Re: Wage-Price Controls Under Nixon
Well, the average American is not so pro-freedom as, say, Walter Williams, but considerably more so than the average Frenchman or German. So it's all relative. By the way, contrary to Kinsley's assertion, wage and price controls were not merely a cynical re-election ploy. There was a real problem associated with the fact that at the time the Bretton Woods exchange rate overvalued the dollar and the domestic U.S. inflation was making the problem worse. If I'm not mistaken, wage and price controls and the Bretton Woods system were both abandoned at about the same time, which is probably not a coincidence. Marc Poitras
Re: Wage-Price Controls Under Nixon
Alex Tabarrok [EMAIL PROTECTED]To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: Sent by: Subject: Re: Wage-Price Controls Under Nixon [EMAIL PROTECTED] u.edu 06/13/2003 04:42 PM Please respond to ARMCHAIR Well, the average American is not so pro-freedom as, say, Walter Williams, but considerably more so than the average Frenchman or German. Really? How do you measure this? Well, we can start with the fact that in the first-round of a typical presidential election in France, 2/3 of the votes go to candidates so far to the Left they make Ralph Nader look moderate, and about 1/2 of these votes, or 1/3 of the total, go to out-and-out Marxists of one sort or another, candidates who are avowed Trotskyites, Stalinists, etc. In U.S. presidential elections, no avowed socialist has *ever* garnered more than one or two percent of the vote. Marc Poitras
Re: Advise to Journalists
Alex, Journalists are probably taught by their lefty professors that the misery of the third world is caused by exploitation and various isms emanating from the developed world: capitalism, racism, colonialism. So how about: Q: Why is the third world poor? A: Because they have lousy institutions that do not protect property rights. See the superb discussion in Mancur Olson's piece in the Spring 1996 Journal of Economic Perspectives. Marc
RE: News Coverage and bad economics
Amateurs and economics? As I recall, in the General Theory, towards the end of the book, Keynes called for, or came close to calling for, nationalization of business investment. If implemented, the proposal would have quickly created an out-and-out socialist system, with disastrous consequences. Fortunately, such a decision was not in the hands of Keynes or other economists. It was in the hands of the American electorate, a bunch of amateurs. And among these amateurs, only about 2% had historically supported socialist candidates who called for what Keynes was proposing. The amateurs were right, and Keynes was wrong. Now, one can dismiss this evidence as a mere anecdote. But keep in mind that we are talking about the man who was the most acclaimed economist of the 20th century, and we are considering his position on nothing less than capitalism vs. socialism, the most important and fundamental issue in economics and perhaps all of social science. In fact, amateurs and the general public have often demonstrated a kind of intuitive and inarticulate wisdom on social issues that has eluded intellectuals, including economists. Marc Poitras
RE: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
But nobody has challenged you, Wei: do you know anybody admirable who hates competition? Ghandi comes to mind as a stereo-type, living in rags, spinning his own cotton threads, a very unhappy wife ... Yes, perhaps the stereotype of Ghandi, but not the historical Ghandi. The real Ghandi lived surrounded by doting admirers and servants, serving him specially-prepared meals for the sake of his chronic constipation. As one wag observed, It takes an awful lot of money to keep Ghandi living in poverty. Marc Poitras
Re: A Short Review of *Hard Heads, Soft Hearts*
I propose that for next semester Alan Blinder and I exchange faculty positions. Blinder can assume my three-course load at Dayton and I'll assume his one(?) course load at Princeton. Blinder can eat greasy cheeseburgers in the Dayton cafeteria, and I'll dine on lobster savannah in the Princeton faculty club. Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely do not MERIT a position at Princeton. I make this proposal purely in the interest of promoting Blinder's Principle of Equity. Marc Poitras Assistant Professor of Economics University of Dayton
Re: charlatanism
The real charlatans in academia are the many frauds who build their whole careers by getting their names put on coauthored papers to which they have not legitimately contributed. Marc Poitras
