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Faux Economic Profundities

There are a lot of faux economic profundities floating around. I don’t remember who said this one–I’m thinking I read it in a Landsburg book in Barnes & Noble, but I could be wrong–but I have in mind assertions like this: If you never miss a flight, you spend too much time in airports.Wow, that’s […]

Potpourri

* Mario Rizzo deconstructs the “contributions” to the 3Q GDP figures: “[A]t least 2.5 percentage points of the 3.5 percent increase are suspect on their own terms. And then there are the future costs to bear.” * Not only did Paul Krugman (or his lackey) approve my comment on this post, but it was the […]

Isn’t a Christian Better Off Dead?

In the comments of a recent blog post–and I’m sorry but I can’t seem to find it–a reader said something like: “You can’t possibly believe this religious stuff, right? I mean, my five-year-old showed how silly it was the other day when he said, ‘If you believe in heaven, why not just kill yourself and […]

Blog Bask

OK I’m getting bugged clicking on the same old list. I need to find a new place where the kids are hip. Regular Free Advice readers have a good sense of my tastes, sense of humor, and so forth. If you could name just one blog that you think I should be checking daily, what […]

Now I Know How Cliff Clavin Felt

I’m so conservative I probably wouldn’t have risked it all on the Daily Double… Duh. (Every econoblogger is featuring this, but I think I saw it first from Boettke. And this is the reference in my post title. UPDATE: I just noticed a mistake at around 4:22 in the Cheers clip. Amateurs.)

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Jeff Hummel passes along this op ed by William Shugart on daylight saving: Although daylight-saving time was sold politically as an energy-conservation measure, it does no such thing. Studies conducted in Indiana prior to 2006, when that state operated under three different time regimes, show either no difference in energy consumption or a small increase […]

Murphy PIGs: Everything Must Go! The Prices Are Insane!

When I give a talk somewhere, I don’t want to carry a bunch of books on me, so I just buy some directly from the publisher and have them shipped to the site. Of course I err on the side of optimism (better to come back with extra books rather than turn people away empty-handed), […]

More Stimulus Arithmetic

In preparation for an op ed, I spent a half hour Saturday morning playing with the interactive map at the most transparent administration in history’s Recovery.org website. As of Halloween, here are some of the regional breakdowns in terms of stimulus money awarded, received, and jobs saved (according to the recipients). Of course these figures […]