:Fixed Point

Tim Worstall is irate because the Government appears to be suggesting that chocolate is sold in smaller sizes to tackle the obesity ‘crisis’.
He said that surveys and food production statistics suggested that total calorie intakes had not increased.
So, err, if calorie intake has not increased, it isn’t increased calorie intake causing the problem. It’s reduced […]

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 strategies.
As the article points out, what on earth does Venezuela gain? It could sell its […]

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 end, much MUCH
thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the
far end. That is the […]

Tim Worstall is surely right when he claims that Peter Hain’s call for two-thirds City bonuses to be donated to charity, is just political posturing within the Labour Party.
Let’s take it as given that no-one seriously considers this idea as a starter. After all, it is largely the workers that benefit from City largesse, […]

Brad Delong writes
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer and the other millionaires and billionaires of Microsoft are brilliant, hardworking, entrepreneurial and justly wealthy.  But only the first 5 percent of their wealth can be justified as an economic incentive to encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise.  The next 95 percent would create much more happiness and opportunity […]

A new study on the World Distribution of household wealth has been published by the UN University.
The research finds that assets $2,200 per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution in the year 2000. To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required $61,000 in assets, […]

The former editor of the Financial Times, Andrew Gowers, releases a report on the structure of the UK’s intellectual property framework today. One issue under discussion is the extension of copyright terms to 95 years from 50. Lawrence Lessig outlines why this extension is irrelevant from an economic perspective.
The debate will replay the arguments over […]

Why do sub-optimal policies arise through the political process? Why do misconceptions about, for example immigration, survive year after year? Bryan Caplan believes voter irrationality is to blame. The public hold not just weird but contrary beliefs to experts in the field; the conclusion is to leave complex decision making to elites of experts (or […]

So now The Lancet has got me really irked. Scientists, particularly epidemiologists, are fond of pointing out how the general public has such a poor understanding of statistics and science. And it’s a fair criticism; witness the hysteria over mad cows or the MMR jab (I personally think an interpretation of statistics course should be […]

No, not Stern, but from this week’s Time Out comes a story (sorry, no link) perfectly illustrating the idea of trade-offs and unlike the usual environment-vs-business conflict, this has at its heart the conflict over two environmental goals.
“…proposals to build an £18.5m lock on…part of the River Lea…have raised a complex environmental debate. The lock […]

The Times reported last week how the Education Select Committee criticised Gordon Brown for pledging to raise the level of spending on state school students to match that of students in private schools.
The story makes the very valid point that whimsical spending that fails to realise results will make the public unwilling to fund future […]

Will Wilkinson criticises the happiness movement.

Crucially, there is no limit to the possible forms of excellence. So, while the number of positions on any single dimension of status may be fixed, there is no reason why dimensions of status cannot be multiplied indefinitely. It does not in fact require a violation of mathematical law to […]

There’s not much I’d disagree with generally here, but I don’t understand the point about rebuilding the manufacturing base via investment in alternative energy sources. My problem is that the policy aim can become confused if stated like this. What’s the real aim? Rebuilding manufacturing in the US or reducing carbon emissions? If it’s the […]

Will the UK’s antitrust authority, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) achieve more success by reducing its caseload by up to 40%?
I’m not sure. Firstly, the OFT has stated in the recent past that it intends to pursue the most damaging antitrust cases - cartels, such as the current investigation into BA’s fuel surcharges. Indeed, […]

Mark Thoma invites us to consider whether the it is right that wealth, as a result of genetic factors or luck should be taxed. There are two key issue in the Economist excerpt quoted. Firstly, that the creation of a talent based meritocracy is creating a divide between the talented elite and the rest, because […]

Janet Daley is getting frustrated at David Cameron’s refusal to promise and bring forward tax cuts if he is elected.

To state, as Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne do ad nauseam, that you will put economic stability “before tax cuts” is tantamount to saying that stability might well require that tax levels remain where they are.
If […]