I Am Enjoying The New Adam Smith Institute Blog

The two most recent posts there are quite entertaining and pithy. First, in commenting on the tedium and general lack of editing in the LOTR films, Alex Singleton observes

Yet the Lord of the Rings films have netted lots of money. Bad films, making lots of money. Is this an example of market failure?

Well, no. Because lots of people really like the movies. An important part of the free-market economy is that it recognises that different people like different things. Instead of a bureaucrat – who “knows best” – deciding what people will like, it lets individuals themselves make their own choices. And that is a wonderful thing.

Hear, hear! Now it’s my turn to try to encourage those bureaucrats that they don’t know what’s best for others in electricity.

And Masden Pirie’s post about Arnold Schwarzenegger, including a link to an article on the bet he placed a while back:

Madsen Pirie, the president of the Adam Smith Institute, is feeling pretty smug. Three years ago he wagered ?100 at 25-1 on Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming the next governor of California.