingly converge and agglutinate. This promotes substantial class differences. If one is blessed with responsible parents, intelligence, favorable genetics, health,... MORE
October 24, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Megan McArdle has written about the evil man theory (also here). The key to a narrative of evil is that someone knew. Early in the crisis, we were hearing that banks knew that the loans they were making were headed... MORE
October 19, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen invokes Fischer Black. in his 1991 book, "Business Cycles and Equilibrium," and his 1995 work, "Exploring General Equilibrium," he argued that major business downturns could be caused by a combination of excess risk-taking and simple bad luck. If... MORE
October 15, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Tyler keeps wondering whether the bailout (or "bank recapitalization") is going to work. He is asking the wrong questions. Whether the economy needs a "plan," or whether the plan will help the markets, is beside the point. The plan serves... MORE
October 6, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen puts a lot of the blame for the financial crisis on leverage. He links to Robert Frank, who writes, In financial markets, asset bubbles cause real trouble when investors can borrow freely to expand their holdings. To... MORE
September 28, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
From ABCNews:The main opposition in Congress has come from GOP conservatives, especially in the House. Democrats also hope that, after the compromises, enough House Republicans will vote for the package to give Democrats political cover.From FOXNews:Lawmakers had to navigate between... MORE
September 25, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Here's one of Heinlein's modest proposals for improving democracy:A state that required a bare minimum of intelligence and education - e.g., step into the polling booth and find that the computer has generated a new quadratic equation just for you.... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
The median voter isn't to blame for everything wrong with the world. Check this out: In Maryland, it's illegal to massage a horse!Mercedes took an eight-month equine massage course and hung up her shingle. She said she so enjoyed massaging... MORE
September 23, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I am cited by, of all people, David Brooks, for coining the term "progressive corporatism." I guess it goes down easier than "liberal fascism." My original post is here. Should I be happy or unhappy with the way I appear... MORE
September 19, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Roderick Long writes, The vast regulatory apparatus that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was thus specifically campaigned for by the business community. ..The supposedly pro-labour legislation that emerged from this area was also mostly bogus, a... MORE
September 18, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The Wall Street Journal reports, "No one in a democracy, unelected, should have $800 billion to spend as he sees fit," said Mr. Frank. Andrew Jackson felt similarly, which is why he refused to renew the charter of the second... MORE
September 16, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From David Brooks. Democracy is not average people selecting average leaders. It is average people with the wisdom to select the best prepared. I still prefer the quote of the day. When I read Bobos in Paradise several years ago,... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robert Higgs writes, Call it democracy in action or utterly corrupt governance; they are the same thing. He wrote this in regard to the Fannie-Freddie implosion, also known as "last week's news." Next Monday, in Hartford, I will be arguing... MORE
September 12, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Steve Horvitz highlights a quote from Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain: It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a curse. Alex Tabarrok nominates that for sentence of the year. Next, Jonathan Haidt writes, politics... MORE
September 8, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I will be a participant in a seminar in a couple of weeks called making democracy smarter. My essay is called competitive government vs. democratic government. I make the case against democracy. Democratic government in the United States today offers... MORE
September 7, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A newspaper in Anne Arundel County, Maryland reports, the number of school employees earning more than $100,000 doubled from 213 in 2007 to 450 in fiscal 2009, which started in July. ...62 school employees received pay hikes of more than... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Rick Shenkman writes, by most measures, voters today possess the same level of political knowledge as their parents and grandparents, and in some categories, they score lower. In the 1950s, only 10 percent of voters were incapable of citing any... MORE
September 4, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
When I was at the APSA meetings, the famed Arthur Lupia gave yet another speech in defense of voter competence. He offered a long list of arguments. But his most important mistake, in my view, was his claim that voters... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen types, I also think, though, cynically, that the GOP knows that "delivering" on the abortion issue would spell their doom and thus they won't ever do it. I have thought that this holds for the Democrats and universal... MORE
September 2, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Public choice scholars often say that democracy underperforms the market because of: 1. Infrequent choice. In the market, consumers can continuously change their minds. In politics, however, voters are stuck with their choice until the next election. 2. Bundled choice.... MORE
August 29, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Readers have noticed that my tone has been relatively bitter the last several months. One possible reason is that the election campaign is heating up. To me, political campaigns are not sacred events, to be eagerly anticipated and avidly followed.... MORE
August 27, 2008
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Bruno S. Frey and Reiner Eichenberger write, externalities are not technologically but rather socially determined. There are no inherent properties of a good or service producing external effects, therefore, citizens have to use the political process to determine what is... MORE
August 26, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Eric Posner writes, People should be more worried than they are by the fragmentation of states. . .in recent years, the main cause has been, essentially, ethnic separatism. . .the resulting nation states can be too small to govern themselves... MORE
August 20, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
How does the liberal elite view the American military? It seems to me that they view the military as a group of basically evil men, inclined to torture and commit war crimes. It would be better if we could do... MORE
August 15, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I just heard about this story. When Landmarks Association of St. Louis embarked on an ambitious plan to create a tourism-oriented architectural center downtown, Larry Cohn said he wanted to help and eagerly pledged $500,000. After two years of planning,... MORE
August 13, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
James K. Galbraith writes, The job of discipline belongs to governments. And they must act not only on behalf of today's citizens but of all those yet to come - of those who need clean food and water, of those... MORE
August 5, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Nicholas Lemann discusses a book by Arthur Fisher Bentley on political theory that came out one hundred years ago. Under Bentley’s rules, you can’t talk about public opinion, because there is no such thing as “the public” (there are only... MORE
