The rate of diffusion of tablets and e-readers was extraordinary by historical standards
11 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
Time to be completely shallow: stars without make up
10 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, human capital
Fareed Zakaria: Blasphemy and the law of fanatics
10 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, economics of religion, liberalism Tags: Blasphemy
By contrast, the word blasphemy appears nowhere in the Koran. (Nor, incidentally, does the Koran anywhere forbid creating images of Muhammad, though there are commentaries and traditions — “hadith” — that do, to guard against idol worship.)
Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has pointed out that “there are more than 200 verses in the Koran, which reveal that the contemporaries of the prophets repeatedly perpetrated the same act, which is now called ‘blasphemy or abuse of the Prophet’ . . . but nowhere does the Koran prescribe the punishment of lashes, or death, or any other physical punishment.” On several occasions, Muhammad treated people who ridiculed him and his teachings with understanding and kindness.
“In Islam,” Khan says, “blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.”
HT: http://wapo.st/1zXY2PA but cartoon inserted independently, not in Washington Post
Bryan Caplan on expressive voting and environmentalism
10 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, Public Choice Tags: Bryan Caplan, do gooders, environmentalism, expressive voting
“Caring about the environment” is probably one of the biggest expressive issues of our time but most environmental issues are expressive voting issues:
1. Recycling
2. Preserving wild lands
3. Endangered species
4. Conservation
5. Logging
Even for the more instrumental-looking problems, green voters are bizarrely hostile to efficient solutions:
1. Emissions trading, domestic and international
2. Planting trees as carbon sinks
3. Liming lakes to counter acid rain
4. Privatizing common resources
via Prof.
John Cleese on Political Incorrectness
09 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, liberalism
What a man wants, then (1939) and now (2008) » Graphic Sociology
09 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, economics of media and culture Tags: assortative mating
On blasphemy against Monty Python
08 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, liberalism, TV shows Tags: Blasphemy, Monty Python
HT: Tyler Cowen
What People Asked the New York Public Library Before Google
08 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture
Marketing research and wireless households
08 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture
As cell-only households rise, @pewresearch will call more cellphones for surveys in 2015 pewrsr.ch/17iYL7d http://t.co/xV7TS70LU7—
PewResearch FactTank (@FactTank) January 08, 2015
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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