Conflicting Signals at the Marginal Revolution

Michael Giberson

I?m getting conflicting signals from Marginal Revolution. No, not the disagreement between Alex and Tyler over Deidre McCloskey?s recent lecture on prudence in politics. It?s the The Shangri-La Diet, currently listed under the heading “We Recommend.” Click through to Amazon and check out the author’s name on the cover ? “Seth Roberts, PhD.”

Uh-oh, “PhD” on the cover. As any regular reader of the Marginal Revolution knows, that?s a bad sign.

4 thoughts on “Conflicting Signals at the Marginal Revolution”

  1. I was intrigued enough by the post to try it out Roberts’ suggestion (essentially, drink sugar water to control hunger).

    I started this morning … and … I’m not hungry. It’s pretty weird.

  2. Here’s my concern about the sugar water thing: as a person with difficulty managing my blood sugar, I think it’s smarter to use fiber to control my appetite. Why not eat celery and drink a large glass of water with some lemon or lime juice in it, instead of sugar water? Sugar water is a nutritional zero.

  3. Hmmm … I never said it was the brightest thing to do (although apparently you can get the same effect out of drinking some oil during the day).

    Having said that, doing this for a few days has been a very odd experience. I get migraines, and I find that when the migraine is “in control” I can’t do anything else but thing about it. Alternatively, medications, narcotics, and meditation all can allow me to get a handle on my migraine. It doesn’t go away, but it isn’t all consuming either. That is what I have found with this sugar water thing – a very odd feeling that my hunger is still there but is no longer “in charge”.

    So, I find it a lot easier to eat celery today than last Monday.

  4. Only Economists in Shangri-La?

    Michael Giberson I’ve mentioned Seth Roberts’ Shangri-La diet here before. I’m interested, because I could probably stand to drop 10 or 15 pounds, but I really don’t see myself as a “dieter” or “diet book buyer.” Of course I could…

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