Victor V. Claar's Blog, page 5

"'Weirdo Capitalists' Ruin Market for Everybody

Jake Meador writes in the Daily Nebraskan (citing Claar & Klay along the way):

. . . Historically speaking, capitalism has proven itself time after time to be the most viable system for generating wealth. If you can study 20th century history and not end up a capitalist in some sense, I don't know what to do with you.

Yet because of a few . . . "weirdo" capitalists, the system itself has understandably fallen into question with many. When such skeptics hear "capitalist" they conjure...

For My Dear Friends in Holland, MI: YouTube on Windmill Island

Though off-topic, here's what happens when you try too hard for a pretty wedding photo at De Zwaan on Windmill Island:

Valentine's Day Card for the Professional Economist in Your Life

You can download and print this free St. Valentine's Day card (MS Word format) to give to the professional economist in your life. As long as he or she has at least a master's degree in economics -- or is working toward it -- the object of your affection will love you even more when give this one.

(HT: econgifts.com)

Steve Landsburg on Child Labor

In a recent post, economist Steven Landsburg, author of The Big Questions, gives his take on the cruelty of rich Westerners who take on child labor in poor nations. Here's a bit:

Back in 1992, a ten year old Bangladeshi girl named Moyna was one of 50,000 children who lost their jobs in the wake of protectionist legislation sponsored by the execrable union-backed Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. How does Moyna feel about Americans now? "They loathe us, don't they?", she says. "We are poor a...

Steve Lansburg on Child Labor

In a recent post, economist Steven Landsburg, author of The Big Questions, gives his take on the cruelty of rich Westerners who take on child labor in poor nations. Here's a bit:

Back in 1992, a ten year old Bangladeshi girl named Moyna was one of 50,000 children who lost their jobs in the wake of protectionist legislation sponsored by the execrable union-backed Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. How does Moyna feel about Americans now? "They loathe us, don't they?", she says. "We are poor a...

Did the Fed's Departure from the Taylor Rule Get Us in Trouble?

At the close of each of its Open Market Committee Meetings, held roughly every six weeks, the Fed announces its target for the federal funds rate, the rate of interest that banks charge each other for overnight loans of reserves. Note that the Fed doesn't force banks to charge that rate. What the Fed does is either speed up or slow down the rate of money growth using open market operations--buying or selling bonds on the bond market--thereby manipulating the federal funds rate in the desire...

Marginally Funny: Economists & Humor

NewsHour's Paul Solman dropped in on the Economics Humor session of this year's meetings of the American Economic Association.

At Last: The Keynes v. Hayek Rap Video

If you've been waiting for it . . .

Here's the full-length rap debate between John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek, created by economist Russ Roberts and director John Papola.

It's True: There Really Are More Traffic Stops When Local Governments Need Money

Gary Wagner, one of my grad school friends who works up the road at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, was on Fox Business today. He published a nice paper in the Journal of Law and Economics last year coauthored with a WVU classmate of ours, Tom Garrett, a research economist at the St. Louis Fed. The paper explores whether law enforcement officers really do hand out more tickets when local government revenues are otherwise low.

Using annual data for North Carolina counties from 1990 to...

Weighing the Costs & Benefits of Buying Hundreds of Full-Body Scanners

Is it worth it to put hundreds of $150,000 full-body scanners in some airports in the U.S.? This report from NPR's Morning Edition today suggests that it might not.