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Mental Illness and Consumer Choice Theory
I just read a very interesting paper by GMU economist and Econlog blogger Bryan Caplan on the economics of mental illness. He builds on psychiatrist Thomas Szasz’s non-mainstream philosophy of the mind and argues that most mental illness is an expression of extreme preferences and not a constraining disease. Caplan puts mental illness into a framework [...]
Posted in Psychology & Behavior Tagged bryan caplan, constraints, consumer choice, gun, steven landsburg Leave a comment
Sowell, Mises, and the Pain of Going Against the Grain
In the last two days, I have observed that people who possess strong convictions about the way the world is can frequently turn bitter if their worldview substantially differs from popular opinion. The first piece of evidence was a quote by Milton Friedman about Ludwig von Mises:
“The story I remember best happened at the initial [...]
Greg Mankiw Still Signaling Something…
I will always have a deep respect for Professor N. Gregory Mankiw for introducing me to the basic principles of economics. In my opinion, he is one of the most sensible and even-handed mainstream economists.
However, I have commented before on Mankiw’s seeming lack of self-awareness when it comes to patting himself and similarly accomplished academic [...]
Also posted in Self Interest, politics Tagged CEA, citations, harvard-goldman filter, mankiw, Self Interest, signaling Leave a comment
Stop the Hate
I’ve discovered that there are as many people that want to save the world per capita in the PACS department as the Business School. In my Organizational Behavior course, we had to write our own obituary or retirement speech. The vast majority of obits were about accomplishments having a net positive on the world. No [...]
A Keynesian Theory of Blogging Cycles
Much like an economy, a blogger sometimes needs rest. Blog post supply decreases, leading to a decrease in blogger confidence, which in turn further decreases the supply of blog posts.
A temporary stimulus can remedy this downward spiral. All I have to do is press “G,” right?
Social Bookmarking
From the Department of Irrelevant Studies…
Greg Mankiw posts a link to a “study” that ranks economics bloggers based on the number of times they have been cited in scholarly journals. I’m not really sure what the point of this survey is, other than to give prominent economists who HAPPEN to also blog an opportunity to pat themselves on the back. [...]
Posted in Psychology & Behavior 2 Comments
Wilkinson on Klein
In a fashion similar to my post Krugman at His Most Partisan, Will Wilkinson takes Ezra Klein to task for flippantly dismissing the foundation of Republican disagreement. Within Krugman and Klein’s frame of thinking, people disagree for strictly partisan reasons rather than the more plausible, good-intentioned starting point of the other side thinks their policies work.
The more [...]
Krugman at His Most Partisan
Once again Paul Krugman makes the elementary mistake of assuming bad intentions in the people who have different ideas than he has. This time it’s related to airport security after the latest attempt to take down an airplane has failed due to the quick thinking of courageous passengers. Krugman blogs,
“So much for making the fight [...]
Ignorance is Bliss?