James Tobin on limiting the domain of inequality
08 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, income redistribution, Public Choice, welfare reform Tags: James Tobin, negative income tax, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
Policy bubble alert: R&D is an investment and like all investments, it must be cost justified
07 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
Why Middle-Class Americans Can’t Afford to Live in Liberal Cities – The Atlantic
07 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: Director's Law, green rent seeking, land use regulation, zoning
Down and Out in America: only 82% of households below the poverty line have air conditioning!
05 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, income redistribution, politics - USA
- Air conditioning equipment is more common in single family homes (89%) than in housing units in apartment buildings (82%).
- 18 percent of households below the poverty line do not have any air conditioning equipment at all.
- About a third of households below the poverty line use room air conditioning compared to 15% of households with an income above $100,000.
- In contrast, about 75% of households with incomes above $100,000 use central air conditioning compared to just 44% of households below the poverty line.
Managerial Econ: Markets vs. Mother Theresa: who has done more for the world’s poor?
05 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: growth disasters, overseas aid, overseas development assistance, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
The real reason why behavioural economics is so popular among politicians and bureaucrats
03 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, behavioural economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: behavioural economics, do gooders, The fatal conceit, The pretence to knowledge
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HT: David-k-Levine
Heritage trumps safety
03 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, urban economics Tags: Christchurch earthquake, green rent seeking, health and safety, Heritage regulation
Quote of the day:
. . . Deaths in earthquakes are somewhat unavoidable. But deaths caused by regulatory structures that force that little value is placed on human life, or that prevent a building owner from tearing down a building very likely to kill a pile of people in a quake, are worse than tragic – they’restupid. Offsetting Behaviour.
It’s in a post on heritage rules which make some buildings untouchable and how the burden of providing the heritage amenity falls on the owner of the building.
He has a better idea:
I’ve suggested an alternative structure where we run heritage protection as an on-budget Council expenditure. Have each Council decide how much money they’re willing to put into heritage preservation, perhaps have Central provide a matching grant, and open it up to further voluntary contributions from the public. Then, have the heritage boards decide how and…
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Progressive Feminism Exposed
02 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, discrimination, gender, human capital, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: gender wage gap, myths and fallacies
Mainstream media is finally catching up with the sceptics
01 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism Tags: global warming, green rent seeking
A hard hitting article appears in the Mail which slams the climate change act.
Six years ago today, an ambitious Labour politician, newly appointed climate change secretary, set Britain on a ruinous path that threatens our energy-dependent civilisation with collapse.
Such is the devastating conclusion of Owen Paterson, the Tory former Environment Secretary, who yesterday joined Lord Lawson among the highest-profile critics of the political consensus on energy policy.
For it was on October 16, 2008, that the new secretary of state – Ed Miliband, by name – set us the legally binding goal of meeting the EU’s wildly ambitious target to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent before 2050 (and how significant that no other country has followed his lead).
View original post 89 more words
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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