Monthly Archives: February 2008

VALENTINE POEM.

VALENTINE POEM. THE GOOD-MORROW. by John Donne I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I Did, till we loved ? were we not wean’d till then ? But suck’d on country pleasures, childishly ? Or snorted we in the … Continue reading

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OTHER COMMENTS ON DOCTOROW’S WAKEFIELD (SPOILER ALERT).

OTHER COMMENTS ON DOCTOROW’S WAKEFIELD (SPOILER ALERT). Several commenters, including my wife Mary Jane, found that the key to Doctorow’s Wakefield was his competitiveness. A commenter here said that, “I think the bigger issue was that Wakefield didn’t know who … Continue reading

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WHO WANTS HAPPINESS?

WHO WANTS HAPPINESS? Some of the economics research on happiness finds that on average happiness is not greatly increased after a base level is reached ($25,000 as I recall). In this post Annalisa made an excellent point. Writings about the … Continue reading

Posted in Economics | 2 Comments

WAKEFIELD AND THOREAU (SPOILER ALERT).

WAKEFIELD AND THOREAU (SPOILER ALERT). Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” is not well known and it is not surprising that the blog comments on Doctorow’s “Wakefield” rarely discuss Hawthorne’s version. One blog comment was uncanny, however. It discussed Doctorow’s story in terms of … Continue reading

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

STEROIDS, BASEBALL AND HUNGER ARTISTS.

STEROIDS, BASEBALL AND HUNGER ARTISTS. Congressional hearings are coming up on whether some baseball players used steroids or human growth hormone. I posted here on the elaborate measures that hunger artists took to demonstrate that they really were fasting. A … Continue reading

Posted in Baseball, Sports | 4 Comments

COMPARING DOCTOROW’S WAKEFIELD TO HAWTHORNE’S WAKEFIELD (SPOILER ALERT).

COMPARING DOCTOROW’S WAKEFIELD TO HAWTHORNE’S WAKEFIELD (SPOILER ALERT). I posted here, here and here on Doctorow’s “Wakefield”, which is a retelling of Hawthorne’s “Wakefield.” I have been curious about other reactions to Doctorow’s story. I have just discovered using Google … Continue reading

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

BUTTERFLIES AND SLEEP.

BUTTERFLIES AND SLEEP. Howard Johnson called my attention to an article on butterflies by Robert Lee Hotz in the Wall Street Journal for February 8. (This link will only work for a short time). Monarch butterflies, traveling at speeds of … Continue reading

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DID THE ROMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSE BECAUSE IT WAS A MARKET ECONOMY?

DID THE ROMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSE BECAUSE IT WAS A MARKET ECONOMY? In the review I posted on yesterday, James McCormick summarizes Bryan Ward-Perkins argument, based on the archaelogical record, that after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, … Continue reading

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EVIDENCE THAT ROME WAS A MARKET ECONOMY.

EVIDENCE THAT ROME WAS A MARKET ECONOMY. With admirable fair mindedness, two days after posting the article I linked to yesterday, which argued that Rome was never a market economy, Arnold Kling on his own blog linked to strong evidence … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, History | 1 Comment

WAS THERE A MARKET ECONOMY IN ANCIENT ROME?

WAS THERE A MARKET ECONOMY IN ANCIENT ROME? One of the unsettled questions in economic history is whether the Roman Empire was a market economy. Arnold Kling (whose always interesting economics blog is here) writes here that he agrees with … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, History | 3 Comments