The Economist (October 12)
“China is dangerously short of water. While the south is a lush, lake-filled region, the north—which has half the population and most of the farmland—is more like a desert.” To try to solve the problem, China has now “built as many large dams as the rest of the world put together.” To really solve the problem, however, China will need to focus on regulatory issues, such as cracking down on polluters, and economic incentives, such as increasing water rates to encourage conservation.
Tags: China, Conservation, Dams, Desert, Economics, Farmland, Polluters, Population, Regulation, Water
The Economist (April 27, 2013)
Economics has long been defined by choices made by rational beings. These mythical creatures, however, account for many of the field’s shortcomings. “Economics should draw much more heavily on fields such as psychology, neuroscience and anthropology.” Economists should “accept that evidence from other disciplines does not just explain those bits of behaviour that do not fit the standard models. Rather, what economists consider anomalous is the norm.”
Tags: Anomalies, Anthropology, Choices, Economics, Neuroscience, Norms, Psychology, Rational, Standard models
Forbes (June 25)
“The fundamental importance of sound money has been virtually forgotten by the economics profession today, even though no country has ever achieved sustained prosperity without it. A stable currency is the foundation for the literally billions of transactions and economic arrangements that make growth possible. To simplify, imagine how difficult it would be to function if the number of minutes in an hour were constantly changing. Even cooking would be problematic.”
“The fundamental importance of sound money has been virtually forgotten by the economics profession today, even though no country has ever achieved sustained prosperity without it. A stable currency is the foundation for the literally billions of transactions and economic arrangements that make growth possible. To simplify, imagine how difficult it would be to function if the number of minutes in an hour were constantly changing. Even cooking would be problematic.”
Tags: Economics, Prosperity, Sound money, Stable currency
New York Times (October 11)
The Times applauds economists Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent, who were awarded the 2011 Nobel in economic sciences. “The prize committee has rewarded two towering intellects—and delivered a challenge to politicians who are driven more by ideology than by serious consideration of the real-world consequences of their actions.” In particular, the Times hopes politicians will recognize “two important approaches: near-term public spending to spur jobs paired with tax increases to pay for the new programs and, eventually, to reduce the deficit.”