August 4, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, But what is a confiscatory government? It is just a government run by profit-maximizers. ...There have to be rules, ethical norms and institutional constraints governing profit-maximizing behavior, to ensure that the maximization operates for the social good. Of... MORE
July 31, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
1. A Ship of Nomads. My goal is to build a large ship and put around 100 decent sized condominiums on it for co-owners. The ship would have a few megabits of satellite connectivity for internet and telephone, plus equipment... MORE
July 29, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Marc Pesce delivers a few facts and a lot of breathless prose. Somewhere in the last few months, half the population of the planet became mobile telephone subscribers. In a decade's time we've gone from half the world having never... MORE
July 27, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
John Stewart writes, Global governance is essential if nations are to cooperate to overcome the deficiencies of global markets...It can ensure that nations capture the benefits of their contribution to global social, economic and environmental projects that have collective benefits... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Glenn Reynolds asks, If somebody offered us our current income tax system for the first time, would we buy it? On another topic, but effectively asking the same question, Washington Post editorializes, the policies and institutions that worked in the... MORE
July 25, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay: Financial markets will always be subject to miscalculations and mistakes. However, the more we ask politicians to provide perfect insulation from financial risk, the more fragile the system will become. That is the real lesson we should... MORE
July 24, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Think of the following as a diagram: High Collective BenefitsLow Collective BenefitsMostly Market MechanismsMostly Government Mechanisms Along the horizontal axis, as you move to the right, resources are allocated by government mechanisms more than by market mechanisms. Along the vertical... MORE
July 22, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
First, Jesse Larner on Hayek. So to Hayek, the common law is a spontaneous phenomenon, without obvious human direction. In a sense law is related to custom in this manner, but there is no guarantee that honoring this concept of... MORE
July 21, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
John Stossel interviewed me today. (Here's his review of my book). If everything goes as planned, I'll play the foil to some get-out-the-vote activists on a forthcoming 20/20 segment. I'll keep you posted on the airdate. But whatever happens, meeting... MORE
July 18, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, Someone this week asked me what I thought of policy-makers who ex ante profess a free-market ideology and acute sensitivity to the dangers of moral hazard from financial bailouts, but who toss that ideology overboard when faced with... MORE
July 16, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robin Hanson writes, It seems we hope a stronger and more benevolent God or State will protect us when feel less able to protect ourselves. He is reporting on a paper in a psychology journal by Aaron C. Kay with... MORE
July 13, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Greg Mankiw runs on support for free trade, opposition to farm subsidies, an energy tax, raising the retirement age, and other proposals. I think he is correct that this platform would win a lot of votes with Ph.D economists. It... MORE
July 9, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Stephen R. Shalom has a proposal to re-scale government institutions. I propose that legislative functions be carried out by a system of nested councils. Here is one way that such a system might function. There would be primary-level councils that... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In general, the writers are better at diagnosis than prescription.... MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Arnold Kling
Clay Shirky writes, If I had to pick one method of rebooting civic life, it would be by finding new ways to grant groups the legitimacy essential to pursuing long-term and constructive goals on their own. This is in the... MORE
July 7, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mike Munger and Russ Roberts deliver one of the best podcasts ever. Munger describes the way in which moving from a private bus system to a public system in Santiago Chile made essentially everyone in the city worse off. The... MORE
July 4, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In a somewhat melancholy 4th of July essay, Canadian libertarian Pierre Lemieux writes, How could a country founded on the ideal of individual liberty, with a state devoted to the mission of protecting it, slide down the road to tyranny... MORE
July 3, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mencius Moldbug proposes a thought experiment. Imagine that there had been no scientific or technical progress at all during the 20th century. That the government of 2008 had to function with the technical base of 1908... [Conversely, imagine] what would... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The more I read (or Kindle) Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought, the more antecedents I see to modern liberal reformers. For example, he describes Dorothea Dix, who is summed up well in her Wikipedia entry. Dorothea Lynde Dix... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bradford Plumer writes, Finamore points out, for instance, that if China enforced all the building codes it has on the books, it could cut its energy use dramatically. NRDC is training Chinese building inspectors, who often don't understand the codes,... MORE
July 2, 2008
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Peter Orszag recommends a talk by David Brooks at the Aspen Ideas Festival. The web site for the conference says that full video will be available, but for now there are only short clips. Go here and look for the... MORE
Business Economics
Arnold Kling
Mihir A. Desai, Dhammika Dharmapala, and Monica Singhal write, The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program provides for the majority of new affordable housing units built in the U.S. and has resulted in the production of 1.5 million low-income... MORE
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
Maarten Bosker, Eltjo Buringh, and Jan Luiten van Zanden write, The sociologist Max Weber introduced a distinction between ‘consumer cities’ and ‘producer cities’... The classical consumer city is a centre of government and military protection or occupation, which supplies services... MORE
July 1, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I am not repeating the famous sentence of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, "to the end that this may be a government of laws and not of men." There never was such a government. Constitute them how you will,... MORE
June 27, 2008
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Reviewing Bruno Frey's latest book, Alan Wolfe writes, Frey proposes what he calls "positive Constitutional economics." ...Federalism would be strengthened by decentralizing power, not to the states but to an entirely new political element that would have limited and defined... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
This week, he writes, According to this article, for example, there are "over 7500 nonprofits" in the Bay Area, "3800 of which deal with sustainability issues." These appear to employ approximately half of our fair city's jeunesse doree, occupying the... MORE
June 25, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Felix Salmon writes, What’s needed here is not ad-hoc coalitions along single-issue lines, which is what we’ve had until now: a group of mayors against guns here, a livable-streets group there, a green group, a gay-rights group, and so on.... MORE
