Potpourri
I’m cleaning out the pages from my iPhone’s browser, so some of the later links below are old (but good).
==> I know a lot of you travel through Argentina in late August, so make sure you stop by for my keynote address.
==> A good episode of the Tom Woods Show featuring Walter Block discussing ocean privatization. Little bit of trivia: In college my debate partner and I were undefeated when we advocated ocean privatization to protect marine life. In the beginning of the season, before our reputation preceded us, teams were helpless; they had never heard something so nutty and were utterly unprepared to rebut our claims.
==> Nick Rowe pushes back against Noah Smith, by arguing that he (Nick) was ignoring the lesson of comparative advantage when drawing up faculty teaching assignments. The thing is, I’m not sure I agree with Nick that he had originally been making a mistake. In any event, it just proves his point, that this stuff is far from obvious, and so Noah is wrong to think that if the layperson rejects the textbook case for free trade, it’s because the layperson has grasped the “obvious” Ricardian point and is thinking of something more subtle.
==> This 2013 Caplan essay is in his hall of fame, in the sense that he has since linked to it (I think I missed it when it first ran), and people in the comments are telling him it’s top notch. So my point in linking to it, is to say, “I don’t get it.” Far from being cavalier about the unemployed, I think if anything free-market economists are patronizing in their discussion of the minimum wage, the effects of ObamaCare on employer incentives, licensing restrictions on hair braiding, etc. In other words, rather than worrying (as Bryan does) that free-market economists come off as not caring about the unemployed in their analyses, I worry that some progressive might say, “Oh give me a break, like I’m sure you really care about teenage workers at Burger King! Get real Murphy, you really just want to fatten corporate profits and you’re couching your argument in terms of helping unskilled workers because you know that will resonate better with the public.”
Now if you want to see an economist who is quite flippant about unskilled workers being unemployed, here’s a much better example. (Look at his third paragraph in particular.)
==> Tyler Cowen links (and has a funny comment) to a hilarious paper from Harvard.
==> I don’t know who this guy is, but listen to his critique of Scott Sumner:
Scott Sumner asks the question, regarding macroeconomics: who should we listen to? He tries to suggest that we should assign a higher Bayesian prior probability to someone who has made several qualitative and ill-defined conditional predictions with a model only that person can use that are declared correct by the person who made them.
Yikes! I don’t sound that mad, do I?
==> Speaking of Scott Sumner, remember when I tried to take his thermostat analogy seriously? Well, it also requires saying things like, “Jim turned the thermostat DOWN from 60 degrees to 70 degrees.” Look, if you think the Fed should print more money, fine. But don’t let your sanity go with Scott over the falls. Or should I say, under the falls?
==> But I’m glad Scott’s around, because he linked to this hilarious post from Scott Alexander, about hardball questions for the next Republican debate. It’s geeky to be sure, but very clever.
“Feels So Good”
I wanted to put an instrumental on in the background while I worked, and I came across a version of Chuck Mangione’s classic that featured singing. If you had asked me beforehand, “Would it be possible to add lyrics to this song and make it even better?” I would have thought no.
Also, right when the guy wraps up singing, watch Mangione smile. He’s pumped to get into the good part of the song.
The Tension Between Economics and Religion
My Bible study partner sent me a quote from C.S. Lewis, who worried that the ancient Greeks, the Jews in the Old Testament, and the Christians in the Middle Ages all condemned interest (or usury), and yet this practice of charging interest–of trying to earn a rate of return on an investment–was the foundation of our modern economic system.
I actually discussed this (though not definitively by any stretch) way back in 2006 in a lecture at the Mises Institute. (I read the Lewis quotation around 7:55.) Through this whole video, I’m now thinking, “What jacket was I wearing? I don’t think I have that anymore.”
Truth, Hope, and Love
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
(Mt 10:16, ESV)
==> The cynical skeptic holds his fellows in contempt, seeing through their hypocrisy and understanding just how awful they can be. It is a miserable existence, making you end up witty and bitter. But the reason you persist is that you are correct in your assessment, and you feel truth is more important than joy. (Do you think H.L. Mencken was happy? Would you want to be H.L. Mencken? I’m glad he existed, but I wouldn’t want the job.)
==> The idealistic skeptic believes that people are basically good, that mass murder, raping, and pillaging are just aberrations that technology and the arts will gradually eradicate. This allows you to face the world–because otherwise it would be unbearable–but the more clever people around you know that you are living in an illusion. Deep down, so do you.
==> The Christian recognizes the truth that his fellows are contemptible. However, he doesn’t descend into smug superiority, because he realizes he himself is just as much a hypocrite and scoundrel. Yet this recognition doesn’t drive him to drink, drugs, and despair, because the Lord–for some reason–loves him and everyone else. And if Jesus, who was Himself perfect, loves my neighbor and me, then I should do the same. Though humanity left to its own devices would descend into utter depravity and destruction, we can be filled with joy because we’re not all on our own.
Contra Krugman Episode 12: Krugman Buckles and Admits Regulation Bad
Here we had no choice but to agree with Krugman’s op ed and simply elaborate. Tom and I ended up taking swipes at each other, to fill the snark vacuum.
Doug McGuff on Tom Woods Show
With the holiday I somehow missed this. Anyway check out my co-author, ER Doctor Doug McGuff, on Tom’s show. The subject is our new book, The Primal Prescription.
Paris Power Ploys
My latest at IER, talking about the negotiations over climate policies. An excerpt:
And so we see a familiar pattern: Political officials and their sycophants in the press telling Americans just how urgent a particular piece of legislation—or, in this case, an international “agreement”—is to fight a huge problem, and then the actual wonks in the corner admit that the remedy won’t solve the ostensible problem, even using their own framework. Call it “global warming theater.”
The Murphy Bros. Don’t Play When It Comes to Impressions
My brother and I have caught Jay Mohr contradicting himself.
When he’s on a TV show with a decent audience, here’s the humble Mohr, paying homage to his betters:
Ah, but when he’s popping in for a nothing radio hit, the truth comes out (start it at 1:55):
Watch yourself, comedians. There’s a new sheriff in town. And deputy.
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