I’m reading Gordon Tullock’s On Voting. It’s an odd little book, but very entertaining. Tullock comes across as the kind of old curmudgeon you see on TV sitcoms, albeit one who practically invented an important sub-field of economics. I discovered today that someone interviewed him before the 2008 election and put together [...]
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I don’t feel like providing a wealth of citations, but the press is awash lately in talk of how economists were wrong to believe in market efficiency and rationality, and how they remain unwilling to change their opinions in light of recent events. Unfortunately, most of the commentators don’t know what they’re talking about.
Many [...]
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
After my recent philosophy of science kick, I’ve been taking a look at some (slightly heretical) views of economic methodology:
The Rhetoric of Economics, by Deirdre McCloskey
Knowledge and Persuasion in economics, by Deirdre McCloskey
McCloskey’s Rhetoric: Discourse Ethics in Economics, by Benjamin Balak
Economics and Reality, by Tony Lawson
Reorienting Economics, by Tony [...]
Friday, November 21, 2008
When I first heard about British Premium Bonds, I was fascinated by the concept. Instead of making fixed payments to bondholders, these assets pay out randomly, according to a monthly lottery. The more bonds you hold, the more chances you have to win. (Whether or not you win the monthly lottery, your [...]
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I’m trying to put together a research proposal on the economic effects of climate change on agriculture. Here are some of the papers I’ve been looking at: Schlenker and Roberts, and Deschenes and Greenstone (the second paper was published in the AER in 2007, but the link I’ve provided is to a [...]
Sunday, December 31, 2006
To celebrate the new year, here are some economic resolutions from Greg Mankiw.
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Friday, November 17, 2006
In memory of one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, one of my favorite clips from youtube.
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An Op-Ed in the New York Times describes how the profit motive can be used to save endangered tigers. This idea is well-known among economists, but badly in need of publicity.
If activists and policy-makers can learn to work with markets rather than against them, we’ll have a bright future indeed.
Protectionists never cease to amuse me. Take this article on the European Commission’s attempt make permanent their “emergency” import duties on foreign shoes for example:
The temporary system was introduced following allegations that shoes were being “dumped” – or sold for less than it cost to make them – by manufacturers eager to gain a share of [...]
Why the dollar might be on a path towards appreciation. I know it sounds crazy, but take a look. The reasoning is not so easy to dimiss, but I’m still not sure I buy it.
