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  • The Funniest Thing I've Heard Over Thanksgiving Break

    At breakfast this morning, I mentioned to my Dad that George W. Bush is going to start a free-market think tank. His response: "what are they going to call it? The Richard M. Nixon Economic Freedom Initiative?"... [...]
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    Posted: November 28, 2009, 11:32am EST
    by acarden

  • Black Friday Price Discrimination

    Is it separating consumers by marginal value/willingness to pay or by risk preference? Here's an article from this morning's Memphis Commercial Appeal. A choice quote: "My face was on fire the half hour I had to wait in line for the electronics counter, and there were several other customers who" [...]
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    Posted: November 27, 2009, 1:08pm EST
    by acarden

  • A Penalty Flag for Bad Analysis

    Yesterday's WSJ ran an article listing 10 teams that supposed achieved the "least with the most," as determined by having the lowest winning percentage over the past decade among teams averaging at least two players per year drafted by the NFL. The list includes PAC 10 teams Arizona (21 drafted [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:32pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • The Minimum Wage: An Open Plea to My Friends on the Left

    A few weeks ago, a friend posted a link to a story about how the NAACP is pressuring President Obama about African-American unemployment. Sadly and tragically, "repeal the minimum wage" is not one of their proposals even though the evidence suggests that it reduces employment and increases poverty. Here's an [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 8:34pm EST
    by acarden

  • Questions on The Price of Everything

    My econ 101 students have to write a review of Russ Roberts's The Price of Everything this semester. Some questions corresponding to each chapter are below the fold. Comments are open for a few days if you have any suggestions; if you like any of these questions, please feel free [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 4:48pm EST
    by acarden

  • On Geithner's Tenure

    Per Noel's post on whether there could be a market in which he could short Geithner's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury, lucky for him (Noel) the good folks at Intrade have already set up such a market. See the trend here - it looks like the worst for him [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 2:12pm EST
    by cdepken

  • On the price of Thanksgiving c. 1909

    The Nov. 25, 1909 NYT reports on the cost of a generic Thanksgiving day dinner and points out that the price of said meal had increased from a price of $1.95 in 1899 to the price of $4.25 in 1909 ($103 in 2008 dollars), an annualized rate of inflation of [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 12:50pm EST
    by cdepken

  • On feeding the poor c. 1909

    There are some problems that seem to persist no matter how much money, time, or other resources are thrown at them. This suggests that either the problems are systemic and cannot be resolved or we haven't thrown enough money, time, and other resources at the problem. However, I find the' [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 11:55am EST
    by cdepken

  • The Ghastly Specter of Monty Hall!

    Andrew McG responds to my Random Observations . He was heading not entirely down my path, but he makes a good point that’s worth repeating. Andrew references the Monty Hall problem . Your paper will include a calculation of significance. This is essentially an estimate of the probability that a [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:38am EST
    by ncampbell

  • "Uber-Bad Signal"

    (Sorry-no umlaut) A friend and colleague pointed this out to me: Basis in futures =futures price-spot price....normally for the stock index contracts (S&P 500, DJIA, etc.) this is positive because people are expecting price increases. [Monday] and [Tuesday] if you look at the price quotes on the CME group website [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:01am EST
    by ncampbell

  • This Time It Is the University of Richmond ...

    ... that is creating "organ donor bikes": The Green Bikes have survived their first semester, but not without repairs that have caused sponsors to question whether the program will be continued in the future. Karen DeBonis, a member of GreenUR, said the success of the program depended on the students. [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:02pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Selgin's "Less Than Zero" in pdf

    The most interesting session I attended at the Southern Economic Assn. meetings over the (weekend + Monday) was on nominal income targeting as the least-bad monetary policy rule for a fiat money regime. Now comes word that a short monograph on the topic, one I've been recommending to people for' [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 6:31pm EST
    by lwhite

  • The Gentle Cynic c. 1909

    From the Nov. 21, 1909 NYT (I know, this is a couple of days old): Pot luck is too often potted luck. The only people who really seem to enjoy living close to nature are those who don't have to. If all the luxuries should be taxed, why not a' [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 1:46pm EST
    by cdepken

  • Random Observations

    1. Suppose I run a regression out of curiosity, just to see what I find. 2. The results puzzle me mightily. 3. I get an idea, and tinker some more, pretty much confirming the idea. 4. Now I write it up. Here's where it gets interesting. A. I write up [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 10:58am EST
    by ncampbell

  • Gary Johnson for president?

