Nathaniel Ward » Price Controls

Monday Links: Artificial Scarcity

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:08:25 +0000

How a cab medallion system is counterproductive: it introduces artificial scarcity and distorts drivers’ incentives.
Russ Roberts points out that Japan’s fuel shortages are no mystery and that the solution isn’t more regulation. Shortages are a result of price controls that keep a scare product artificially inexpensive.
Some fancy CSS work by Josh Brewer yields an impressive typographic result.
New York City’s parking “privatization” scheme is a bad idea that isn’t really privatization at all, Stephen Smith argues.
Last but not least, Dan Mitchell rounds up the late-night hosts’ cracks about Libya. My favorite, from Conan: “It’s being reported that Moammar Gadhafi is surrounded by an elite core of female bodyguards. In a related story, Charlie Sheen invaded Libya.”

Nathaniel Ward — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:44:19 +0000

Richard Epstein: Harry Reid Turns Insurance Into a Public Utility. “The argument seems to be that price controls alone can force out the waste and inefficiency that are posited to be the hallmark of private markets. By this twisted logic, rent control is the perfect path to efficient competitive markets.”
Creating Incentives for Learning. “Mr. Toby’s main proposal, then, is to require good grades and test scores from those seeking federal student loans. This requirement, he believes, would improve incentives for academic performance and mitigate the inevitable trade-off between widening access to college and maintaining educational standards.”
Exactly Why the Founders Divided the Legislative Branch. E.J. Dionne argues against checks and balances: “In a normal democracy, such majorities would work their will, a law would pass, and champagne corks would pop. But everyone must get it through their heads that thanks to the bizarre habits of the Senate, we are no longer a normal democracy.”
Debunking Conspiracy Theories. “Today no conspiracist publication or Web site wants for the outward flourishes of scholarship. The footnotes are compendious, the sources are seemingly authoritative. It is only when you get in amongst them that you discover what the footnotes actually refer to.”

Nathaniel Ward — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:02:00 +0000

A Rare Defense of the Vietnam War. “Despite the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnam was not a “futile” conflict. The U.S. effort bought time for Thailand and other nations in East and Southeast Asia to develop in relative peace. Their prosperity, in turn, showed the world the difference between the fruits of capitalism and the poverty of socialism. Like the Korean War, Vietnam needs to be understood as an honorable battle fought to a draw in America’s longer and victorious Cold War.”
Brightcove’s Facebook Chat.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy propose that governments “no longer stand idle” and intervene in markets to keep oil prices at some ideal level.