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Econ Blogwire

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  • Social Planner and Overconsumption

    Spontaneous Order

    In my last post here, I explained why overconsumption is a problematic concept.

    But there is a deeper conceptual issue here. One that goes to the heart of traditoinal welfare economics. It is the presumed existence of a social planner whose objective function embodies the interests of all [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 10:21pm EDT
  • The Rent Seeking Society

    Division of Labour

    Articles in today's WSJ (here and here, respectively) mention a couple of interesting trade associations: the National Association of Blind Merchants and the American Pyrotechnics Association. I'll leave comments open for a day or two--feel free to add other interesting examples of rent seeking trade associations....' [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 8:23pm EDT
    by efstephenson
  • Carbon reduction and India

    CoreEcon

    Number of comments: 2

    One of the concerns I have long had about international carbon pollution reduction schemes is that they are designed by nice people in the developed world who have never been near a developing country. An article from the Indian “Economic Times” summarises my concerns. The article is here. The problem [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 7:36pm EDT
    by Stephen King
  • Driving charges

    CoreEcon

    In the Sydney Morning Herald today, a call for charges in driving.

    In a paper released this morning which the Treasury stresses does not represent its official view, economist Paul Hubbard commends Sydney’s experiment with time-of-day pricing levels for the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel and says it could go further.

    Noting [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 7:34pm EDT
    by Joshua Gans
  • SILOs --more action needed?

    Angry Bear

    Tax advantaged "sale-leasebacks" with strapped-for-cash municipalities (SILOs, in the ever-present tax acronym set) came back to light when the Washington Metro train crashed a week ago. The cars were ones that were involved in the metro authority's SILO deals with various banks, and the authority didn't have any spare cash' [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 6:58pm EDT
    by Linda Beale
  • Comments Policy

    Andrew Leigh

    A commenter recently reminded me that I haven’t explicitly stated a comments policy for this blog. Since I haven’t gotten around to revamping the sidebar, let me simply post my guidelines:

    Please aim to keep comments civil, concise and relevant. I have a low tolerance for personal attacks on other commenters [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 4:07pm EDT
    by Andrew Leigh
  • To Test or Not to Test…

    Healthcare Economist

    Tests play an important role in modern medical care.  Is my leg broken?  Check the X-ray.  Do I have HIV?  Look at the blood tests.

    But when are tests appropriate?  In some cases, tests will not alter treatment.  For instance, let assume that a person is either healthy or has Disease [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 3:34pm EDT
    by Jason Shafrin
  • Obama Economic Forecast

    Angry Bear

    Number of comments: 0
    [unemployment+graph.bmp]The right is having a lot of fun commenting about the economic forecast by the Obama team being too optimistic.




    I guess they are right, Obama along with everyone else has massively underestimated the damage Team Bush did to our economy. [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 3:21pm EDT
    by spencer
  • Idolatry in a Free Society

    EconLog

    (July 3, 2009 05:39 PM, by Bryan Caplan) I've spent several days reflecting on my chairman's reaction to public grief over Michael Jackson's death:I, for one, am no more touched by Mr. Jackson's death than I am by the death of any of the thousands of other Americans...' [...]
    Posted: July 03, 2009, 1:39pm EDT
    by Bryan Caplan
  • Higher weekend petrol prices

    CoreEcon

    Number of comments: 1

    John Hewson writes in an Op-Ed in the AFR today that he has observed over a long period of time that a particular petrol station raises it prices by between 15 and 25 cents on Thursday mornings.  He deduces that this is a simple case of “gouging customers”.  I have [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 11:25am EDT
    by Sam Wylie
  • War Eagle Condo Bust

    Mises Economics Blog

    Back in the middle of this decade, building anything seemed like a good idea. With the housing boom in full bloom, developers had the imagination, lenders had the construction money, and buyers had swarms of mortgage lenders panting to lend them the entire purchase price of anything their hearts [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 10:57am EDT
  • The Economics of Illusion

    Mises Economics Blog

    Keynesianism presupposes an economy whose members do not see through the changes brought about by monetary or fiscal manipulation -- or, as some might say, the swindle. Above all, it presupposes that people are blinded by the idea that the value of money is stable -- by the "money" [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 10:51am EDT
  • Woods Tells the Story of the Meltdown

    Mises Economics Blog

    Tom Woods has made an invaluable contribution with his latest book. If the Austrian account of our current plight is correct, what should we do now? Woods offers a simple answer that is essential for the public to understand. The government should do nothing. Malinvestments have occurred and must [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 10:44am EDT
  • This Week’s Weird Jobs

    Businesspundit

    zzfirelookout

    Would you trust a guy named Bobwho told you to “take control of your futur in a nation…which has been created by you and I?” Sometimes the ability to be articulate really counts. But don’t let that dissuade you. If you like grammatically challenged guys named Bob, [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 10:17am EDT
    by Drea
  • Zero Down Is a Foreclosure Factor (Duh)

    The Big Picture

    Number of comments: 10

    There is a kind of weird OpEd in today’s WSJ by Stan Liebowitz. The professor makes the incredible discovery that zero down payments, 100% LTV financings tend to slide in great numbers into foreclosure:

    “What is really behind the mushrooming rate of mortgage foreclosures since 2007? The evidence from a huge [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 9:08am EDT
    by Barry Ritholtz
  • Revenue caps

    CoreEcon

    Back in the 1990s, I can remember being asked by a state government agency to comment on their proposal for ‘revenue regulation’ of a state utility. For the reasons stated below I told them it was stupid.

    A few years later my colleague at RSSS at the time, Rohan Pitchford, was [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 8:54am EDT
    by Stephen King
  • I'm an idiot

    Environmental Economics

    Find out just how BIG an idiot I really am:

    The U.S. House of Representatives voted on June 26, 2009 to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act, commonly known as the Waxman-Markey Bill. While, as of this posting, it has yet to pass the Senate, the bill promises an [...]

    Posted: July 03, 2009, 7:25am EDT
    by John Whitehead

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