    The two term governor of New Mexico (1995-2002) appears to be taking the early steps in a long-shot presidential bid. As governor, Johnson set a record for most bills vetoed, and earned a reputation as the most libertarian governor in the country. A Johnson campaign would focus on runaway government [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 9:13am EST
    by bsmith

  • Bread and circuses

    A short list of the headlines on CNN.com that appear (11:24pm central time, 11/20/09) before stories about the Senate's health care reform bill being voted on tomorrow: 1) Fans mourn end of 'Oprah' show 2) Arrests in human fat ring in Peru 3) Bishops slam Obama bill Here's betting there [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:47am EST
    by tshaughn

  • Cavalcade of Miscellany: On the Road Again...

    1. The last week has been consumed by a burst of travel, exam grading, and other stuff (I now have a decent website in progress). On Monday, I debated the merits and demerits of Walmart with Stephan Goetz at Wake Forest. A good time was had by all, the questions [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 2:28pm EST
    by acarden

  • A Ponderable:

    Is reading J. M. Buchanan productivity, fake productivity, consumption, or penance?... [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:49am EST
    by ncampbell

  • APEE: Your upgrade is confirmed

    Bye-bye Bally's, Ciao Ceasar's. By email from Jeff Clark: TO: Members and Friends of APEE FROM: J.R. Clark, Secretary/Treasurer DATE: November 19, 2009 RE: 2010 Conference Location Change; Room rate remains $149 The 2010 Conference has been MOVED from Bally’s Las Vegas to Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV. The conference [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:24am EST
    by ejlopez

  • Smoking the Kanesian Regulatory Dialectic

    Arnold Kling writes briefly about Edward Kane's theory of dynamic regulation, which is a useful framework for understanding all sorts of regulatory institutional arrangements. Arnold quotes a great passage from Kane: Regulation is best understood as a dynamic game of action and response, in which either regulators or regulatees may [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:11pm EST
    by ejlopez

  • Doin' it right, across the Big Water

    The economists, that is, not the policies. See the article here. I could've titled it, "Dept. of Uh-oh!: China" A total of 8.92 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) in new loans were pumped into the economy in the first 10 months based on a moderately loose monetary policy.... "The real drive'" [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 3:10pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Building Brand Equity: On Profit in Health Care

    For the new issue of The Freeman.... [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 1:59pm EST
    by acarden

  • Jeffrey Flier on Health Care

    In effect, while the legislation would enhance access to insurance, the trade-off would be an accelerated crisis of health-care costs and perpetuation of the current dysfunctional system—now with many more participants. This will make an eventual solution even more difficult. Ultimately, our capacity to innovate and develop new therapies would [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 12:50pm EST
    by ejlopez

  • Thinking Globally, Acting...Globally and Locally

    Looking for a way to make a difference? Join Amnesty International's Annual Global Write-a-Thon (HT: Leigh Johnson). I'm going to write to American leaders on behalf of open borders. Here's (another) link to Lant Pritchett's Let Their People Come....' [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:52am EST
    by acarden

  • Late?

    A little piece on lateness, for the Chronicle of Higher Education.... [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:15pm EST
    by mmunger

  • The Silverdome as an "investment"

    PV(1975) = $55.7million. FV(2009) = $583k. Yield = -12.55%... [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 4:10pm EST
    by rlawson

  • Somehow They'll Do Wonders With Health Care When ...

    ... they can't even manage a measly tax credit: More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit....' [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:17am EST
    by efstephenson

  • Add Georgia to the List ...

    ... of states with bogus stimulus jobs claims. From the AJC: Recipients of federal stimulus dollars have overstated the number of jobs created or saved in Georgia by more than 1,500, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of public records. The AJC found: ● An Augusta agency reported creating 68 [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 9:54pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • APEE 2010: Final Call for Papers

    Two weeks till submission deadline! Come work hard & play hard at the 2010 annual meetings of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. With yours truly as program chair, this year's conference promises to continue the trend of APEE becoming the conference of record among classical liberal scholars. Highlights for [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:30pm EST
    by ejlopez

  • My bad...

