Nathaniel Ward » Economics

Sunday Links: Dealing with Critics, Dupont Circle’s History, the Gold Standard and ATM Fees

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:03:44 +0000

Tim Ferriss offers advice for dealing with online critics, much of it based on the axiom that you can’t please all the people all the time.

The Library of Congress’ online catalog includes several great old pictures of Dupont Circle, including this one of the circle before the fountain was installed:

Sean Fieler and Jeffrey bell ask whether we should revisit the gold standard as one way to rein in runaway government.

Last but not least, Reihan Salam explores whether legislation to limit ATM fees will be counterproductive. He cites a fun article on the topic by Thomas Hazlett, who sarcastically asks, “can anyone explain why at a price of $0, quantity supplied is nil?”

Wednesday Links: The Filibuster, the Real Climate Change Agenda, and Google Buzz

Nathaniel Ward — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:05 +0000

Jonah Goldberg points out the obvious flaw in the left’s critique of the filibuster: “Of course the filibuster is undemocratic. This is not some bombshell revelation. And yet in indictment after indictment of the filibuster — and the Senate generally — you hear people level the ‘undemocratic’ charge as if it should be dispositive. The Senate was never intended to be all that democratic.” Besides, the left’s attack on the filibuster is opportunistic and politically-motivated, just like the GOP’s similar argument in the 2005 debate over judicial nominees. The filibuster may thwart the “will of the people” at times, but the Founders were right to understand that this isn’t always a bad thing.
In an astounding letter in the Financial Times, Manfred Körner argues that green policies aren’t really about climate change at all but rather about achieving the left’s economic agenda. “Leaving the scientific issue aside,” he writes, “climate change advocates have built the necessary broad emotional and moral thrust behind the issue to make economic change acceptable and awaken a sense of urgency.” Still more astoundingly, he audaciously cites Joseph Schumpeter to make the case for such economic policies — never mind that Schumpeter’s concept of “creative destruction” is premised on individuals freely choosing their own paths, not command-and-control bureaucracies.
And last but not least, Google has unleashed Google Buzz, a social media aggregator that plugs into GMail. David All points me to Robert Scoble’s pessimistic take on the new product. I’m less sure it’s doomed to mediocrity. For one thing, it’s built right into Google’s widely-used e-mail program, which is widely and frequently used.

Monday Links

Nathaniel Ward — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:11:13 +0000

James Ceasar explains how the passion for Obama can be traced to radical thinking about replacing traditional religion with a “Religion of Humanity.”

What happens when science becomes politicized? The truth is sacrificed to the “greater good.”

What I’m Reading — September 14th

Nathaniel Ward — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:25:19 +0000

Class Warfare. Responding to hard times, governments around the world decide not to tighten their belts but to increase their revenues through punitive taxes.
Is This Really a Compromise? The Baucus proposal addresses superficial concerns but doesn't address the principal conservative complaint about the Left's health care plan: that it vastly increases the size and scope of the federal government.
Norman Podhoretz on Why Jews are Liberals. "[I]n virtually every instance of a clash between Jewish law and contemporary liberalism, it is the liberal creed that prevails for most American Jews. Which is to say that for them, liberalism has become more than a political outlook. It has for all practical purposes superseded Judaism and become a religion in its own right."
Tyler Cowen on Politics and the Economy. "But we are now injecting politics ever more deeply into the American economy, whether it be in finance or in sectors like health care. Not only have we failed to learn from our mistakes, but also we’re repeating them on an ever-larger scale."

What I’m Reading — September 13th

Nathaniel Ward — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:40:31 +0000

Berkeley’s Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements. "[B]eggars can't be choosers. The unfortunate fact is that American academics have until recently shown little curiosity about conservative ideas, even though those ideas have utterly transformed American (and British) politics over the past 30 years."
Another Jay Nordlinger Observation. "And isn’t it interesting that, when you read about 'angry white males,' they’re always talking about conservatives — never, say, Keith Olbermann?"
Greg Mankiw’s Economics Reading List. What he assigned his Harvard freshman seminar.

What I’m Reading — September 6th

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:43:23 +0000

What Washingtonians Make.
The Cupcake Boom.
Mitch Daniels Explains the Need for Fiscal Responsibility in the States. "The coming state government reset will be particularly wrenching after the happy binge that preceded this recession. During the last decade, states increased their spending by an average of 6% per year, gusting to 8% during 2007-08. Much of the government institutions built up in those years will now have to be dismantled."
The Tories’ Privatization Scheme. It sounds like a fine idea, but the justification is a bit odd. Aren't there better reasons to privatize government-run industries other than short-term revenue gains? I hope and expect the Conservatives are making this point.

What I’m Reading — September 5th

Nathaniel Ward — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:59:22 +0000

Health Care Reform, Meet the Law of Supply and Demand. "Even without an influx of new patients, doctors are likely to be in increasingly short supply nationwide in the coming years. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of 124,000 physicians by 2025. Universal health coverage would increase the shortfall by 25 percent, according to the organization."
Inline Validation in Web Forms. Testing the best ways to provide feedback to users.
George Will Wonders What We’re Still Doing In Iraq.

What I’m Reading — September 4th

Nathaniel Ward — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:43:51 +0000

Did Big-Government Labor Policies Cause the Depression?
Charles Kesler on How Conservatives Can Get Back on Track. "It is necessary to reground our conservatism in [America's] revolutionary [Founding] principles, but it will not be sufficient. Although conservatives cannot remedy America's problems without them, our principles need to be explained in a contemporary idiom and applied prudently to our present circumstances. That requires, for want of a more comprehensive word, statesmanship. "
Why High-Speed Rail Won’t Catch on in America. Geography, scheduling and personal preference means air travel will likely dominate in most of the country, Megan McArdle argues.
New York’s Tenured Teachers. Exploring the consequences of the city's inane union contract.

What I’m Reading — July 12th

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:04:46 +0000

Fisking President Obama. "There is a big difference between 'most severe … since the Great Depression' and 'comparable to the Great Depression.'"
Whatever happened to the Segway?
Is Asian Supremacy Inevitable? Debunking claims about Asia overtaking America and the West.

What I’m Reading — July 2nd

Nathaniel Ward — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:53:22 +0000

Congressmen Living High on the Taxpayer Dime.
An Economist’s Take on Big-Government Health Care. "What is curious is that this rise in education costs is deemed by the liberal establishment smart and farsighted while the rise in health-care costs is a curse to be stopped at any cost. What is curiouser still is that in education, where they always advocate more 'investment,' past increases have gone hand-in-hand with demonstrably deteriorating outcomes. The rising cost in health care has been accompanied by clearly superior results. Thus we would shift dollars from where they do a lot of good to an area where they don't."
Conservatives and Support Public Transportation "The most important thing that a liberal needs to know in talking to conservatives about public transportation is not to use liberal arguments. You can’t argue for transit on the basis that the poor need it."