Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1581

Steyn nails it

Mark Steyn nails it (HT: Gary Schiff) in a piece on Greece and the path we're on in the US. My favorite part:

We hard-hearted, small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government. Once a chap's enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and...

MA in economics fellowship

If you are interested in getting a masters degree and economics and have Don Boudreaux and I teach you micro:

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is currently accepting applications for our MA Fellowship program in economics. Mercatus' MA Fellowship is a competitive program for students who have been admitted into George Mason University's MA economics program and are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in applied economics in preparation for a career in public policy.

The...

Low Prices?! Save Us!

Here's a letter that I sent to ForeignPolicy.com:

Phillip Levy reviews what he presents as an exhaustive list of Uncle Sam's options for dealing with China's allegedly undervalued currency ("Is It Time to Ding Beijing? March 3).  But, in fact, the list isn't complete, for it doesn't include the best option: do nothing.

"How silly!" some will snicker.  Bear with me.

Suppose that Beijing, rather than spending resources on keeping the yuan undervalued, instead spends these resources building...

Lesson plan for Fear the Boom and Bust?

If you are a teacher using Fear the Boom and Bust, the Keynes-Hayek rap video in the classroom, have you developed a formal lesson plan that might be useful to other teachers? Please share it with me at russroberts at gmail dot com and put "Lesson Plan" in the subject line. And if you are using it in the classroom, you might find this page of extra resources useful if you haven't seen it already.

Maybe They're Better Now at Estimating….

Factoid of the day – this one from the David Harsanyi of the Denver Post:

Remember that Congress estimated Medicare's cost at $12 billion for 1990 (adjusted for inflation) when the program kicked off in 1965.  Medicare cost $107 billion in 1990 and is quickly approaching $500 billion.

Good luck, Ben!

From Ray Gardner, the man who drew the Hayek illustrations that grace the Cafe:

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Mencken on Merchants of Idiotic Ideas

Last night, driving back from teaching my wonderful Principles of Microeconomics students, I heard on a DC radio station an interview with an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi approvingly repeat Pres. Obama's insistence that, once those Americans who now oppose Obamacare actually get that care, they'll grow to love it.

This outcome is unlikely – or, rather, it would be unlikely if all the problems with collective decision-making (as identified by public-choice economics) didn't distort...

Trade, Manufacturing, Jobs, National Security, and Recessions

Although rather long, this data-rich post by Scott Lincicome is very much worth reading.

The Riskiness of Putting Trust in the Best and the Brightest

The Washington Times's Tony Blankley makes a strong case against Uncle Sam's proposed "systemic-risk regulator."  Here are his concluding, and I think key, paragraphs:

But the purpose of the proposed systemic-risk regulator is not only to spot the impending systemic risk – but to intervene to prevent it from happening. Consider the power such a regulator would have. Consider that the existence of such a regulator would increase moral hazard – as it would be assumed that if the systemic...

Green Spin, Hypocrisy, and Rent-Seeking

Marlo Lewis exposes some of the legerdemain and duplicity practiced by 'environmental' zealots.  (HT Rob Bradley)