    The relevant link to KPC for my post, "She knew what? When?" is here... [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:26pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Rent Seeking in Action, or, Onward, California!

    See the article here HT: Mrs. Campbell... [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:19pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Arsonist to Start Firefighting Academy

    The former president said the Bush Institute will keep economic growth and free-market principles as a focal point ... Yes, his successor is even worse but Bush was nothing close to a champion of "free-market principles" even before the bailouts he thinks (wrongly I believe) were necessary to avoid calamity.... [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 11:38am EST
    by efstephenson

  • Studies in Government FAIL

    Bailout FAIL: Chrysler ends Electronic Vehicle Program (HT: David Zetland). Epic FAIL: Pfizer is leaving New London, CT. Susette Kelo's old neighborhood, which was expropriated for the benefit of Pfizer in order to bring in jobs and create tax revenue, is an empty lot (HT: David Zetland and Alex Tabarrok). [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 2:15pm EST
    by acarden

  • She knew what and when?

    Like many of us here, I followed Angus' link from KPC to Valerie Ramey's NBER paper, "Identifying government spending shocks: It's all in the timing." It was funded by the NSF. It's an excellent piece that starts by asking, "Do shocks to government spending raise or lower consumption and real'" [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:41pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Football games c. 1909

    The Nov. 13, 1909 NYT reports the upcoming college football schedule. It is interesting to consider how important (and not) some of the following programs are one hundred years later: Fordham vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Princeton vs. Yale Dartmouth vs. Harvard Michigan vs. Pennsylvania Chicago vs. Cornell Amherst vs. Williams Colgate [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 9:23am EST
    by cdepken

  • Interesting Papers in the QJE

    Titles linked to abstracts: The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis Are Durable Goods Consumers Forward-Looking? Evidence from College Textbooks... [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:24am EST
    by efstephenson

  • Libertarian moments in the movies: "I wanna smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section."

    [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 8:36am EST
    by rlawson

  • Being rich enough to afford not being greedy

    It strikes me that the film industry is a decent example of a competitive industry. Granted, states like mine (LA) provide tax credits for companies filming here, but there seems to be a highly competitive labor market, no salary caps (though the SGA seems to enforce wage floors), and lots [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:24pm EST
    by tshaughn

  • Markets in Everything: Vaccine Line Walkers

    An unemployed Gatineau man has been doing a modest but steady business in the past week by standing in line at flu clinics for people who can’t line up themselves. And he says the city’s security measures haven’t slowed him down. For $15 an hour, the man who calls himself [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:46pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Minimum Wage: Testify!

    An interesting article from a prospective economist. This young woman, now a senior in college, had a summer job at a bakery. And, she recently listened to the podcast Russ Roberts and I did on vaccines, minimum wages, and shortages. And here's what she had to say. Amazing stuff.... [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:10pm EST
    by mmunger

  • Science Funding

    Here's an oldie-but-goodie from The Onion. I think a good first question for legislators to ask before they pass an appropriations bill would be "how many projects in this bill have all the wisdom of a monkey collider?"... [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:00pm EST
    by acarden

  • Adventures in multicultural globalism

    ...from my wife, who drove from Rochester, NY (USA), to Ottawa, ON (Canada), and back. Both directions, here's how the conversation went: Customs officer: "Where are you from?" Wife: "Conway, Arkansas." Customs Officer: "Then how do you have friends in Canada?" Wife: "Ummm...." Wife (in her head): "Well, shoot. That" [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:21pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Socialism = Comedy?

    I won't comment on one individual's descent to using wikipedia to support an argument. However, a keen observer from across the water wrote, "Professor Campell, you're the greatest thing since bratwurst and beir! May I have an autographed 8X10 glossy?" No, no, he really wrote (with slight editorial liberties of [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:09pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Libertarian moments in the movies (in honor of Veterans Day)

    [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 12:42pm EST
    by rlawson

  • Considering Socialism

    Robert Higgs was on campus yesterday to discuss his book Depression, War, and Cold War; it was particularly poignant in light of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bryan Caplan's recent post on the Wall inspires me to consider (briefly) two myths about socialism: it works [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:34am EST
    by acarden

  • The plural of anecdote is data, Campbell

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_the_Soviet_Union#Comedy... [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 4:14pm EST
    by rlawson

  • That's ONE, Lawson...