June 24, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In 2005, Richard CB Johnsson wrote, the territorially sovereign states of today claim absolute political authority within their respective fixed territories. Wherever you are in the world today, you basically have to yield to the laws of that particular territory,... MORE
June 20, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Benjamin Barber laments the erosion of national autonomy—and, with it, the state’s monopoly over violence, the power to enact binding laws, and other essential aspects of sovereignty. Sovereignty, in turn, is an obvious precondition for democracy (which you cannot have... MORE
June 19, 2008
Economics of Education
Arnold Kling
Stephen Dubner looks at a reader's question of who is the greatest modern thinker. I love this question. It first requires you to define what a “thinker” is, and also raises the question of what incentives exist in the modern... MORE
June 16, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes, neither environmentalists nor Brazilian politicians have raised concerns about exploiting oil in the waters off the Brazilian coast. it is also worth noting that the Brazilian government has a 58% controlling stake in Petrobras's voting shares... MORE
June 15, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A comment on this post raises a valid issue. I was suggesting that I wanted a sort of anarcho-capitalism in which I can choose the government or governments I wish to operate under. The comment reads, in part Multiple states... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, Some deluded soul in the EU read a copy of John Calhoun instead of Buchanan and Tullock's Calculus of Consent. Hadn't they remembered the history of 17th and 18th century Poland and decided that a unanimity rule... MORE
June 6, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, Insofar as I am conservative (debatable) I would rewrite the definition: A realization that we will do best by building on the strengths of the particular habits, mores and institutions of the United States (and other successful... MORE
June 4, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
This Symposium offered many choices (all the papers are available at the link). Several years ago, I went to a Pop!Tech conference where each speaker was saying, in effect, "My research opportunity needs more attention." Today's symposium was more like... MORE
June 3, 2008
Institutional Economics
Arnold Kling
John Fonte writes, For some (clearly not all) libertarians opposition to the “state,” even the constitutional democratic nation-state leads to an affinity to transnational (as opposed to international) politics. Indeed, on Cato’s website, adjunct scholar Arnold Kling...“proposes” an “alternative ideology”... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My earlier post elicited some responses denying that free-market liberalism is an oxymoron. My view is that modern liberalism is an ideology of government expansion. Let me re-iterate that the ideology of government expansionism invokes the following: 1. X is... MORE
June 2, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Will Wilkinson makes the case. Freed to be full-on social liberals, many libertarians are left sensing a much deeper cultural affinity for the left than the right. And this leads naturally to seeing more clearly their ideological affinities with welfare... MORE
May 28, 2008
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
David Boaz writes, Messrs. Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enough, that pursuing our own happiness is "self-indulgence," that building a business is "chasing after our money culture," that working to provide... MORE
May 23, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robert Nelson, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland, gave me a copy of an argument he submitted on behalf of a Montgomery County neighborhood (his) that was attempting to incorporate in order to have jurisdiction over some... MORE
May 22, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Stephen Bainbridge writes, it is the Libertarians and the progressives who are Big Idea people. Despite their obvious differences in philosophy, they share the absurd belief that if only their big idea(s) came to pass, society would inexorably progress towards... MORE
May 21, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Thomas Frank writes, Almost by definition, our young libertarian's job is to celebrate the profit motive from the offices of a not-for-profit organization. He is subsidized, in other words, to hymn the unsubsidized way of life. Rugged individualism may be... MORE
May 18, 2008
Energy, Environment, Resources
Arnold Kling
Concerning polling results on the issue of global warmaing, Andrew Gelman writes, Among college grads, there is a big partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans. Among non-graduates, the differences are smaller. This is completely consistent with research that shows that... MORE
May 6, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ibsen Martinez writes about the perception that Chile's economic success is tainted by its origins in the Pinochet regime. Sadly enough, many people in Latin America who believe in the virtues of free-market economies still argue that it takes a... MORE
May 5, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Greg Mankiw writes, If you think it is the job of government to take from Peter to pay Paul, and if Peter can move around the globe, then you need international tax cooperation. Otherwise, some countries will become nations of... MORE
May 4, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Hillary's having trouble finding an economist to back her suspension of the gas tax. But she need look no further - I'll rise to the challenge. Here's my economic case for the tax cut: 1. The American people want to... MORE
May 3, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Imagine in 1958 an innocent Associate Professor of Political Science spending a summer in Mexico and getting mixed up with these guys: A considerable number of the folletos, almost half, originally were prepared by foreign, non-Mexican authors...Fred Clark, of the... MORE
April 30, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Charles Kessler writes, continued growth of government is not inevitable. But a word of caution: Neither is big government’s demise inevitable. Sometimes conservatives and even libertarians predict that big government is doomed. Some point to modern technology as the savior:... MORE
April 26, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, real world political debate is not fundamentally a macro-cosm of the thought processes of a smart person, or of one smart person debating another. The politics of confrontation usually turn ugly. Since my father's death, I have... MORE
April 22, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Reviewing a book by Bill Bishop, Alan Ehrenhalt writes, there is one simple statistic, rightly seized on by Mr. Bishop, that is difficult to explain away. It is this: In 1976, less than a quarter of the American people lived... MORE
April 10, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
His obituary is in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Merle Kling, retired provost, dean and professor of political science at Washington University, died Tuesday (April 8, 2008) at Barnes Extended Care in Clayton... Mr. Kling's tenure as dean covered the Vietnam... MORE
April 7, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
For an encyclopedia, he writes, In the eyes of the libertarian, everything the government does that would be deemed coercive and criminal if done by any other party in society is still coercive. For example, imagine that a neighbor decided... MORE
Income Distribution
Arnold Kling
From a longer essay on Inequality and Excess: I feel awkward and defensive when the subject of economic inequality comes up. The fact is that I cannot say that I feel comfortable with the levels of inequality and excess that... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Dean Baker writes, Remarkably, the Post editorial writers seem to be the only ones who have noticed that the Senate "Foreclosure Prevention" bill will give banks an incentive to carry through foreclosures. The bill would give a $7,000 tax credit... MORE
