Does fair trade help the poor? Economist Don Boudreaux's answer may surprise you: https://t.co/FU9iUzwZrw
— Mercatus Center (@mercatus) July 29, 2015
Does fair trade help the poor?
11 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, growth disasters, growth miracles, health and safety, human capital, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, survivor principle Tags: agricultural economics, expressive voting, fair trade, rational irrationality
Israel outdoes Canada in venture capitalism
10 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation, managerial economics, organisational economics, survivor principle Tags: creative destruction, Israel, venture capital
Swedosclerosis and Eurosclerosis compared
10 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, survivor principle Tags: Eurosclerosis, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply, welfare state
Adam Smith on entrepreneurial alertness
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in Adam Smith, applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation Tags: creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, offsetting behaviour, The meaning of competition
What watch a movie 2-D when you can watch it in 3-D?
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: 10-90 lag, consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, Hollywood economics, technology diffusion
We were watching some movie trailers last week-end. One of the 3-D movies also mentioned that it was available in 2-D.
I am surprised that there is still a market for movies in 2-D when people have the option for a tiny sum of money to watch it in 3-D. Of course, this market survives therefore it must be efficient and somebody must like watching 2-D movies over the 3-D movie option.
Is also the case that there is considerable difference in the quality of 3-D movies. There must be trade secrets. For example, Peter Jackson’s films in 3-D are excellent. Some 3-D movies sometimes look like they are in 2-D all to frequently. I saw one trailer for a 3-D movie that looked like it was just 2-D with beer goggles on.
I uninstalled Windows 10, only difference was some programs would not work. Was not faster
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
The case for organic farming
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, environmental economics, health economics, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: agricultural economics, cranks, green rent seeking, organic farming, quackery
Which countries devote the most land to organic #agriculture? wef.ch/1P42qpv http://t.co/q1YstjyrSu—
World Economic Forum (@wef) August 05, 2015
Creative destruction in oldest businesses
06 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: business history, creative destruction, Japan, market selection
Japan houses more than half of the world's 1,000 oldest businesses:
priceonomics.com/why-are-so-man… http://t.co/LVzPPKOeJw—
Zachary Crockett (@zzcrockett) July 15, 2015
I’m worried! I’m sympathising with organic farmers over a land use conflict!
06 Aug 2015 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, Richard Epstein, survivor principle Tags: common law, economics of agriculture, food snobs, green rent seeking, land use conflicts, land use planning, law of nuisance, noise pollution, nuisance, old common law, organic farming, Richard Epstein, William Blackstone, zoning
Writing this blog of sound mind and sober disposition, I still have considerable sympathy with two organic farmers over a land use conflict they have with the neighbouring gun range.
Local land use regulations allows a gun club to set up 600 m away with competitive shooting days all day for 88 days a year. That is a voluntary self restraint. They could hold shooting competitions every day of the year. The local land use regulations allow the use of guns on rural land. The gun club used this absence of a prohibition on the use of guns in the frequency of use to set up a gun range to fire guns all day long on rural land.
Now here is the rub. There something wrong with the concept of quiet enjoyment of your land if a neighbour can fire off a large amount of noises continuously. The occasional noise, the occasional gunshot yes, but all day? I live near the airport, but I knew it was there when we bought the property and the lands was a little cheaper because of that.
The organic farmers are unusually pristine and prissy about what they want by neighbours to protect the sacredness of their more expensive snob food. I’m not too sure whether they would want to grant their neighbours an equal right to unusual land uses such as opening a gun range. That said, the organic farmers do have a point about a very noisy neighbouring land use that can be heard some distance away.
The organic farmers, of course, could have negotiated with their neighbours for covenants to restrict land use that undermine there are unusually pristine requirements for quiet enjoyment of their land and their neighbours land too. Easy to do when the land is first unused, but once economic activity accumulates, not so easy in terms of transaction costs and hold-outs.
Uber is most valuable start-up
06 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle, transport economics Tags: creative destruction, Uber
The Left opposed airline deregulation
05 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: airline deregulation, antimarket bias, bootleggers and baptists, expressive voting, Leftover Left, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
CHART: US average airfares 1979 to 2014 measured in number of hours work at the average wage. @chartoftheday http://t.co/q7Phz3VkU0—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) August 02, 2015
Deirdre McCloskey’s speech on ‘Bourgeois Dignity’
03 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, survivor principle Tags: Deirdre McCloskey, entrepreneurial alertness, industrial revolution, The Great Enrichment, The Great Fact
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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