    And, besides, it was made by a subjugated people. I wonder what the state-approved subjects for comedy were? Slap-stick only?... [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 3:20pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • "How can Democrats favor such a tree-cutting, ecologically-destructive bill?"

    That's the question a student sent me after reading this WSJ story about needing 1,900 plus pages of paper to print the health care bill. Here's one possible answer: Many Dems care less about the environment than they do about redistribution and about controlling other people's lives. When environmentalism is' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 2:06pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Mimino

    Well, I don't know how common comedies were in the old USSR, but one comedy, Mimino (1977), is famous throughout the old empire. The story tells of a simple Georgian and Armenian who meet up in Moscow to pursue their varied dreams. Antics ensue. My Georgian friends will sit around' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 1:39pm EST
    by rlawson

  • Why does socialism not make comedies?

    This morning, I spent the hours between midnight and 4 AM watching "Our Man Flint" and "In Like Flint." I know James Coburn won an Oscar for "Affliction," but he deserves a lifetime achievement award for these two films alone. They are spy- and Cold War- and society-spoofs extraordinaire. They've' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 12:22pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • More libertarian movie moments

    "These are my sons. They don't belong to the state."...' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:47am EST
    by rlawson

  • Remember, Remember, the Ninth of November: Democide in Perspective

    R.J. Rummel estimates that approximately 262,000,000 people died at the hands of 20th century governments and notes that if the average height of a victim was five feet, the bodies laid end to end would circle the Earth ten times. Here's another calculation to put it in perspective. If the [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 12:20pm EST
    by acarden

  • "We meddle."

    Libertarian moments in the movies: "Why would they fight so hard against us?" "We meddle." "River?" "People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run. Don't walk. We're in their homes, and in their heads, and we haven't the right. We're" [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:50am EST
    by rlawson

  • We're legit!

    From a letter in my mailbox this morning: "In addition, the journal [Southern Journal of Entrepreneurship] has been evaluated and accepted for listing in EconLit." As M.C. Hammer once said, "Too legit; too legit to quit! Hey! Hey!"... [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:48am EST
    by ncampbell

  • Back of the envelope calculations for PelosiCare

    OK, the CBO says that the insurance portion ALONE of PelosiCare (much less the unfunded mandates for Medicaid & Medicare, and other spending in the bill) will cost $1.2 trillion. The CBO's methods--good for meeting the CBO's official charge--tend to underestimate the cost of government spending. Inserting a completely ad [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:14am EST
    by ncampbell

  • Never Again

    Tomorrow marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It should be a day of celebration and a day of somber reflection. Here are some YouTube videos. Here's Bryan Caplan's Museum of Communism. Here's R.J. Rummel's website on democide. 11/9/09 Addendum: Here's Tyler Cowen. 11/9/09 Addendum 2:' [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 3:52pm EST
    by acarden

  • Relativism: Lazy and Strong

    My friend and colleague Dr. J writes what is rapidly becoming one of my favorite blogs, Readmorewritemorethinkmorebemore. She recently posted two interesting notes on lazy relativism and strong relativism. Here's my comment on the latter: And have you ever wondered if, like, what I see as "red" is what you [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 2:31pm EST
    by acarden

  • Cavalcade of Miscellany: Capitalism, Food, and Health

    1. Shannon is visiting my sister in Houston and Jacob is sick, so the papers I'm within epsilon of finishing will remain between epsilon and delta of being finished until later this week. Fortunately, there are things (like blog posts) I can work on in fits and starts. 2. Via' [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 12:21pm EST
    by acarden

  • Tuesday's Democratic losses bode well for freedom

    The more one digs into Tuesday’s election results, the worse they look for Democrats. This is almost certainly a good thing - the battleground this fall was generally over taxes and spending, and GOP gains indicate voter skepticism of the Democrats efforts to nationalize health care, pass cap & trade, [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 7:58am EST
    by bsmith

