Sanjeev Sabhlok's Blog, page 115

Atal Bihari Vajpayee – a much more devious man than I had thought

Till today I had a relatively neutral view about Vajpayee, but after his death a number of disturbing things about him have started surfacing. Twitter has made it possible for people to share a lot of information. Presumably these pieces of information were already known but had somehow been glossed over. I’ve spent a few minute […]

Howard Stern and Robin Quivers badmouthing India (2001). Much of it is true and Modi is not helping with his cow talk.

India had a hopelessly deplorable image at least till relatively recently. This audio snippet, that is recirculating a 2001 talk between Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers, relates to the era when Delhi had the old airport and everything was in shambles. Now, clearly Stern is not racist in any way. After all, Robin is […]

Fraser Anning has been very unfairly treated for his maiden speech

I was intrigued by Fraser Anning’s maiden speech [Video here] on 13 August (?) and thought I’d review it including with annotations. I find upon detailed review that this man has been very unfairly maligned. I believe that in a free society DEMOCRATIC VOICES like him need to be heard. Any objections to his views can be […]

Freedom of speech is also a freedom to keep quiet

It appears to me that the freedom to speak and freedom to keep quiet are opposite sides of the same coin. Freedom to speak is not compulsion to speak. This freedom to keep quiet is much broader than the right to silence to prevent self-incrimination. It is at the heart of the meaning of freedom […]

Towards a theory of infrastructure – what is infrastructure and who should pay for it

This has been a vexed issue that’s beset by close to utter confusion in the economics literature. I wrote about this issue here last year but I’m unable to locate any consistent first-principles approach to this question. The issue of infrastructure is closely inter-related to town planning and zoning. Unpacking the matter is now becoming […]

Amazing that USA had constitutional prohibition on liquor. An object lesson for everyone in public policy.

This! This is a truly monumental documentary. Even the most obtuse and confused can completely understand the basic principles of economics and public policy by just watching this riveting documentary. EVERYONE WITH AMBITIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY OR PUBLIC LIFE SHOULD SEE THIS. (I watched it on Netflix but it is freely available online).

The shame of Australia: a 23 year old woman prevented from walking down a street because Muslims might get offended

Came across this: The great shame of Australia!! The Police actively THREATENING SOMEONE from walking down the Haldon street in Lekemba suburb in Sydney. Why? Because MUSLIMS MIGHT TAKE OFFENCE!!!! Wow, and I was under the impression I’m living in a free country with the rule of law. Sad, as Trump would say. No wonder […]

Austrian economists and Ayn Rand Objectivists can benefit from standard i.e. “neo-classical” (classical liberal) economics

I’m copying this article from the GMU website to my blog, since it is hard to read it on that website. Also I’ll be able to annotate it here, and highlight any important comments. Thanks to Joyson Fernandes for bringing it to my attention. [Btw, do see Caplan’s lectures here and – of course, I […]

Ease of doing business: Eliminate your business competitor for only $12,000 in Modi’s regime

This is not news, but there is now a full-fledged press investigation into paid encounters. Exposed: Uttar Pradesh’s cash-for-encounter raj GET YOUR BUSINESS COMPETITOR KILLED BY THE INDIAN POLICE FOR A MERE $12,000 UNDER MODI’S REGIME. GUARANTEED “SATISFACTION”. NO JUDICIAL COMPLICATIONS. MODI HAS USED POLICE AS HIS MAFIA ARM SINCE 2002. THIS IS NOT NEW […]

Please download and share my free book on economics for children: Seeing the Invisible

Yesterday I’ve published the first edition of Seeing the Invisible. Please download from here: http://efc.sabhlokcity.com/download-f... From the data, around 65 copies of Seeing the Invisible were downloaded yesterday. Over 170 people visited the book’s website.    That’s a pretty good start – now I look forward to feedback from at least a few persons and will […]