The Real Elites vs. The Ruling Elites
1 week ago
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Capitalism and Morality
James R. Otteson: Capitalism and Morality: Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps, the McVickar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University, has written a fascinating short essay on the connection between justice and capitalism. He shifts the usual focus of such discussions from just or unjust distribution signatures to the aspect of human nature often overlooked: the tireless search for innovation.
ROBERT BARRO — QUOTE OF THE DAY
Barro writes:
Labor unions like to portray collective bargaining as a basic civil liberty, akin to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion. For a teachers union, collective bargaining means that suppliers of teacher services to all public school systems in a state—or even across states—can collude with regard to acceptable wages, benefits and working conditions. An analogy for business would be for all providers of airline transportation to assemble to fix ticket prices, capacity and so on. From this perspective, collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.
As to public sector employee unions I would find this observation convincing.
Historically, the union movement in the private sector is more complicated. This past week I viewed an excellent PBS American Experience on The Triangle Shirt Fire.
From the PBS site:
It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped match on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704150604576166011983939364.html
Labor unions like to portray collective bargaining as a basic civil liberty, akin to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion. For a teachers union, collective bargaining means that suppliers of teacher services to all public school systems in a state—or even across states—can collude with regard to acceptable wages, benefits and working conditions. An analogy for business would be for all providers of airline transportation to assemble to fix ticket prices, capacity and so on. From this perspective, collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.
As to public sector employee unions I would find this observation convincing.
Historically, the union movement in the private sector is more complicated. This past week I viewed an excellent PBS American Experience on The Triangle Shirt Fire.
From the PBS site:
It was the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. A dropped match on the 8th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory sparked a fire that killed over a hundred innocent people trapped inside. The private industry of the American factory would never be the same.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704150604576166011983939364.html
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Extreme Aggregation Misleads Macroeconomists and the Fed
In this accessible post, Higgs channels Hayek and ABCT to remind us of the dangers of aggregation.
A serious problem lurks, however, in the way the mainstream experts think about the economy, and hence in the kind of analysis they undertake to assess its current performance and its likely future changes. All too often, they model the macroeconomy as a black box into which flow undifferentiated “labor” services and “capital” services and out of which flows a uniform substance called “output,” measured empirically by estimates of real GDP. Units of this output command a price known as the “price level,” measured empirically by the GDP deflator; otherwise, prices play no role in the model. The interest rate plays only a limited role as a determinant of the demand for money and as a minor determinant of saving and investment spending. Time is essentially irrelevant.Extreme Aggregation Misleads Macroeconomists and the Fed
A serious problem lurks, however, in the way the mainstream experts think about the economy, and hence in the kind of analysis they undertake to assess its current performance and its likely future changes. All too often, they model the macroeconomy as a black box into which flow undifferentiated “labor” services and “capital” services and out of which flows a uniform substance called “output,” measured empirically by estimates of real GDP. Units of this output command a price known as the “price level,” measured empirically by the GDP deflator; otherwise, prices play no role in the model. The interest rate plays only a limited role as a determinant of the demand for money and as a minor determinant of saving and investment spending. Time is essentially irrelevant.Extreme Aggregation Misleads Macroeconomists and the Fed
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thought for the day
John Stuart Mill once observed:
“Every kind and degree of evil of which man is susceptible may be inflicted on them by their government.”
That is the purpose of a power-constraining, and power-dividing constitution. If not to prevent, as least to limit the frequency and the magnitude of such “evil” from government.
“Every kind and degree of evil of which man is susceptible may be inflicted on them by their government.”
That is the purpose of a power-constraining, and power-dividing constitution. If not to prevent, as least to limit the frequency and the magnitude of such “evil” from government.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Unleashing Capitalism
Unleashing Capitalism
Russell Sobel | November 11, 2010
The video is from the Workshop in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, a weekly meeting held at the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University. It was established to encourage and explore the latest research at the intersection of these three disciplines by scholars from across the social sciences and humanities.
Dr. Russell Sobel presented on his research from West Virginia and South Carolina, titled “Unleashing Capitalism.” The research reviews the scientific evidence on which policies best promote growth and concludes that a policy climate consistent with capitalism, or ‘economic freedom,’ is the best way to accomplish growth and increases in living standards. These policies work because they result in increased capital formation, higher labor productivity, reduced levels of wasteful rent-seeking and lobbying activity, and investment being better channeled to the most productive uses.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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