March 27, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Suppose someone said: "People drive 5-15 miles over the speed limit. It's obvious, then, that speed limits have no effect on how people drive." It's a pretty silly argument, isn't it? People drive 5-15 miles over the speed limit in... MORE
March 24, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I have not had much time to pursue the folk song idea, but I have written a few snippets. [now slightly revised] First, I am trying to do something to the tune of "Union Maid" that speaks to the moral... MORE
March 18, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Not the topic du jour, by any means, but one that has interested me for a long time. Megan McArdle writes, I'm an enormous fan of John McWhorter's book on the decline of formal language, Doing Our Own Thing. I... MORE
March 14, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Amidst the tawdriness, I attempt to draw a real lesson. Suppose that we define "Spitzer" as someone who believes in the aggressive use of political power. A Spitzer believes it is his mission to tell us what to do for... MORE
March 10, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Today's news (usually not my best blog topic) is Eliot Spitzer. When I heard about his, er, affair, I started wondering: Is every successful politician that arrogant? Does our process work that well at selecting for arrogance, or am I... MORE
March 6, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The LA Times reports, Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California's home schooling families. ..."Parents do not have a constitutional right... MORE
March 5, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, the one thing libertarians grasp better than conservatives or liberals is the danger of the category error when it comes to the role of government...The fundamental insight of libertarianism is that the government is the government. It cannot... MORE
March 4, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Thursday through Sunday, I'll be at the 2008 Public Choice meetings for the first time since I became a dad. Reviewing the schedule, here's what stands out to me:Mitchell, Matt — Justices, Presidents and Nominations: A Public Choice Model of... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Selwyn Duke says it short and sweet in "Why Most Voters Shouldn't Vote":Most of us agree that having an educated populace is a prerequisite for a sound democratic republic. We also know that not everyone is well-educated. Thus, it cannot... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In a history of Swarthmore's economics department, Joshua Hausman wrote, Nearing is also the only Swarthmore professor to have taught eugenics in an economics class. He omits his past interest in eugenics from his 1972 autobiography... In a 1912 book,... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Megan McArdle writes, Perhaps I am too jaded by excess air travel, but most of our homeland security seems designed to A) Increase the power of congressmen and agency heads or B) Put on a show for the yokels rather... MORE
March 3, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ibsen Martinez writes about life in Venezuela. Consider breakfast. My breakfast, to be exact. It's been months since I have had an oatmeal breakfast or a nice cup of espresso with a drop of milk because coffee and milk has... MORE
February 29, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Brian Doherty at Reason Hit and Run set up a thread on the civil disobedience idea. A commenter named Picaro listed videos of some folks who could accuse me of plagiarism. For example, this manicurist. If nothing else, the video... MORE
February 27, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ken Silber writes, The idea that people should be, say, lying down in front of police cars to protest hair salon regulations and the like is disproportionate, counterproductive and inane. It amounts to saying libertarian ideas aren't compelling enough to... MORE
February 26, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay talks about the possibility of letting groups of people splinter off to form new states within the United States. It gets pretty weird. Ken Kesey wrote a novel in which a ward of mental patients has their... MORE
February 23, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Most academic departments are democracies, at least on paper. Do they work the same way as other democracies, where the median voter basically gets his way? (Well, at least that's my take on democracy). From my experience, the answer is... MORE
February 19, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
More material has been added to Cato Unbound since I first posted. Michael Munger writes, The danger to limited government, the threat to the Montesquieuan system of checks and balances, comes from an unexpected source. “Good government” types, people who... MORE
February 15, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Thomas Sowell writes, What is called "planning" in political rhetoric is the government's suppression of other people's plans by superimposing on them a collective plan, created by third parties, armed with the power of government and exempted from paying the... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
David Brooks writes, National service should be a rite of passage for 20-somethings, and these volunteers could mentor students through high school and college years. ...That’s the conservatism of the fresh start. I think that everyone who is in favor... MORE
February 14, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Anthony de Jasay writes, To the extent that the collective choice rule can define or by a rule-change amend the frontier, its zone may encroach on the zone of individual choices, while the reverse is of course not the case;... MORE
February 11, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He said, The probability of the people in power being individuals who would dislike the possession and exercise of power is on a level with the probability that an extremely tender-hearted person would get the job of whipping master in... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
A good question from Trent McBride at Distributed Republic:When Republicans use free market rhetoric while campaigning, only to reverse when in office, we (most libertarians) decry their hypocrisy and warn not to believe future statements. And likely correctly so. However,... MORE
February 4, 2008
International Trade
Arnold Kling
My latest essay says, In the absence of hegemony, trade is impaired. If Marco Polo wants to buy goods in Afghanistan and sell them in China, he has to be able to avoid having his goods stolen, either by bandits... MORE
January 28, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A web site called The Victory Project proposes billion-dollar prizes for To the first person(s) that solves any of these Problems: 1. Develop a cure for breast cancer. 2. Develop a cure for diabetes. 3. Reduce greenhouse emissions from petroleum... MORE
January 23, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
One of the revelations of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism was the beliefs espoused by Richard T. Ely, the founder of the American Economic Association. In this essay, Ely wrote The law of society is service. This is the supreme law... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, a good notion of individual responsibility might start with: "We're not going to label every "little guy" a victim, even when it supports our political narrative to do so." Of course, we will abolish political demagoguery just... MORE
January 21, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen responds to a typical straw-man argument against libertarianism. I am more likely to think -- or should I say admit -- that human beings are irrational, even when the stakes are high (see the self-deception chapter in Discover... MORE
January 16, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