  • Boudreaux on Voting

    Here's Don Boudreaux on why he refuses to vote (HT Don Boudreaux). Perhaps non-voting can be an exercise in civic virtue: by abstaining, non-voters reduce congestion at the polls and make life easier for those who derive great satisfaction from voting. I've written on voting several times. Don's essay is' [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:52pm EST
    by acarden

  • One reason why I am a fan of the Berkeley Electronic Press

    Each month something like this lands in my inbox: Dear Author, As a service to our authors, we are pleased to provide you with a monthly report tracking readership for any articles you publish with The Berkeley Electronic Press: "Pass a Law, Any Law, Fast! State Legislative Responses to the" [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 2:33pm EST
    by ejlopez

  • Roger Garrison at Rhodes Tomorrow Night

    Roger Garrison is speaking at Rhodes tomorrow night on "Business Cycles and the Great Depression." His website contains some amazing resources on the Austrian theory of the trade cycle. He's also visiting my economic history class; for this I assigned his chapter on Austrian/capital-based macroeconomics and his Mises University lecture [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:31pm EST
    by acarden

  • Party Like It's 1989: Anniversaries

    Here's Richard Ebeling on what The Berlin Wall represented (HT: Richard Ebeling). Here's Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Regardless of what you think of Reagan, this is an amazing speech. Not all is well, of course. Here's one of the most important (and moving) pictures ever taken. [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:27pm EST
    by acarden

  • On the Homebuyers Tax Credit

    My student Shawn Regan has this letter in today's Rome News-Tribune: Guest columnist Matt Towery put forth a weak argument in favor of extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was set to expire at the end of month, claiming that it and the costly Cash for Clunkers [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:55pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • On the value of conservation easements

    A plug for a new working paper of mine with John Chamblee (UGA), Peter Colwell (Illinois) and Carolyn Dehring (UGA) ""The Value of Land Conservation: Evidence from North Carolina " available at SSRN. We appreciate any comments on the paper. Here's the abstract: We examine conservation activity in western North" [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:00am EST
    by cdepken

  • On ticket distribution c. 1909

    The Nov. 4, 1909 NYT reports on high demand for Yale-Harvard tickets and the "problems" facing school officials in "allocating" tickets (as if the market couldn't do a better job) but the story admits, in the end, that the market is busy re-allocating some tickets to those who value them' [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:11am EST
    by cdepken

  • A kewl interview with Steve Horwitz

    Steve answers questions on the current crisis, the Great Depression, and reforming the monetary regime, here at the Free Market Mojo blog.... [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:36pm EST
    by lwhite

  • Making more with less c. 2009

    Another interesting story from Nielsen looks into household spending over the past year. The pattern shows a remarkable increase in spending on perishables which is reflective of people eating out less. The story has this graph of trends in online activities: The interesting trend is on-line use of recipe and [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:24pm EST
    by cdepken

  • On mandates c. 2009

    Here is an interesting graph from Nielsen which shows how U.S. households have adjusted to the conversion from analog to digital television. As the story reports: SUMMARY: On June 12, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that all U.S. based television signals must be transmitted digitally. The great majority [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:19pm EST
    by cdepken

  • Jayson Blair Gives Ethics Talk at W&L

    Former New York Times Reporter Jayson Blair to Address W&L Journalism Ethics Institute I understand the argument that having a speaker who committed ethical trangressions might provide valuable ethics lessions for aspiring journalists. Still, as a W&L grad, I think this is an embarrassment to the university.... [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:31pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Good News--Well, Not So Fast

    From the Hill: Lobbyists are quitting the business at a record pace, according to a study released Monday. Over 1,400 lobbyists "deregistered" with Congress in the second quarter of 2009, according to a study conducted jointly by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and OMB Watch. Typically, only a few [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:04pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Making Poor People Not So Poor: Capital Market Integration and Wages

    A new NBER WP by Peter Blair Henry and Diego Sasson points to another way in which economic freedom increases prosperity: For three years after the typical developing country opens its stock market to inflows of foreign capital, the average annual growth rate of the real wage in the manufacturing [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:58am EST
    by efstephenson

  • Incentives Matter: Learnfare Edition

    Part of the abstract of a new NBER WP from Thomas Dee: Wisconsin’s influential Learnfare initiative is a conditional cash penalty program that sanctions a family’s welfare grant when covered teens fail to meet school attendance targets. In the presence of reference-dependent preferences, Learnfare provides uniquely powerful financial incentives for [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:55am EST
    by efstephenson

