Category Archives: Economics

ARE AIRPORT CITIES UGLY?

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Philip

ARE AIRPORT CITIES UGLY? I posted on Annalisa’s experience of Paris yesterday. The kind of landscape she saw near the airports may be the wave of the future. Wayne Curtis had a review in the Wall Street Journal (March 2) … Continue reading →

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ACHILL ISLAND—“THE END OF THE EARTH.”

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Philip

ACHILL ISLAND—“THE END OF THE EARTH.” Michael Lewis continues his wonderful analysis of the financial crisis with an essay in Vanity Fair (March 2011) on Ireland’s economic crisis. In Ireland, the crisis took the form of bad loans by Irish … Continue reading →

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WHY IS A LIFE WORTH LESS WHEN IT IS SAVED BY MEDICINE?

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Philip

WHY IS A LIFE WORTH LESS WHEN IT IS SAVED BY MEDICINE? I rarely see much attention paid to the values of lives saved when health care is discussed. When the annual increase in health care costs is discussed, I … Continue reading →

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RAISING THE VALUATION OF LIFE.

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Philip

RAISING THE VALUATION OF LIFE. This article by by Binyamin Applebaum in the New York Times (February 16) tells about how different federal agencies have been raising the value that they place on saving a life when they are evaluating … Continue reading →

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THE SPIKE AND WOMEN’S LACROSSE.

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Philip

THE SPIKE AND WOMEN’S LACROSSE. This article in the New York Times (February 16) reports that: “Although some safety advocates call for head protection in women’s lacrosse, almost everyone involved in the sport has said that its current ban on … Continue reading →

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OUR 16 1/2% MORTGAGE.

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Philip

OUR 16 1/2% MORTGAGE. Kids, to illustrate the effect that the double-digit inflation in 1979 to 1982 had on people’s lives, you should know that the mortgage that let us buy our first house started out with an interest rate … Continue reading →

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THE END OF PRICE CONTROL POLICIES.

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Philip

THE END OF PRICE CONTROL POLICIES. Samuelson points out that until Paul Volcker brought an end to inflation with monetary policy, “…inflation had frustrated every president since Lyndon Johnson and had defied successive voluntary and mandatory wage-price controls.” Kids, from … Continue reading →

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WHEN THERE WAS DOUBLE-DIGIT INFLATION.

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Philip

WHEN THERE WAS DOUBLE-DIGIT INFLATION. Robert Samuelson had an article in the Washington Post (February 11) arguing that the Reagan celebrations occasioned by his 100th birthday are mostly misleading because: “They omit Reagan’s singular domestic achievement and the wellspring of … Continue reading →

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MEDIEVAL CITY CHARTERS.

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Philip

MEDIEVAL CITY CHARTERS. The idea of creating charters giving cities freedom from heavy regulation goes back to medieval times. I looked back at 1215: THE YEAR OF MAGNA CARTA by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham. They quote from the language … Continue reading →

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NEW CHARTER CITIES?

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Philip

NEW CHARTER CITIES? The economist Paul Romer has been campaigning for the establishment of “charter cities”, which would have almost no economic regulations, modeled on the success of Hong Kong in the twentieth century. This article in the Wall Street … Continue reading →

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