Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1532

Unsatisfactory Prophet

Here's a letter to the Wall Street Journal:

Prof. D. Kirk Davidson wants businesses to stop pursing maximum profits and to settle for earning "satisfactory profits" (Letters, Aug. 30).  Putting aside the confusing vagueness of the concept "satisfactory profits," let's explore some of the likely results of Prof. Davidson's recommendation.

One result would be greater environmental damage, as firms settle for getting only satisfactory output, rather than maximum output, from a given quantity of...

Some Links

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wisely wants stem-cell research funded by the private sector – and offers evidence that such funding would be forthcoming.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Robert Barro argues that taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits promote unemployment, while Mary Anastasia O'Grady exposes creeping dictatorship in Argentina, and Paul Rubin exposes ten misconceptions about privacy on the Web.

John Stossel sensibly calls for an end to the grandstanding prosecution of former...

The Europeanization of America's Economy

Here's the truest yet saddest paper title that I've seen in a long, long time: "The Dodd-Frank Act: Creative Destruction, Destroyed."  (It's a new paper by Peter Wallison).

Always Ask "As Compared to What?"

In a letter in today's Wall Street Journal, Alexander Koukoulas objects to Roger Meiners's demonstration that Uncle Sam's solar-panel project in Ennis, Montana, is a huge waste of money.  One of the alleged weaknesses in Roger's analysis that Koukoulas identifies is the fact that Roger "fails to recognize the significant improvements in green technologies that are improving capital effectiveness."  In other words, Koukoulas accuses Roger of ignoring the fact that green technologies will...

Drive

The latest EconTalk is Dan Pink talking about motivation and incentives, the themes of his book, Drive.

The book is based on research results from behavioral psychology that often find perverse results or non-results from using money or other rewards to motivate people. In the podcast, I challenge the reliability and applicability of these results. Pink pushes back. We also talk at length about education and family life. Enjoy.

One-Dimensional Thinking Never Works Well

Here's a letter to the Washington Examiner:

David Sirota identifies a benefit – namely, reduced human impact on the environment – and argues that, therefore, people are morally obliged to take steps to achieve that benefit ("A week of living with low impact on the environment," Aug. 29).  But because he ignores competing benefits, Mr. Sirota's moralizing fails.  Using the very same method of argument employed by Mr. Sirota, I can 'prove' that people should do almost the opposite of what he...

Fording the Gorge Between Fiction and Fact

Here's a letter to the Los Angeles Times:

Arguing that greater government "redistribution" of income will spark economic growth, Gloria Richards repeats the fable that Henry Ford more than doubled his workers' pay to $5 per hour so that "they themselves could afford to drive his automobiles" (Letters, Aug. 29).

Ford raised workers' wages for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with raising consumer demand for his automobiles.  The first reason was to reduce worker turnover.  In...

What Were These 'Czars' Smoking?

Here's a letter sent recently to the Los Angeles Times:

Arguing against Proposition 19 – the passage of which would liberalize marijuana laws in California – former U.S. "Drug Czars" Gil Kerlikowske, John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez, and William Bennett assert that "No country in the world has legalized marijuana to the extent envisioned by Proposition 19″ ("Why California should just say no to Prop. 19," August 25).

Not true.  Marijuana was perfectly legal throughout the...

Some Links

My GMU and Mercatus Center colleague Pete Boettke is wonderfully profiled in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.  And here's Bill Easterley's note on the WSJ's profile of Pete.

Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman is a good egg.  (HT Dan Polsby)

In this short video, Clay Broga puts some Glenn Beck Rally attendees to the test.

Bryan Caplan asks a question that I've often asked myself, but never as articulately and as productively as he does here.

Words of wisdom from Carpe Diem's Mark Perry.

Words...

Pray, Hear Me Out

Back in April 2009 I sent the following letter to the Washington Post – a letter that was never published nor, as far as I can recall or find, posted on-line before today:

E.J. Dionne rightly applauds the healthy state of religion in America ("A Resilient Christianity," April 12).  But I wonder if Mr. Dionne ever stops to reflect that America's thriving religions are strong evidence against his often-expressed belief in the necessity of regulation by government.

Americans' principled...