Bill Easterly on the great dangers of evidence-based policy and field trials
28 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
What does socialism do?
15 Sep 2014 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth disasters, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: socialism
HT: Dan Mitchell
The Putin Effect on transitional economies in the former Soviet union
14 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: development, development miracles, disasters, former Soviet Union, Poland, The Great Enrichment, transitional economies, Ukraine
Poland was in the same position as Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet empire, but it followed better policy and is now several times richer.
Ideas: When Mao died, The Economist wrote
06 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, growth disasters, liberalism, Public Choice Tags: China, communism, How China Became Capitalist, mao, useful idiots
In the final reckoning, Mao must be accepted as one of history’s great achievers: for devising a peasant-centered revolutionary strategy which enabled China’s Communist Party to seize power, against Marx’s prescriptions, from bases in the countryside; for directing the transformation of China from a feudal society, wracked by war and bled by corruption, into a unified, egalitarian state where nobody starves; and for reviving national pride and confidence so that China could, in Mao’s words, ‘stand up’ among the great powers.
via Ideas and http://www.scottmanning.com/content/visualizing-the-great-leap-forward/
Six of the world’s seven billion people have mobile phones – but only 4.5 billion have a toilet, according to a U.N. report
06 Sep 2014 Leave a comment
The World’s Most Corrupt Diplomats, As Told Through Parking Tickets
30 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, economics of crime, growth disasters, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism Tags: crime and punishment, diplomatic corruption, diplomatic parking tickets, official corruption
Kuwait tops the list, with 246 violations per diplomat, followed by Egypt (under Mubarack), Chad, Sudan and Bulgaria. At the bottom, with no violations, are 21 diverse countries including not just the ever-polite U.K., Japan and Canada.
Most U.N. diplomats have improved their parking behaviour since 2002 when the U.S. began withholding parking fines from foreign aid payments: violations fell by 90% immediately after the measure was passed.
The British High Commissioner to New Zealand, plate DC1, nearly ran me over at pedestrian crossing yesterday outside the Wellington library, so this is not an unbiased post.
He was travelling too fast to stop in the central business district, where the speed limit is 30 kilometres per hour. You should not speed near pedestrian crossings because people are trying to walk out onto it.
Infrastructure investment and economic development strategies in Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro
28 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
What is the precariat?
24 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, rentseeking, technological progress, Uncategorized Tags: Leftover Left, precariat, The Great Act, The Great Enrichment, The withering away the proletariat
With the withering away of the proletariat because of the great enrichment, the Left over Left coined the word precariat.
The precariat is a social class formed by people suffering from precarity: a condition of existence without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare as well as being a member of a proletariat class of industrial workers who lack their own means of production and hence sell their labour to live. Specifically, it is applied to the condition of lack of job security, in other words intermittent employment or underemployment and the resultant precarious existence. The term is a portmanteau obtained by merging precarious with proletariat.
Very similar to the Karl Marx’s Lumpenproletariat: the layer of the working class that is unlikely ever to achieve class consciousness and is therefore lost to socially useful production, of no use to the revolutionary struggle, and perhaps even an impediment to the realization of a classless society.
One of the drawbacks of the precariat is they are inconveniently happier than Left over Left are willing to give them credit. For example, a lot of women in part-time jobs are happier than those in full-time jobs because of the greater worklife balance. Casual and seasonal jobs pay more too.
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Deirdre McCloskey – Equality vs. Lifting Up the Poor
21 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, constitutional political economy, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, liberalism Tags: Deirdre McCloskey, poverty versus inequality, The Age of Enlightenment, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
HT: deirdremccloskey via cafehayek
Deirdre McCloskey: inequality is an ugly word – it frightens
20 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, income redistribution, liberalism Tags: Deirdre McCloskey, poverty versus inequality, The Great Escape The Age of Enlightenment, The Great Fact
HT: deirdremccloskey via cafehayek
Ebola and you
01 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth disasters, health economics Tags: Ebola, media panic, The Great Escape
How do people become infected with the virus?
Ebola is transmitted through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa infection in humans has happened as a result of contact with chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead in the rainforest.
The Ebola virus is fatal in 90 per cent of cases and there is no vaccine and no known cure.
Who is most at risk?
Those at risk during an outbreak include:
- health workers
- family members or others in close contact with infected people
- mourners with direct contact with the bodies of deceased victims
- hunters in contact with dead animals
What are the typical signs and symptoms?
Sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. That is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.
The incubation period is between two and 21 days.
A person will become contagious once they start to show symptoms. Once a person becomes infected, the virus can spread through contact with a sufferer’s blood, urine, saliva, stools and semen.
When should you seek medical care?
If a person is in an area affected by the outbreak, or has been in contact with a person known or suspected to have Ebola, they should seek medical help immediately.
What is the treatment?
Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. They need intravenous fluids to rehydrate them. There is currently no specific treatment for the disease. Some patients will recover with the appropriate care.
Can Ebola be prevented?
Currently there is no licensed vaccine for Ebola. Several are being tested but are not available for clinical use.
Source: World Health Organisation via dailymail
Of mice and collective farms
04 Jul 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth disasters Tags: Russian jokes
When Stalin was in office, he once noted that there were mice in his study and complained to President Kalinin about this.
The President thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don’t you put up a sign reading ‘Collective Farm’? Half the mice will die of hunger and the other half will run away."
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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