This is an amusing story from Greg Mankiw’s blog that also shows how free markets improve the allocation of resources.
Spending Does Not Drive the Economy, Part 1
The belief that spending drives the economy is pervasive. It manifests itself in two sub-categories: First, the belief that consumer spending drives the economy and, second, the belief that government stimulus spending assists the economy. We’ll look at each of these in turn, and then show how this relates to the topic of productivity.
The Wrong Way to Respond to a Recession
Tom Peters writes: I see far too many of my clients, good people with good motives, obsessing on pleasing Wall Street analysts, and taking actions that may well reduce their stock’s value two to three years out. They have slashed budgets on many longer-term strategies, such as research and development, talent retention and development, even […]
UCLA Economists: FDR's Policies Prolonged Great Depression by 7 Years
A study by two UCLA economists argues that FDR’s policies prolonged the Great Depression by 7 years. This should come as no surprise to those who understand some of the basic principles of economics, as articulated in books like Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell or Free to Choose […]
Sparkcharts: Quick Overviews of Major Topics
A few months ago at Barnes & Noble, I came across a useful set of reference tools called SparkCharts. They provide a basic outline of the major facets of all sorts of subjects. Thus, they can be a good refresher on many subjects that you would have learned in school, but which are important to […]
How to Design and Then Arrange a Room
We’ve had to recently learn some of the best practices about how to arrange a room. Having just moved, we wanted — as much as possible — to know what we are doing as we get furniture for rooms that didn’t exist in our prior house. We are probably a bit odd here — a […]
Upside Down Economics
Good article the other day by Thomas Sowell on the financial crisis. He begins: From television specials to newspaper editorials, the media are pushing the idea that current economic problems were caused by the market and that only the government can rescue us. What was lacking in the housing market, they say, was government regulation […]
Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics
Peter Ferrara had an excellent article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal contrasting Reagan’s and Obama’s economic policies. Here are the key points of the article. In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama said, “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether […]
Is Government Spending the Answer to an Economic Downturn?
Keynesian economics — which dominated economic thought for a decent chunk of last century — said yes. Other schools of economic thought — which I find more plausible — do not think so. Gregory Mankiw had a good, brief discussion in the NY Times last month of how there is ample reason to doubt that […]
The Difference Between Negative Rights and Positive Rights
Here’s a very good explanation by J.P. Moreland, professor of philosophy at Biola University, from his recent interview with Hugh Hewitt: A negative right is a right for me to be protected from harm if I try to get something for myself. A positive right would be my right to have something provided for me. […]
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