  • On what's important c. 1909

    From the Nov. 3, 1909 NYT:Oscar De Rose of Belleville [NJ] is the owner of a chicken that has survived a fast of twenty-five days. The hen, a Plymouth Rock, was placed in the cellar of the De Rose home and was intended for dinner the next day. Its legs [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:38am EST
    by cdepken

  • On football c. 1909

    I have, from time to time, reported on the goings-on in American Football in the early twentieth century. Needless to say, the game was extremely dangerous and, despite reforms in the 1906-1907 period, in 1909 players were still being maimed and killed. Indeed, the cancellation of the 1909 Army-Navy game [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:33am EST
    by cdepken

  • Hillary Clinton, Tea Partier!

    We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move ... Source and context.... [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:09am EST
    by efstephenson

  • Wouldn't This Be Good News in Zandiland?

    In the news: If you're looking for good news on unemployment, Moodys.com chief economist Mark Zandi doesn't have it. Zandi told CBS' "The Early Show" Monday that the nation's near 10 percent unemployment rate will "stay there through this time next year." However, the economist said, "we're heading in the" [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:50pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • Dispatches from Chavez's Bolivarian Paradise

    Residents of the Venezuelan capital face cuts in water service for as much as 48 hours per week, after the government imposed rationing to stem a 25 percent shortfall in the city's supply, officials said Monday. (snip) Others blame the shortage on poor government management of the country's water resources, [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:41pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • To quote the robot, Bender Bending Rodriguez,

    ... "We're boned." (No, not, "Bite my shiny metal *ss!") Consider that the CBO estimates the insurance provision component of Obamacare will cost over $1.1 trillion--by itself, without considering the unfunded expansion to Medicare and Medicaid, or considering the changes to the tax code... The CBO also estimates that cap' [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 8:49pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Regime Uncertainty?

    Jittery Companies Stash Cash... [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 5:35pm EST
    by efstephenson

  • How about cap & trade?

    Oh, yeah... the Congressional Budget Office estimates that cap & trade will cost us about $1.7 TRILLION over the next ten years, if passed. And the CBO is somewhat known for underestimating the cost of government programs....... [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:47pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • On the Employee Free Choice Act

    The Canadian experience with changes in union card-check rules provides an excellent basis for predicting the likely impact in the United States, should the Employee Free Choice Act pass. Prior to 1976, Canada employed a union certification process similar to the one envisioned in the card check act. After 1976, [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:44pm EST
    by ncampbell

  • Drugs: Should They Be Legal or Illegal?

    Last week, I spoke to a class at Idlewild Presbyterian Church on the economics of drug prohibition. My notes are below the fold.... [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 4:04pm EST
    by acarden

  • Cavalcade of Miscellany: Overcoming Bias in College Football Edition

    1. I 2. I'm a big fan of Robin Hanson's blogging at Overcoming Bias, and I think there's an excellent opportunity to learn a lot about bias by studying college sports and, in particular, sports coverage. An announcer just said something about USC being the "best one-loss team in the'" [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 8:38pm EDT
    by acarden

  • Sentence of the Day

    I know I should grade these papers, but I can't tear myself away from teh interwebs or the Twilight Zone Championship Game (aka Iowa-Indiana). Here's the Mises Institute's Jeffrey Tucker: "Unlike at Christmas, where kids must only be good little citizens all year in order to be showered with gifts'" [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 4:13pm EDT
    by acarden

  • Mises versus Minsky

    John Authers of the Financial Times on the ideological core of the debate over financial regulation. HT: John Cochran... [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 3:08pm EDT
    by lwhite

  • Soros in Budapest, Roger Garrison at Rhodes

    Blogging: it's the perfect distraction when a stack of ungraded papers is staring at you. Commentary has been circulating about the founding of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, which is being funded in part by George Soros. Here, for example, is Michael Giberson, and here is Michael Hirsh's Newsweek [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 3:05pm EDT
    by acarden

