Daily Economy
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How to Avoid the Dead-Weight Loss of Christmas
With the Christmas season again upon us, recall the old adage that holds that it is better to give than to receive. The problem, though, is that humans are such inveterate traders that we often feel compelled to reciprocate. But that often just turns into half-assed trading instead of true giving — the unilateral transfer…
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Institutions Matter More than Climate Change
In the last weeks, the topic of Venice’s floods has been heavily discussed in the media. This is part because it has been argued by some that it represents a vivid illustration of the problem posed by climate change. As such, the occasion has been used to renew calls to actions to mitigate climate change. …
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See Ford v Ferrari to Restore Your Faith in Movies
Just when you think politics is ruining everything in American life, at the very moment when we’ve all just come to assume that every movie out there will have a manipulative message designed to beat back our bourgeois sensibilities and turn them into some uplifted stage of wokeness, a movie like Ford v Ferrari comes…
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An Unexpected Climate Hero: Equity Markets
The best way to protect vulnerable countries and communities from some of the inevitable impacts of climate change is to up their defenses – i.e., make them rich as quickly as possible.
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You Are Harming No One or Anything by Not Spending on Black Friday
With Black Friday upon us, here’s something important to remember: you’re not “helping the economy” by spending intemperately and making imprudent impulse purchases. You’re just… spending intemperately and being imprudent. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Maybe you have a very high time preference such that you want stuff now now now and are willing…
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Why that Hotel Shop Undershirt Is So Expensive
“What do you need?” “Undershirts.” I was in a hotel gift shop and not optimistic. “Right this way.” I was surprised. I guess they have undershirts after all, I thought. I had my usual rhapsodic feelings about how people who don’t necessarily care about me are nonetheless able to care for me by having shirts…
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The Market Is a Symphony of Creation
I just ate a delicious sandwich. It was called the blue river brisket, and it had brisket, cheddar cheese, bacon, purple slaw, garlic mayo, and barbecue sauce heated and served on a kaiser roll. With a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup, it was a perfect meal on a dreary and stressful day. As I write…
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London Bureaucrats: Kill Uber to Keep Passengers Safe
Thus is the term safety bandied about in order to cover up the real agenda of driving out the enterprising competition from the private sector so that legacy cabs connected with the government can have a free hand.
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Thanksgiving and the Birth of American Free Enterprise
Once more it’s that time of the year when most Americans gather with family and friends to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. The turkey is carved, the stuffing and sweet potatoes are passed around, and many slices of pumpkin pie are happily consumed. But how many of us know or appreciate that Thanksgiving really celebrates the…
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The Great Redistribution: Who Benefits From Ruthless Capitalism?
The two ugliest entries in America’s anti-capitalist vocabulary might be “ruthless capitalism” and “speculation.” Ruthless — or any other distasteful adjective of your choosing — capitalism is a mythical kind of heartless profit seeking where owners and managers irrationally care about nothing but the next quarter’s bottom line. Unsurprisingly, any behavior approaching that caricature gets…
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•
How to Avoid the Dead-Weight Loss of Christmas
With the Christmas season again upon us, recall the old adage that holds that it is better to give than to receive. The problem, though, is that humans are such inveterate traders that we often feel compelled to reciprocate. But that often just turns into half-assed trading instead of true giving — the unilateral transfer…
-
•
Institutions Matter More than Climate Change
In the last weeks, the topic of Venice’s floods has been heavily discussed in the media. This is part because it has been argued by some that it represents a vivid illustration of the problem posed by climate change. As such, the occasion has been used to renew calls to actions to mitigate climate change. …
-
•
See Ford v Ferrari to Restore Your Faith in Movies
Just when you think politics is ruining everything in American life, at the very moment when we’ve all just come to assume that every movie out there will have a manipulative message designed to beat back our bourgeois sensibilities and turn them into some uplifted stage of wokeness, a movie like Ford v Ferrari comes…
-
•
An Unexpected Climate Hero: Equity Markets
The best way to protect vulnerable countries and communities from some of the inevitable impacts of climate change is to up their defenses – i.e., make them rich as quickly as possible.
-
•
You Are Harming No One or Anything by Not Spending on Black Friday
With Black Friday upon us, here’s something important to remember: you’re not “helping the economy” by spending intemperately and making imprudent impulse purchases. You’re just… spending intemperately and being imprudent. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Maybe you have a very high time preference such that you want stuff now now now and are willing…
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•
Why that Hotel Shop Undershirt Is So Expensive
“What do you need?” “Undershirts.” I was in a hotel gift shop and not optimistic. “Right this way.” I was surprised. I guess they have undershirts after all, I thought. I had my usual rhapsodic feelings about how people who don’t necessarily care about me are nonetheless able to care for me by having shirts…
-
•
The Market Is a Symphony of Creation
I just ate a delicious sandwich. It was called the blue river brisket, and it had brisket, cheddar cheese, bacon, purple slaw, garlic mayo, and barbecue sauce heated and served on a kaiser roll. With a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup, it was a perfect meal on a dreary and stressful day. As I write…
-
•
London Bureaucrats: Kill Uber to Keep Passengers Safe
Thus is the term safety bandied about in order to cover up the real agenda of driving out the enterprising competition from the private sector so that legacy cabs connected with the government can have a free hand.
-
•
Thanksgiving and the Birth of American Free Enterprise
Once more it’s that time of the year when most Americans gather with family and friends to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. The turkey is carved, the stuffing and sweet potatoes are passed around, and many slices of pumpkin pie are happily consumed. But how many of us know or appreciate that Thanksgiving really celebrates the…
-
•
The Great Redistribution: Who Benefits From Ruthless Capitalism?
The two ugliest entries in America’s anti-capitalist vocabulary might be “ruthless capitalism” and “speculation.” Ruthless — or any other distasteful adjective of your choosing — capitalism is a mythical kind of heartless profit seeking where owners and managers irrationally care about nothing but the next quarter’s bottom line. Unsurprisingly, any behavior approaching that caricature gets…