The demonstrably strong support of the working classes everywhere for capitalism
22 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
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
The Industrial Revolution started when people stopped looking at innovation as a reason for a witch-hunt
20 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
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
Everything is just getting better and better for men’s health
25 Jul 2014 Leave a comment
in health economics, technological progress Tags: medical progress, The Great Escape
HT: cato.org
The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity
22 Jul 2014 Leave a comment
On a timeline of human history, the standard of living resembles a hockey stick – flatlining and then skyrocketing in just the last few centuries.
Specialization and trade explains the astonishing growth of productivity and output in such a short amount of time—after millennia of famine, low life expectancy, and incurable disease
The Great Fact
06 Jul 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth miracles Tags: The Great Escape, The Great Fact
The graph shows the total global proportion of people in extreme poverty from 1820-2005, defined as having less than $1 per day (inflation adjusted across the time period).
HT: Cool It
Good old days alert: The Great London Smog | Stuff You Missed in History Class
04 Jul 2014 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, technological progress Tags: London smog, The Great Escape
A London bus conductor is forced to walk ahead of his vehicle to guide it through the smog, 9th December 1952.
In 1952, a choking cloud enveloped much of London and the Home Counties which killed thousands. Barbara Fewster walked 16-mile home – in heels – guiding her fiancé’s car.
the fog persisted until the 1960s when people stop using coal to heat their houses.
the London fogs which were regular from about the 1830s until the early 1960s were part of the good old days before the environment even got worse, if our friends in the environmental movement are to be believed.
via Missed In History: The Great London Smog | Stuff You Missed in History Class.
The Great Fact in the Age of Milton Friedman
27 Jun 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, growth miracles Tags: The Age of Milton Friedman, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
HT: The Gapminder
What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution?
26 Jun 2014 Leave a comment
This video by Hans Rosling is one of the best about the Great Escape and the Great Fact; and what we just so take from granted, even myself because of the overweening conceit of youth, from our childhoods and the lives of our parents.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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