NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING economist Douglass North observed that “economic history is overwhelmingly a story of economies that failed to produce a set of economic rules of the game (with enforcement) that induce sustained economic growth.” A sound education system is the… Read More ›
Nothing warms the cockles of this economist’s heart like seeing a market do its bit beautifully. As we say in the trade (pun intended), markets work and incentives matter. That sums up very neatly two of the fundamental insights of… Read More ›
I love quotes. I have a very large collection of quotes, some of which I have even published in The Big Page of Quotations on this blog. It’s a work in progress and I update that page intermittently. Here I… Read More ›
Walter E. Williams insisted that the E in his name stood for excellent. He was excellent. He suffered no fools. He passed away today. About him, the wiki says: Walter Edward Williams (March 31, 1936 – December 2, 2020) was… Read More ›
Of all the American holidays I like Thanksgiving the best. For starters, it’s a secular holiday. Secular in the true sense of the term — not religious — and not in the way that secular is understood in India where… Read More ›
Tom Woods is a brilliant speaker. Engaging, funny and entertaining. Besides, he makes sense. Lockdowns are a bad idea, as I wrote in my previous post, A Most Expensive Hoax. [Addendum: YouTube has taken down that video. You can watch… Read More ›
The Seen and the Unseen Every action has not one but many effects; of these many effects, only some — perhaps one — are intended, and others are unintended; some of the many effects are beneficial and others are harmful;… Read More ›
I am always struck by the variations in human capacities. We humans are strikingly unequally endowed in physical and mental capabilities. Non-human animals of a particular species are generally very similar. For instance, individual members of the species common pigeon … Read More ›
Today, November 14th in India, is Diwali, or Deepaval. Diwali is a pretty big deal all across India and even outside India. Here’s what the all-knowing wiki says about this Indian festival (edted): The five-day long festival originated in the… Read More ›
In a recent email exchange, my correspondent wrote, “they say if everyone consumed like the US, we would need 2.5 earths.” That sort of claim is commonly made and readily accepted as true. A June 2015 BBC magazine article titled… Read More ›
