The awesomeness theory
Tim Carney suggests that some entrepreneurs are motivated not just by money but also by the drive to be awesome. Via
Posted in economics, Free market
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Category Archives: Free market
Android sales, animated
Microsoft are still fairly shy about releasing sales figures for Windows Phone 7 – saying they’ve shipped between 1.5 and 2 million copies to distributors (as opposed to end user take-up), and that they’re ‘happy’ with the ‘above target’ performance. … Continue reading
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Cohen correct
I think Nick Cohen was spot on here: Conservative readers still don’t understand why the Coalition is hated in the poor areas of Britain. They would grasp the loathing better if they went back through the arguments they made in … Continue reading
Posted in class, Free market, Liberalism, Politics
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Workfare
Perhaps there ought to be an equivalent to Godwin’s Law for comparisons to slavery. To say, as some libertarians do, that taxation is slavery is silly. It’s equally silly to say that the proposed requirement that unemployed people do some … Continue reading
Posted in Free market, Liberalism, Politics, totalitarianism
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Cheap things
This is a fantastic talk, from TED: Two comments: India making cheaper cars and prosthetic limbs enriches us all: we can buy their cars and prosthetics*. This isn’t a zero-sum game. The faster poor countries get richer, the faster we … Continue reading
Posted in Free market, Islamism, Liberalism, religion, Technology
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More word reclamation
Guido is using the term deficit deniers repeatedly. Same tactic only funnier than “social justice” or “fairness” because the very people who have so successfully teed up the word “denier” to be an end to all debate now face the … Continue reading
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Word reclamation
There was an interesting passage on Radio 4′s Today programme this morning. Evan Davis was interviewing George Osborne, who has been making a point of using the words “progressive” and “fair” to describe Conservative policies. This is a significant trend … Continue reading
Posted in Free market, Liberalism, Politics
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Monkey economics and the Blank Slate
Cut through some of the fluff that surrounds this 20 minute talk, and the core is completely fascinating. Laurie Santos has been experimenting with “monkeynomics”. She has taught a group of monkeys to use money – metal discs – to … Continue reading
Posted in Blank slate, economics, evolution, Free market, Just interesting, Politics
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Imagine
Tim says, of speculation in foodstuffs: Imagine we had no speculation at all? Not even physical hoarding. You don’t have to imagine. As I pointed out in a post a year ago, this was exactly the situation during much of … Continue reading
Posted in economics, Free market, Liberalism, Politics
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Did mortgage lender lobbying cause the recession?
No, according to the measured conclusion of this paper by Atif Mian, Amir Sufi and Francesco Trebbi: Moreover, given the nature of political influence and the complexity of government decisions, our results should not be seen as a “smoking gun”. … Continue reading
Posted in economics, Free market, Liberalism, Politics
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