He writes, given your rather vehement views on the Ron Paul controversy, I am curious as to how you might answer the following questions. I would not describe my views on Ron Paul as vehement. His supporters are vehement. I... MORE
January 13, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The Boston Globe reports Mayor Thomas M. Menino embarked on a highly public campaign yesterday to block CVS Corp. and other retailers from opening medical clinics inside their stores, an effort that exposed a rift between Menino and the state's... MORE
January 9, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I started to write this as a blog post this morning, but I turned it into an essay, and TCS quickly ran it. So, I still have not defined "cult." For now, let's say that you are in a cult... MORE
January 8, 2008
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Edward Castronova talks about World of Warcraft, Second Life, and such with Russ Roberts on the latest econtalk. I used to play bridge quite a bit, but I stopped when I went to grad school. At that point, the last... MORE
January 7, 2008
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I just got back from LA, and Ron Paul's signature was everywhere. A random "Who is Ron Paul?" billboard. A mini-rally at the Palm Springs public market. A button on the collar of my flight attendant. I have to admit... MORE
January 4, 2008
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mark Thoma peers into the future to find this column by Bryan Caplan. In 1996, Gallup ran a survey about the minimum wage. Some respondents were asked if they favored an increase. More than 80 percent said yes. The rest... MORE
December 31, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Out of the blue, Newsweek's Andrew Romano quoted me, citing something I wrote over two years ago. It was an essay about the conflict between mainstream politicians and what I called the "Long Tail" of politics. If we had a... MORE
December 27, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
A few weeks ago, Bryan wrote, Premise #1: Wealth makes men cowards. Premise #2: When all men are cowards, there will be no war. Conclusion: When all men are wealthy, there will be no war. Here is my non-pacifist syllogism:... MORE
December 24, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
This passage from Anna Karenina reminds me of Tyler Cowen's "Rent-Seeking Can Promote the Provision of Public Goods" (1994. Economics and Politics 6(2), co-authored with Ami Glazer and Henry McMillan):...Oblonsky began telling them of a delightful shooting party at Malthus's... MORE
December 19, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Caleb Crain writes, It can be amusing to read a magazine whose principles you despise, but it is almost unbearable to watch such a television show. And so, in a culture of secondary orality, we may be less likely to... MORE
December 15, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Mencius Moldbug writes, the purpose of property is to prevent violence. The formalist is completely unconcerned with the moral legitimacy of property rights. She is entirely concerned with their stability. To a formalist, a system in which no involuntary property... MORE
December 12, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Premise #1: Wealth makes men cowards. Premise #2: When all men are cowards, there will be no war. Conclusion: When all men are wealthy, there will be no war. Reasons to Believe Premise #1: Richer countries are much less violent... MORE
December 8, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Western media and the Russians I know agree: Putin is popular. An op-ed in the Washington Post says "He Delivers. That's Why They Like Him."Russians support their president because he did something rare for a politician: He delivered. Russia today... MORE
December 3, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Russ Roberts gives a lesson. Bruce Yandle uses bootleggers and Baptists to explain what happens when a good cause collides with special interests. When the city council bans liquor sales on Sundays, the Baptists rejoice—it's wrong to drink on the... MORE
November 28, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Terence Jeffrey writes, "The growing political importance of unmarried women is undergirded by a demographic shift that is fundamentally changing America," Greenberg Quinlan Rosner reported. "Between 1960 and 2006, the percentile of the voting age population (as opposed to households)... MORE
November 18, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Today's Washington Post has three prominent op-ed pieces. Mark Winne writes, During my tenure in Hartford, I often wondered what would happen if the collective energy that went into soliciting and distributing food were put into ending hunger and poverty... MORE
November 11, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Diego Gambetta and Stefan Herzog write, Friedrich von Hayek, in 1952, made a strong case for the peculiarity of the engineering mentality, which in his view is the result of an education which does not train them to understand individuals... MORE
November 9, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I still remember when I was an undergraduate and Bill Dickens taught me how to pronounce "Mankiw." (That's MAN-KYOO to you.) I never would have believed that one day he'd be turning my name into an adjective:The public tends to... MORE
October 30, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Reuters reports, Karl Marx, who complained of excruciating boils, actually suffered from a chronic skin disease with known psychological effects that may well have influenced his writings, a British expert said on Tuesday. ...hidradenitis greatly reduced his self-esteem," said Shuster,... MORE
October 23, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Dan Klein writes, If it happened that it was the sociologists who were relatively enlightened and libertarian, while economists were relatively foolish and statist, Bryan would have said Sociologists represent the more “rational” answers to questions. Let me start with... MORE
October 16, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
On our left, we have George Lakoff, discussing the way taxes ought to be framed. Are you paying your dues, or are you trying to get something for free at the expense of your country? It's about being a member.... MORE
October 10, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Doug Campbell's written a great short history of public choice for Region Focus, the newsletter of the Richmond Fed. Or at least that's what my Inner Megalomaniac thinks, since 50% of this short history is about my work! One highlight:To... MORE
October 8, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Gary Becker writes, the evidence that has been accumulated since Schumpeter's book gives good marks to free market systems in promoting the interests of the poor and middle classes, including minorities. And examples abound of corrupt and incompetent government officials... MORE
October 5, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From Alex Tabarrok: In fact, liberalism, meaning classical liberalism, has never been conservative. It began as a movement of the left against feudalistic, conservative insiders and it remains so today.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen makes 8 remarks about journalism. The one that most reinforces what I believe is: Journalists tend to favor visible stories and neglect invisible opportunity costs and invisible hand mechanisms, which often but not always puts them against the... MORE
September 30, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Guest-blogging at Marginal Revolution, Wolfers writes, When the latest divorce numbers came out last week, they once again confirm this quarter-century long decline in divorce, but the media (including the Times, Post, and the Inquirer) chose instead to write (incorrectly)... MORE
September 25, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay is on this topic. it sets up a false set of expectations about what government can do. For example, people believe that government can regulate financial markets so that there are never any bubbles or miscalculations, no... MORE
