via Benjamin Powell, In Defense of “Sweatshops” | Library of Economics and Liberty.
Benjamin Powell, In Defense of “Sweatshops”
29 Nov 2014 1 Comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational regulation Tags: Ben Powell, development economics, do gooders, sweatshops
The Role of Envy in a Free Society | Students For Liberty
29 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth disasters
In a chapter entitled “The Envy-Barrier of the Developing Countries,” Schoeck details some fascinating anthropological work of the early and mid 20th century which reveals the presence of envy in less developed societies.
He cites the work of William Watson, an anthropologist who studied tribal cohesion of the Mambwe people of Northern Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe) in the early 50s.
At the time, their culture was undergoing considerable change as they began to adopt a money economy and work in copper mines and nearby towns.
Watson writes about the experiences of men who had left their tribes to seek education in nearby missionary schools and to find work in the town’s emerging market economies.
The wealth that these men acquired was not exactly welcomed when they would return.
Rather, it was viewed by fellow tribespeople with suspicion and accusations of envious black magic, as any increase in an individual’s wealth was considered positively correlated with their ability to hurt their neighbors
via The Role of Envy in a Free Society | Students For Liberty.
Deirdre McCloskey on the false consciousness of the working class in the Age of Enrichment
25 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
Africa’s military spending spree
23 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics Tags: Africa, military spending
Institutions and Economic Performance | Timur Kuran speaks with Douglass North
22 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, law and economics, Public Choice Tags: Douglass North, Timur Kuran
Secret Tapes of the final Copenhagen Summit negotiations, starring Obama, Brown, Sarko & Merkel
21 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, environmental economics, global warming, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Copenhagen Summit, global warming, obama
In Copenhagen’s final private negotiations, Obama, Brown, Sarko and Merkel sat down with He Yafei, the Chinese vice-minister of foreign affairs. There is a tape of this meeting at Der Spiegel
He Yafei was the smartest guy in the room. Wen Jiabao refused to attend most of the negotiating sessions.
Given the choice of walking out or sitting down with a vice-minister, they chose humiliation. One response of Obama was:
It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.
There were still two important placeholders, X and Y, in the draft agreement. They marked the spots where the percentage targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, for the industrialized nations and emerging countries respectively, were to be entered.
China and India were unwilling to make that commitment. They had reached their own agreement with Brazil and South Africa.
"We have all along been saying ‘Don’t prejudge options!,’" said a representative of the Indian delegation*, prompting Merkel to burst out: "Then you don’t want legally binding!"
The entire discussion at Der Spiegel in multiple parts should be read while listening to the tape.
Nicholas Kristof – Where Sweatshops Are a Dream
20 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, international economic law Tags: child labour, developing countries, Labour standards, neocolonialism
Before Barack Obama and his team act on their talk about “labor standards,” I’d like to offer them a tour of the vast garbage dump here in Phnom Penh.
This is a Dante-like vision of hell. It’s a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires. The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn.
Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy for five cents a pound. Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garbage.
Mr. Obama and the Democrats who favor labor standards in trade agreements mean well, for they intend to fight back at oppressive sweatshops abroad.
But while it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but that they don’t exploit enough.
Talk to these families in the dump, and a job in a sweatshop is a cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty, the kind of gauzy if probably unrealistic ambition that parents everywhere often have for their children.
via Op-Ed Columnist – Where Sweatshops Are a Dream – NYTimes.com.
The Economics of Elysium
16 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, F.A. Hayek, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, movies, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Cuba, Elysium
Human Capital, Development, and Growth | Lars Peter Hansen, Edward Glaeser, Claudia Goldin and Robert Lucas
16 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, Gary Becker, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, property rights Tags: Claudia Goldin, Edward Glaeser, Gary Becker, Robert Lucas
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
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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