  • What I've Been Writing Lately: Comment on Leeson

    Here's a draft of my comment on Peter Leeson's The Invisible Hook, which I'm presenting in a symposium on the book at the Southern Economic Association meetings in San Antonio on November 23. The abstract: "In The Invisible Hook, Peter T. Leeson explores “the hidden economics of pirates.” The implications'" [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 12:48pm EDT
    by acarden

  • Funny or Serious? Quotes from the Morning Paper

    From this morning's Commercial Appeal, here's an editorial entitled "Voters deserve more than this." Here's a key passage: Whether Herenton is guilty of a federal offense or not, a comparison of his performance as the city's chief executive for 17½ years, compared to Cohen's performance as a state and federal [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 9:48am EDT
    by acarden

  • La Tragédie de la Bicyclette

    I spent this afternoon giving a tragedy of the schwinn talk to some homeschoolers in Chattanooga and--deja vu--I see this in the NYT: But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 12:41am EDT
    by efstephenson

  • Paragraph of the Day, So Far

    Here's co-blogger Mike Munger on the most recent GDP report: "But all the increase is in G, financed by the increased deficit. It's fake. It's not real growth. It's just shifting money from taxpayers tomorrow into Obama's approval rating today."... [...]
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    Posted: October 30, 2009, 2:26pm EDT
    by acarden

  • We all find our equilibrium price one leg at a time

    The Gray Lady's Fashion & Style section reminisces about the bygone days of ultra spendy jeans. But the denim bubble has burst, and only a handful of such extravagantly priced jeans remain at the jeans bar — labels like PRPS and 45rpm, which, in tacit acknowledgment of the decline of [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:24am EDT
    by ejlopez

  • Rule of Law versus Rule of Central Bankers

    I gave the keynote address at the Economic Freedom Network Asia annual conference in Cambodia earlier this month, on the topic "Avoiding and Resolving Financial Crises: The Rule of Law or the Rule of Central Bankers?". The text of the talk is now available in pdf on the EFN-Asia website [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:19am EDT
    by lwhite

  • Steve Horwitz Talks at Berry

    Former students and local DOL readers might want to join us tonight and tomorrow night for lectures by St. Lawrence University's Steve Horwitz. Tonight's topic is "The Great Depression as Government Failure: What Your High School History Course Didn’t Teach You" and tomorrow night's topic is "Wal-Mart to the Rescue:" [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:40am EDT
    by efstephenson

  • Fictional Character Quote of the Day

    Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it. -Marge Simpson on Ultimate Punching.... [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 1:39pm EDT
    by acarden

  • Large Changes in Fiscal Policy: Taxes Versus Spending

    A new NBER WP by Alesina and Ardagna: We examine the evidence on episodes of large stances in fiscal policy, both in cases of fiscal stimuli and in that of fiscal adjustments in OECD countries from 1970 to 2007. Fiscal stimuli based upon tax cuts are more likely to increase [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 9:35am EDT
    by efstephenson

  • The People's Romance and The Census

    Here's an excellent post from Jim Fedako on the Census's programming for schools. Here's Daniel Klein on The People's Romance. Speaking of which, some surprising responses to my recent Mises.org article on tire tariffs have gotten me interested in the narrative of "national greatness" in the last few weeks. Some [...]
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    Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:29am EDT
    by acarden

  • Moral Hazard in National Parks

    My stellar student Shawn Regan alerts me to this tidbit: On the evening of September 23rd, rangers began a search for hikers who repeatedly activated their rented SPOT satellite tracking device. The GEOS Emergency Response Center in Houston reported that someone in the group of four hikers – two men [...]
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    Posted: October 24, 2009, 11:01pm EDT
    by efstephenson

  • File Under "Econ 101 Notes: Price Controls"

    Here are questions 1c and 1d from Econ 101 Midterm #1, administered on October 8: c. People have debated whether the federal government should control executive pay. Use a supply and demand diagram to explain how binding controls would affect the market for executives. d. Does the price control increase [...]
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    Posted: October 23, 2009, 4:24pm EDT
    by acarden

  • Best... Sentence... Ever...

    Thus gem is from Anne Flaherty at the AP: Congress wants another government regulator to cut through the red tape and protect your pocketbook. ...for the WIN! Wow! If anyone out there is currently preparing an undergraduate Public Choice class for the Spring, I think it would be a relatively [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 7:46pm EDT
    by ncampbell
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