Applied welfare economics was never value free, but applied price theory is @TimothyTTaylor
11 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, history of economic thought, liberalism, Murray Rothbard Tags: David Colander, Henry Hazlitt, Joan Robinson, methodology of economics
The first words uttered in my first lecture in applied welfare economics by Bob Rutherford were ‘this course starts with an explicit political position – that of liberalism’. I never forgot that.
Source: CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: Crossing the Ravine from Economic Theory to Policy Advice.
This leads us to Robert and Zeckhauser’s taxonomy of disagreement:
Positive disagreements can be over questions of:
1. Scope: what elements of the world one is trying to understand?
2. Model: what mechanisms explain the behaviour of the world?
3. Estimate: what estimates of the model’s parameters are thought to obtain in particular contexts?
Values disagreements can be over questions of:
1. Standing: who counts?
2. Criteria: what counts?
3. Weights: how much different individuals and criteria count?
Any positive analysis tends to include elements of scope, model, and estimation, though often these elements intertwine; they frequently feature in debates in an implicit or undifferentiated manner. Likewise, normative analysis will also include elements of standing, criteria, and weights, whether or not these distinctions are recognised.
The origin of political disagreement is a broad church indeed in a liberal democracy. Those you disagree with are not evil, they just disagree with you. As Karl Popper observed:
There are many difficulties impeding the rapid spread of reasonableness. One of the main difficulties is that it always takes two to make a discussion reasonable. Each of the parties must be ready to learn from the other.
Why do @NZGreens want NZ to lead the world by example on a carbon tax, but not unilateral free trade?
31 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in David Friedman, environmental economics, global warming, international economics, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, politics - New Zealand Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate treaties, expressive voting, free trade, global warming, left-wing double standards, Left-wing hypocrisy, New Zealand Greens, protectionism, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, unilateral free trade
NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions are high per person and unit of GDP but have fallen since 1990 oe.cd/10z http://t.co/f5BMLMvTjq—
OECD Publications (@OECD_Pubs) June 10, 2015
Murray Rothbard on the falling popularity of Pope Francis
25 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of regulation, economics of religion, energy economics, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economics, Murray Rothbard, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: antiforeign bias, antimarket bias, Catholic social thought, climate alarmism, expressive voting, global warming, makework bias, Pope Francis, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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