Last week’s “FREE Insights” (October 21, 2009) characterized our Federal Budget as a common pool. Like fish in the oceans, a classic common pool resource, the federal budget is subject to the tragedy of the commons. In such circumstances, valuable resources with no owner or manager to control takings are overexploited to everyone’s long-term detriment. […]
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The New Republic, a publication dating from the original Progressive Movement, recently ran an article with a cute and provocative title, “Aquacalypse Now: The End of Fish.” The author is Daniel Pauly of the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia. Essentially, the article correctly argued three points. First, because fish in the oceans […]
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Can one create wealth by destroying value? That is precisely what the cash for clunkers program purports to do. At least $3 billion in taxpayer dollars are being used to destroy $2 billion of productive assets, on the premise that this is somehow good for the economy. This is crackpot economics. Taken to its logical […]
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I observed the April 15th Tea Party by accident from a barbershop window. My second viewing, however, was intentional. I rode in from Gateway, met Ramona, and we walked my bike through the large and civil crowd. I was indeed pleased to be there. Many letters have commented on the Tea Party phenomenon. I’ll provide […]
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I have an architect friend who knows a great deal about American cars. He is interested in racing and auto craft, and specifically, designing for performance. Naturally, he laments the demise of the American automotive industry. He asked me why it happened and what will follow. Here’s what I told him. Detroit’s crackup is no […]
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What accounts for Detroit’s failure to produce a commercially viable electric car? When I discuss this question with students, I sometimes get conspiracy theories. They cite the 2006 documentary film “Who killed the electric car.” The film attributes the demise of GM’s all-electric car, the EV-1, to collusion among the carmakers, the government, and oil […]
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In 1983, Professor Bruce Yandle of Clemson provided an economic perspective on prohibition. His paper, “Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist,” described how an alliance of bootleggers and Baptists, who for quite different reasons, had incentives to seek restrictions on the Sunday sale of alcohol. Baptists sought moral improvement, while bootleggers supported […]
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With Bozeman’s boom fading or gone, focus turns to the likely impact of the stimulus upon employment. Naturally, some recall FDR’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935. This was one of many New Deal programs known by their letters and widely appreciated for their results. We still benefit from Forest Service trails and structures constructed […]
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The version of the economic stimulus bill lumbering through Congress contains a pernicious provision barring foreign steel and iron from infrastructure projects and requiring that all such projects use only American-made equipment and goods. Steel and iron manufacturers and labor unions no doubt promote these “Buy American” provisions. But can they explain how banning inexpensive, […]
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Where I grew up in the Midwest, cars were keys. Owning one marked maturity and provided a passport to liberty. All of my friends had cars and I had some pickups, my first a 1931 Model A Ford for which I paid $35 drove 100 miles home. Presaging future problems, the first Volkswagen had just […]
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