September 21, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Going back to Will Wilkinson's exposition. Haidt’s research leads him to posit five psychological foundations of human moral sentiment, each with a distinct evolutionary history and function, which he labels harm, reciprocity, ingroup, hierarchy, and purity. While the five foundations... MORE
September 20, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Felix Salmon writes, It's not very often that Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman find themselves epitomizing opposite sides of an issue, but DeLong seems to have become Alan Greenspan's apologist in chief even as Krugman sticks the knife in to... MORE
September 12, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Kay Hymowitz writes, libertarians depend on the family--an institution that, in crucial respects, is unfree--to produce the sort of people best suited to life in a free-market system (not to mention future members of their own movement). The complex, dynamic... MORE
September 6, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
We'll start with good news, and move down. Greg Mankiw (among others) links to a profile of Robert Barro. The main result of Barro's other hit paper on economic growth—a 1992 article in the Journal of Political Economy, coauthored with... MORE
August 10, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Jerry Muller, a historian of economic thought, emailed me a paper that begins, While there have been many historical instances of capitalism without liberal, representative democracy, there are no known cases of liberal, representative democracy without capitalism. Some other interesting... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Dani Rodrik writes, The problem with self-enforcing agreements is that they do not scale up. One of the findings from Elinor Ostrom’s extensive case studies is that self-enforcing arrangements to manage the “commons” work well only when the geographic scope... MORE
August 9, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Michael Cannon describes how the self-selection process in politics works against my ideas for reforming health care. “Insulation” is another term for spending Other People’s Money. Politicians are predisposed not to see spending Other People’s Money as a problem, because... MORE
July 30, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In a new econtalk podcast, David Henderson and Russ Roberts discuss the issue of how a layman should deal with economic expertise. They mention the problem that the press will seek out "balance" when in fact one side is represented... MORE
July 17, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I assess the Bush Presidency Claims that ordinary workers fared poorly under President Bush are suspect. Data on the "distribution of income" are often abused by people making the claim that only the rich are getting ahead. Even the abusers,... MORE
July 16, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Julian Sanchez writes Is the freedom and individualism Lindsey sees the freedom from interference we find in Kansas or the plenitude and diversity of options we find in Manhattan? Or more generally, which of Isaiah Berlin’s “two concepts of liberty”... MORE
July 8, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
From Di Tella and MacCulloch:A finding that people who perceive corruption to be widespread also want more government regulation would be difficult to explain if regulations were simply facilitating rent extraction by bureaucrats.Is it really so "difficult" to believe that... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Here's the beginning of the abstract from Di Tella and MacCulloch's "Why Doesn't Capitalism Flow to Poor Countries?" (non-gated version here):We find anecdotal evidence suggesting that governments in poor countries have a more left wing rhetoric than those in OECD... MORE
July 3, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Most policies are popular. But I'm almost sure that Virginia's draconian new traffic fines are a counter-example. This part clinched it for me:Although the amount of the tax can add up quickly, the law forbids judges from reducing or suspending... MORE
July 2, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Louis Menand writes, If all policy decisions were straightforward economic calculations, it might be simpler and better for everyone if only people who had a grasp of economics participated in the political process. But many policy decisions don’t have an... MORE
June 29, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
It comes from 'Mencius Moldbug,' who says the US is just a corporation. It is not a mystic trust consigned to us by the generations. It is not the repository of our hopes and fears, the voice of conscience and... MORE
June 26, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Greg Mankiw writes A student who regularly reads and comments on this blog asks me for career advice, from a social point of view: How does someone like Warren Buffett contribute to the economy? It seems investing in old line... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay concludes, If politics were football, then I would say that the Clinton and Bush years saw little forward progress for either side. Clinton might have moved the ball toward the progressives' goal line, but only a few... MORE
June 21, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ezra Klein writes, Michael Cannon and I would build very different systems, to be sure, but at base, we both believe the employer tie to be awful, and the insurers to suck, and the hospitals to be performing below expectations,... MORE
June 20, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Nick Schulz interviews Bryan Caplan. An excerpt, SCHULZ: William Buckley once said "I would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty." Do you disagree? Why? CAPLAN: I'd definitely rather... MORE
June 18, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Russ Roberts writes Seems to me the essence of the web is a decentralized world, a world whether information and power and ideas and solutions don't have to be top-down but are more likely to be bottom-up. It would seem... MORE
June 15, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Very interesting article by Ron Bailey. researchers polled 1,850 Americans about their attitudes toward nanotechnology. Eighty-one percent of those polled had heard nothing at all (53 percent) or "just a little" (28 percent) about nanotechnology. Nevertheless, after being offered a... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Daniel A. Bell writes, The Confucian view is that political leaders should be the most talented and public-spirited members of the community, and the process of choosing such leaders should be meritocratic, meaning that there should be equal opportunity for... MORE
June 7, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
From my latest essay. Those of us on the pro-capitalist (P) side tend to approve of the price system, because we think it helps send signals. Those on the anti-capitalist (A) side see prices as corrupt. For example, when the... MORE
May 31, 2007
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 26, 2007
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
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
May 24, 2007
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
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
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
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 12, 2007
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 10, 2007
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
April 30, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The point is raised by a commenter on Futurepundit. curing aging will not make us immortal in the true sense of the word. We can still die due to accidents, homicide, and suicide. The word immortality is not appropriate. I... MORE
April 25, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My co-blogger's Myth of the Rational Voter has gotten well-deserved thumbs up from Greg Mankiw and Tyler Cowen. Tyler raises some issues, including 3. Voters are less irrational in many northern European countries. I don't agree with their socialistic view... MORE
