A Roundup of Interesting Economics Links

Lynne Kiesling

I have to embed myself in Deep Thought today on a paper for a conference in September, so will have to content myself with offering you these links for your consideration:

21 thoughts on “A Roundup of Interesting Economics Links”

  1. ASI is very late to the plastic wristband “game”. There are already so many “cause” wristbands that you can’t tell what a wristband signifies without reading it. I am not ready to start asking people if I can read their wristbands.

    I’m only interested in what you believe or what you’re promoting if I know you well enough to care personally. Otherwise, you can remain as anonymous as you were without the wristband.

    I do not now and likely will not ever own such a wrist band. I am mildly curious what percentage of wristband wearers are really committed to and active in the causes represented by their wristbands.

  2. What Does Chicago Have to Do with Florida?

    They both are contemplating policies that will have a substantial effect on business location decisions. One of the things Ive noticed (so this means that it is a not-too-scientific conclusion) is that politicians rarely believe that a company will leave

  3. What Does Chicago Have to Do with Florida?

    They both are contemplating policies that will have a substantial effect on business location decisions. One of the things Ive noticed (so this means that it is a not-too-scientific conclusion) is that politicians rarely believe that a company will leave

  4. Cap and Trade? Government can’t figure out the right cap any more than it can the right tax. All you need to home in on a tax is the marginal net external cost curve. Set a tax, and adjust until you are where you need to be. To get a cap you need that, plus more info about internalized cost(S) and internalized benefit(D) curves. You can use flexible caps and such to get to the right place, but it is no easier than the tax. Cap and trade has as much, or more, bookkeeping as taxation for the polluter, as well – no efficiency gain there.

    In the real world (the one where worries about waste are relevant) cap and trade is anti-competitive, because it creates an ‘in’ toward bureaucratic capture in the initial credit allocation process by interested parties. Any allocation process creates transaction costs, which are the same for small fry as they are for big players – whether you need 1 credit or 1 million, the cost of attending an auction or entering a market is roughly the same – a state of affairs which benefits big incumbents to the detriment of small, probably cleaner, entrants with new technology. If the small fry grows faster than expected, he will be trying to buy credits on the (rarely liquid) aftermarket – credits owned by companies which would dearly love to see him bankrupt, or to sell out to them at firesale prices. It is in the interest of the (probably politically powerful) incumbents to make the FIXED cost of entry to the market as high as possible, to create an additional barrier to entry. The incentives created for them to adopt new tech may be good, but the cost is an inefficiently small number of competitors in the marketplace.

    The waste issue is a good reason to argue that other, less efficient taxes be cut, not that the Pig Tax not be imposed. Tax dollars are fungible, there is no reason to attribute any given bit of government spending to it, rather than other taxes, and most of us would say at least some government is warranted – arresting murderers or defending borders or whatever. Pig Taxes should be the first imposed and the last cut. Worry about waste only when all government tax revenues are coming from efficient taxation forms, and there are no less efficient taxes left to cut.

  5. Actuarial Escape Velocity

    What happens when ones probability of living one more year is higher than in the previous year? This is what Aubrey de Grey calls the Actuarial Escape Velocity which he expects to seewithin a few decades. Randall Parker at Futurepunditnotes

  6. Actuarial Escape Velocity

    What happens when ones probability of living one more year is higher than in the previous year? This is what Aubrey de Grey calls the Actuarial Escape Velocity which he expects to seewithin a few decades. Randall Parker at Futurepunditnotes

  7. Mississippi Insurers 1 Scruggs 0

    It appears that the first wind/flood case came out in favor of the It was wind position. I cant really tell from thearticle what the decision actually was, but it appears to be a significant win for the insurers. via

  8. Mississippi Insurers 1 Scruggs 0

    It appears that the first wind/flood case came out in favor of the It was wind position. I cant really tell from thearticle what the decision actually was, but it appears to be a significant win for the insurers. via

  9. Mississippi Insurers 1 Scruggs 0

    It appears that the first wind/flood case came out in favor of the It was wind position. I cant really tell from thearticle what the decision actually was, but it appears to be a significant win for the insurers. via

  10. Mississippi Insurers 1 Scruggs 0

    It appears that the first wind/flood case came out in favor of the It was wind position. I cant really tell from thearticle what the decision actually was, but it appears to be a significant win for the insurers. via

  11. The Real Wind v. Water Debate

    Ted has taken a more pessimistic view of the recent Katrina case ruling in Leonard v. Nationwide. Walter and David Rossmiller both have taken a more optimistic view. I think there is some room for optimism too. While the judge

  12. Hurricane? Not Yet….. Good.

    Every day I read my RSS feed from the National Hurricane Centers daily weather report for the Atlantic Ocean. It usually says something like this at the end of the report

  13. Hurricane? Not Yet….. Good.

    Every day I read my RSS feed from the National Hurricane Centers daily weather report for the Atlantic Ocean. It usually says something like this at the end of the report

  14. Hurricane? Not Yet….. Good.

    Every day I read my RSS feed from the National Hurricane Centers daily weather report for the Atlantic Ocean. It usually says something like this at the end of the report

  15. Hurricane? Not Yet….. Good.

    Every day I read my RSS feed from the National Hurricane Centers daily weather report for the Atlantic Ocean. It usually says something like this at the end of the report

  16. More Good Hurricane News (sort of)

    The Earth Policy Institute (EPI) has a new paper suggesting coast residents may have left the coast permanently after last year’s recent hurricanes, in part, due to the higher cost of insurance in those areas. This is what price signals

  17. Sen. Lott on Antitrust

    As everyone in the entire United States knows by now, former Senate Majority Leader and brother-in-law of Dickie Scruggs, Trent Lott is suing his homeowner insurance carrier over a Katrina claim. Be that as it may, Mr. Lott is now

  18. Sen. Lott on Antitrust

    As everyone in the entire United States knows by now, former Senate Majority Leader and brother-in-law of Dickie Scruggs, Trent Lott is suing his homeowner insurance carrier over a Katrina claim. Be that as it may, Mr. Lott is now

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