Category Archives: economics

education is for whom?

Is education a public good? Does someone else’s learning algebra or Shakespeare make you better off? Well, there are network externalities — in reading this you benefit not only from my learning but from that of anyone from whom I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in economics, humanities | 1 Comment

Free Market Anti-Capitalism

I wonder what I did to deserve being blogrolled by Mutualist (Kevin Carson).

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“for god’s sake, please stop the aid!”

Spiegel Interview with African Economics Expert If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn’t even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development … Continue reading

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QotD

Letter to The Economist, August 13 issue: My professor on an accounting course at Harvard Business School 25 years ago introduced it thus: “When most of you read accounting statements now, you do not understand them. At the end of … Continue reading

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distributed knowledge wins

I’ve heard that Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1992) started thinking about spontaneous order because of an incident in the Great War. Austrian forces were routed in a battle in Italy, and fled leaderless through the mountains; and far more of them … Continue reading

Posted in economics, security theater | 1 Comment

Almost Invented Here — again

Once upon a time, probably 1983, I had an idea to maximize diversity in a representative assembly. You vote for more than one candidate. The ballots are counted once for each seat. On each count one winner is chosen, and … Continue reading

Posted in constitution, economics | 7 Comments

go read somewhere else

Tom Knapp on the land problem (inter alia) (cited by Mutualist). (2006: that site has been reorganized; I think this is the same piece, and as a bonus here are two followups.) why drink beer a Martian dust-devil, close up … Continue reading

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