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
I cherish my negative inspirations - the thinkers who clearly and cogently champion positions I think are completely wrong. So I'm pleased to see that one of my favorite negative inspirations, Dani Rodrik, has taken to the blogosphere. I keep... MORE
April 23, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In an interview, Jonathan Rauch says, When you get right down to it, there doesn't seem to be really much of a constituency in this country for reducing the size of government in painful or unpleasant ways. Even Barry Goldwater,... MORE
April 8, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I'm surprised that Bryan, of all people, would ask. If you're looking for a notion of collapse, try here. A society can get stuck in an "idea trap," where bad ideas lead to bad policy, bad policy leads to bad... MORE
March 27, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Megan McArdle participated in a panel discussion on fear with Chris somebody and Frank Furedi. The topic was fear, which I discussed here. Furedi, a sociologist, complained that people are starting to have their identities wrapped up in what they... MORE
March 22, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay is something that, if I were so inclined, I could try to dress up in academic jargon and send to a professional journal. But having to dress thoughts up that way is one of the things that... MORE
March 21, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I am going to disagree with Bryan's criticism of Tyler. What I would say (and Tyler seems to be saying) is that libertarians currently lack a rallying point. From the 1930's through the Nixon Administration price controls, the forces of... MORE
March 18, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In the book that everyone is reading but I'm still only 2/3 through, Brian Doherty writes, [David] Friedman points out the intriguing datum that tipping in taxi cabs--almost purely a situation of paying for a public good because of social... MORE
March 15, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In an essay called Foundations of the Kling School, I write, Economics should be subsumed under the general study of human behavior, not the other way around. ...The conceptual differences between leaving a tip and paying income taxes are not... MORE
March 12, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, Overall libertarians should embrace these developments. We should embrace a world with growing wealth, growing positive liberty, and yes, growing government. We don’t have to favor the growth in government per se, but we do need to... MORE
March 4, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robert Shimer tries to summarize the research of Clark Medalist Daron Acemoglu. One example. Daron and James [Robinson] explore the transition from autocracy to democracy. What makes the political elites allow the poor to vote? Daron and James argue that... MORE
February 21, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In In this essay, I coin a term civil societarian. The stereotypical libertarian might cite Ayn Rand and exalt the independent individual. Instead, a civil societarian would cite Alexis de Tocqueville, and his observation that "Americans of all ages, all... MORE
February 20, 2007
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
When I was a young nerd, a local busy-body told my mom that I shouldn't be allowed to play Dungeons & Dragons because "It's devil worship." Such complaints continue to this day. But I do have one thing to say... MORE
February 16, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ed Feser writes, The foundation of Hayek's thought is an emphasis on the severe limitations on human knowledge, especially where human social institutions and other complex phenomena are concerned. For Hayek, even the knowledge we do have is dispersed and... MORE
February 13, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Another terrific audio interview by Russ Roberts. In this case, he talks to political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. Basically, his outlook on the world is that autocrats are rational, and they do what is best in order to maintain... MORE
February 6, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I write, I find it a challenge trying to persuade religious conservatives to loosen the relationship between their religious beliefs and their political agenda. However, I find it even more of a challenge to deal with the Left, where their... MORE
February 1, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In my latest essay, I articulate a list. It starts with, 1. We weave a thread of self-reliance into a sturdy fabric of interdependence. By respecting the law, we reinforce impersonal justice. By competing intensely and fairly in an impersonal... MORE
January 29, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Today is Milton Friedman day. More information is here My little contribution is this essay. I call this the Fundamental Problem of Political Economy. How do we limit the power that idiots have over us? One solution, that might be... MORE
January 25, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
[2] once wrote, While [1]'s theoretical work is universally admired by professional economists, there's much more ambivalence about his policy pronouncements and especially his popularizing. And it must be said that there were some serious questions about his intellectual honesty... MORE
January 5, 2007
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Robin Hanson writes, Each side in a controversy feels a need to offer bias theories to explain why the other side disagrees. Without such bias theories, observers will wonder why they should side with one side against the other, if... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay says, The great mass of people form their political beliefs with little regard for facts or logic. However, the elites also have a strategy for avoiding truth. Elites form their political beliefs dogmatically, using their cleverness to... MORE
December 31, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I recommend the "triple issue" of Critical Review, entitled Is Democratic Competence Possible?. Its starting point is a 40-year-old essay by public opinion researcher Philip Converse called "The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass publics." I am using this post... MORE
December 29, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen wrote, Just about everyone thinks that their political views are better than the views of smarter or better trained others. On economic issues, few voters defer to the opinions of economists. Nor does this appear to be a... MORE
December 10, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
he writes (link may expire soon), Much of what is wrong with popular attitudes to capitalism comes down to one thing: a lack of wonder at what uncoordinated markets can achieve. Going to a grocery store for the hundredth or... MORE
November 20, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
is this essay. On questions of public policy, Friedman's answer was always that it is better to allow individuals to make their own decisions than to impose government fiat. His opponents were always in the position of arguing that government... MORE
November 18, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Brad DeLong writes, Friedman was a pragmatic libertarian. He believed that -- as an empirical matter -- giving individuals freedom and letting them coordinate their actions by buying and selling on markets would produce the best results. It was not... MORE
November 8, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bryan writes, Politicians usually ignore wise advice. Is that a reason not to try to make them take wise advice? Coming from a libertarian (or someone who I thought was a libertarian a few weeks ago), is that a trick... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Brad DeLong writes My natural home is in the bipartisan center, arguing with center-right reality-based technocrats about whether it is center-left or center-right policies that have the best odds of moving us toward goals that we all share--world peace, world... MORE
