August 20, 2002

Oil Closes Above $30

This Financial Times article recounts today’s close at $30.11, attributing it to war fears. I think it’s more complicated than that, but it’s not worth quibbling. The next OPEC meeting will be quite interesting …

Free Trade

This OpinionJournal editorial lays it out. I especially like: Of course, the idea of opening our market to imports has plenty of enemies–such as steel, textile and agriculture industries. And there is lots of political hay to be made by representing these interests. But the economics are clear: Imports offer American consumers more choice, higher …

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Back From Week O’smith

Back from a week of Adam Smith, but still exhausted! Today and tomorrow we should be getting petroleum inventory information from API and the DOE, so I may have something to say on that subject. And more on Smith, of course.

The Coase Theorem

It’s a mind-boggling insight that has transformed the way that (at least some of us) do economics. Megan McArdle has an outstanding description of the Coase Theorem and how it relates to spam. She points out something that usually gets lost in how people discuss and, gasp!, teach the Coase Theorem — in order to …

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