Economics Library: Essential Scholars

The thing that astonished me the most when I came to the United States was the public library. Every city and even rinky-dinky towns have public libraries. These are open to all and for free, unlike say university libraries.

Fortunately for me, my formal schooling prepared me by giving me the tools (reading comprehension and numeracy) for me to use libraries. I think that at the very least, everyone should be given those tools so that they can access libraries. That’s all that you need to do to get an educated citizenry. Continue reading “Economics Library: Essential Scholars”

Have the Laws of Economics Changed?

The correlation between economic freedom and economic prosperity is well-established and robust. Economics explains why this relationship exists and also the causal direction — economic freedom is the cause and prosperity the effect.

I am by nature in favor of freedom of all flavors, not just economic freedom. I value freedom as an ultimate good, although it fortunately happens to be an instrumental good too. Even if material prosperity did not follow from economic freedom — meaning that it was not instrumental in creating wealth — I would still value economic freedom for itself. Philosophically I am not a utilitarian.

These musings are provoked by a comment to the piece on Economic Freedom and Well-being last week. Here’s the comment:

Continue reading “Have the Laws of Economics Changed?”

New Year 2020

Although the start of a year is an arbitrarily chosen day, sufficient number of people pay attention to the change in the least significant digit of the year that it is best to go along with the hoopla and join in wishing people “A Happy New Year.” Continue reading “New Year 2020”

George Orwell on Rudyard Kipling

I have to admit that If by Rudyard Kipling is one of my favorite English language poems, the last two verses of which appear on the left. The full poem appears at the end of this post.

The reason for this post? Because Kipling was born on this day, Dec 30th, in 1865 in Mumbai, and died in London in 1936.

Of course, when I read If in school, I had no idea of who Kipling was. I liked the poem, and that was it. Later I learned that Khushwant Singh had said that the poem was essentially a condensation of some of the messages of the Bhagavad Gita. Perhaps that’s why I had that intuitive liking for it.

Much later I realized that Kipling was not a nice man. He was, in the words of George Orwell, a “jingoist imperialist.” Here’s an excerpt from an essay Orwell wrote (I believe in 1945) on Kipling: Continue reading “George Orwell on Rudyard Kipling”

The Summing Up

January is around the corner, the month named after the Roman god Janus who had two faces — one looking forward to the future and the other backward to the past. He is the god of “beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings” says the wiki.

It was the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (100 BCE – 44 BCE) who decided that the first day of January will mark the start of a new year in 45 BCE. Thus was born the Julian calendar that is almost universally used today (with notable exceptions like in Ethiopia.) How’s that for power and influence?

Time to look back. Continue reading “The Summing Up”

Economic Freedom and Well-being

Hong Kong is at the top of the class in economic freedom and among the most prosperous in the world. Just note the change between 1980 and 2017: 255 percent increase in GDP per capita on PPP basis. Singapore, thanks to Lee Kuan Yew, did even better: #2 in economic freedom ranking, its GDP pc increased over 3x. Here’s a graphic illustration of the correlation between economic freedom and prosperity. The causal link is from freedom to prosperity.

Venezuela, much beloved of socialists like Bernie Sanders, went from moderately well-off to desperate poverty in the same period thanks to socialism. I note in passing that India was declared a socialist country by Indira Gandhi, and it shows. Continue reading “Economic Freedom and Well-being”

I am Happy that I’m a Hindu

I find it curious that people unthinkingly claim credit where none is due. “I proud to be an Indian” and “I am proud to be a Hindu” are examples. Here’s an example from a Youtube comments’ section.

My answer to Supriya Varma went thus: Continue reading “I am Happy that I’m a Hindu”

Ask me anything — ISO 8601 edition

Some standards in the US are really absurdly eccentric and irrational. It’s the only advanced industrialized country that uses the British system of weights and measures. It uses foot, pound, gallon, degrees Fahrenheit instead of meter, kilo, liter, degrees Celsius. (Please stop with the centigrade thing already.)

The other two countries — Liberia and Myanmar –which have the same insanity are not exactly technologically advanced. Even the UK follows the metric system (with a few exceptions such as it is illegal for metric road signs and illegal to sell draught beer in metric.) Continue reading “Ask me anything — ISO 8601 edition”

Reed’s Response to Time Magazine’s Cover Story on Capitalism

[Editor’s note: The following is Lawrence Reed’s response to the cover story, “How the Elites Lost Their Grip,” by Anand Giridharadas in the December 2-9, 2019 issue of Time magazine.]

My Response to Time Magazine’s Cover Story on Capitalism

The case for true capitalism is a moral one that’s rooted in human nature and human rights.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The inventor of the now-famous “Overton Window,” the late Joseph P. Overton, was my best friend and a senior colleague at the Michigan organization I headed for nearly 21 years (1987-2008), the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The Window postulates that at any given time, public policy options are framed by public opinion. Politicians who operate within it can get elected or re-elected, while those who offer proposals outside of it run the risk of public rejection. Move the Window by changing public opinion, and what was previously a losing proposition can then become politically possible. Continue reading “Reed’s Response to Time Magazine’s Cover Story on Capitalism”

Vigilante Justice in India

One of the markers of an uncivilized society is that mobs resort to vigilantism which are acts of summary justice without legal authority or due process. When the police engage in vigilantism, it signals a failed society. That’s what happened last week in Hyderabad in India.

Four people were killed murdered by the police (led by one Mr Sajjanar) in what is referred to as an “encounter.” The four were accused of a singularly horrific crime — the gang rape and murder of a young woman –and were in police custody. Note the word accused. Continue reading “Vigilante Justice in India”