October 24, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In my latest TCS essay, I write, Democracy does not lead to particularly good choices. Most successful institutions in society are not democratic. ...For me, the value of democracy is that it provides a check on government officials. The fact... MORE
October 13, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
University of Chicago Law Professor's ten principles of liberalism drew two responses in today's TCSdaily. Professor Stephen Bainbridge writes, the progressive communitarian's basic flaw is his willingness to invoke the coercive power of the state in ways that deny the... MORE
October 3, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Michael Munger writes, On many kinds of policy, where one unique alternative must be selected from among many, and the legitimacy of that choice is at least as important as the choice itself, democracy has no equal. One defense budget,... MORE
September 19, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
'Cactus' of Angry Bear writes, Why is it OK to have an attorney making decisions about nuclear power, or how to combat mad cow disease or scrapie, or whatever else, regardless of the attorney’s level of ignorance on the subject... MORE
August 21, 2006
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
There's a memorable passage in John Mueller's Capitalism, Democracy, and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery where he argues that minorities can stop majority oppression by (a) coming out of the closet, and (b) banding together to complain: For generations (actually, for... MORE
August 18, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Critical Review has come out with an issue for which I have been waiting eagerly, because it has a symposium on Murray Edelman, a political scientist. My father knew Edelman and was a big fan of his 1964 book The... MORE
August 14, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Someone claiming to be Bryan writes, After fifty years of libertarian dominance in academia, we'd be in the same situation. Lots of our least-favorite policies would be drastically scaled back. But we'd seem out of touch for demanding abolition, and... MORE
July 20, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Ilya Somin writes Recent research suggests that even the most sophisticated and highly rational voters may rely on shortcuts that have little relevance to political candidates’ likely performance in office. For example, a recent study of elections for the presidency... MORE
July 9, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, 1. The welfare state is not going away. But it is imperative that we avoid Western European levels of taxation through the explosion of Medicare liabilities... 2. What recipes lead to both strong markets and decent governance?...... MORE
July 3, 2006
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
Michael Shermer writes, During the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, while undergoing an fMRI bran scan, 30 men--half self-described as "strong" Republicans and half as "strong" Democrats--were tasked with assessing statements by both George W. Bush and John Kerry... MORE
June 27, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bruce Bartlett writes, The fact is that a lot of people who get into politics don't really have any ideology... Rather, their only concern is which party will give them the best chance of winning. Secondarily, they are concerned about... MORE
June 14, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I have a test to see whether you are a conservative. It has six questions. For example, Do you believe that the flaws and imperfections of human beings are reflected in government? See how you do.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Bryan asks, Arnold, do you really think that Miron's proposals would appeal to a majority of Americans? Raising the retirement age to seventy? It depends on how the issue is framed. When Al Gore framed it during his acceptance speech... MORE
June 13, 2006
Political Economy
Bryan Caplan
Arnold's sounding like a bit of a populist: Miron writes as if the main issue is between Democrats and Republicans. Instead, the issue is Inside vs. Outside the Beltway. It is inside the beltway that these spending cuts are "unthinkable"... MORE
May 16, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Holman Jenkins writes, When Americans finally must look daily to the stock market rather than the government as guardian of their retirement, their appetite for fantasies and demagoguery on bread-and-butter issues like gas prices will decline too. The single biggest... MORE
May 4, 2006
Growth: Causal Factors
Arnold Kling
From my latest essay: What [Meir] Kohn points out (in other chapters) is that medieval guilds, which we think of as backward institutions, helped to solve the lemons problem long before government inspection came along. Each guild jealously guarded its... MORE
April 28, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
The Boston Globe reports, UN's plans to take control of the troubled peacekeeping operations currently being led by the African Union, and NATO recently stated publicly that a force of its own in Darfur is ''out of the question." Meanwhile,... MORE
March 27, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Will Wilkinson writes, [There is ] a big principle-agent/incentive compatibility problem between representatives and the citizens they represent. Politicians want to get re-elected. If they can subsidize interest group A at group B’s expense without group B really noticing due... MORE
March 22, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
In another paper, on the relationship between economics and policy, he writes, In the academic world, where we routinely prepare papers that perhaps two dozen other people will ever read, the standards of evidence are quite strict. Proofs must be... MORE
March 17, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
"Where's Arnold?" you may be asking. I had jury duty this week, and it was a difficult criminal case. We deliberated for almost three days, and deadlocked at 6-6. Loosely speaking, the liberals voted acquittal, and the conservatives voted conviction.... MORE
February 16, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
My latest essay: Nationalistic rhetoric about economics is even worse than nationalistic rhetoric about the Olympics. Nationalism about the Olympics is a marketing tool for commercial exploitation, and the harm done is relatively minor. Nationalism about the economy is a... MORE
February 9, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen asks what is the most interesting work in the economics profession today? He gives a few answers, one of which is World Bank data on corruption and governance. I would broaden that to political economy and institutional economics... MORE
January 31, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Two items in the Wall Street Journal. An editorial notes that the Chinese top the world in their support for market capitalism. In a poll conducted for the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes between June and August... MORE
January 27, 2006
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Although I like Bryan Caplan's new book, I disagree with treating government as an elected dictator. Another aspect that troubles me is Caplan's brand of elitism.... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
Although I agree with much of what Bryan Caplan has to say in his new book, there are a couple of points that give me problems. One, which has come up before in this blog, is his dismissal of the... MORE
Political Economy
Arnold Kling
I don't know whether it comes across to our readers, but co-blogger Bryan Caplan is an important scholar. His latest book, for which he is still mulling a title, is a major work. I like the title Majority Fools, which... MORE
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