Monthly Archives: February 2007
Will selling legal ivory reduce poaching?
Tom Palmer has a paper on popular market myths (HT: Tyler Cowen) and towards the end sounds a little caution about eulogising over markets too much. I thought about that paper when I read Tim Worstall’s post on elephant poaching. … Continue reading
Organic food could be bad for your great great great grandchildren
Organic food can be bad for the environment. One of my first posts was about the expected rail against Tesco’s soaring profits. The relevant part of the post: Supermarkets fly in strawberries from Africa in December, thus polluting the environment. … Continue reading
Chavez “bribes” Ken, and the poor ride buses.
London, or rather Ken Livingstone, has struck its own deal with Hugo Chavez for cheap oil. The fuel will be priced below cost and in return for ferrying around poor people in London, Venezuela will get “assistance” with global warming … Continue reading
Who chooses for the chooser?
The Economist blog weighs in with this: behavioural economics can point to many interesting irregularities in behaviour, but it cannot dictate political beliefs such as the level of government intrusion into the economy. If we put the government in charge … Continue reading
Ending free banking not a blessing for all
The BBC reports of moves towards ending free banking in the UK, and charging customers for current accounts. Graham Beale, the incoming CEO of Nationwide says, In a way, I do believe fee-based banking is a fairer proposition We might … Continue reading
Why Oliver James really hates capitalism, or “My theory of depression, for it is mine and mine only, by O James (Mr)”
Monty Python had a celebrated sketch in which a self-proclaimed dinosaur expert, Ann Elk, propounded her theory of Brontasuaruses When repeatedly asked by the interviewer for the details of her theory, she finally answers All brontosauruses are thin at one … Continue reading
Another failed merger
DaimlerChrysler may demerge. Back in the days when I did this kind of research, we often found that 60-70% of mergers destroyed value for the acquiring shareholders. The most typical problems were a failure to manage massive integration issues and, … Continue reading
How does an essay evolve?
Lyn lays bare her thought processes as she writes a psychology essay. Her motivation being to demonstrate to students that even model answers don’t just spring forth from mental gloop
If you love the free-market, why do you loath nature?
Don Boudreaux writes I must be explicit that I have long been skeptical of “green.” Unlike “green” folks, I am not especially inspired by nature. Yes, often nature is pretty and soothing to visit. But to get my blood pumping … Continue reading
Are women chokers?
Steven Landsburg thinks they might be, and that’s why we don’t see many top female executives. If his argument is to apply in the corporate world, it means that the decisions and actions of top executives really are marginal, in … Continue reading