Monthly Archives: April 2015

Reading David Brooks on Character

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Arnold Kling

After downloading his new book, The Road to Character, I started by skipping to his concluding chapter, where he writes, The things we call character endure over the long term–courage, honesty, humility. People with character are capable of a long … Continue reading →

Posted in books and book reviews, David Brooks | 3 Comments

Real Interest Rates and Secular Trends

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Commenter Handle writes, There’s nothing an entrepreneurial employer can buy to augment his workers to increase their labor productivity. They’re no equipment or anything for him to invest in. There’s no point: labor productivity in NCH sectors cannot be increased. … Continue reading →

Posted in Four Forces Watch | 19 Comments

What’s Wrong with Keynesian Economics?

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Arnold Kling

It looks like I will be contributing to a set of essays on this topic. Here is what I am thinking of in terms of an outline. 1. What is Keynesian economics? I think that there are two important versions. … Continue reading →

Posted in PSST and Macro | 7 Comments

The Middle Man as Information Processor

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Suppose that I am one of three boys at a summer camp. Each of us receives an identical care package, consisting of two bags of pretzels and two boxes of apple juice. I like pretzels and apple juice, but boy … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Emergent Economics | 8 Comments

The Central Principle of Economics

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Trade is almost always good. I want to propose that as the central principle of economics. More on that in other posts. In this post, I want to talk about how trade might be bad or might be perceived to … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Emergent Economics | 24 Comments

Hayek and Business Management

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Arnold Kling

Chris Dillow writes, If extensive knowledge is possible, then bosses might be able to manage big companies well. If not, then centrally planned companies will be inefficient. Sure, perhaps competition will eventually weed out egregious incompetence, but market forces might … Continue reading →

Posted in business economics, Mark Thoma is Indispensable | 8 Comments

Joseph Heath on the Roots of Conservatism

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Arnold Kling

He writes, There is of course a much-observed tension between the cultural-evolutionary and the free-market versions of conservatism, particularly since the untrammelled free market is the most effective device for destroying traditional institutions that has ever been devised by man. … Continue reading →

Posted in David Brooks, Three-Axes Model | 10 Comments

Yuval Levin on the Roots of Conservatism

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Arnold Kling

He writes, Conservatives tend to see the human person as an incorrigible mass of contradictions: a fallen and imperfect being created in a divine image, a creature possessed of fundamental dignity and inalienable rights but prone to excess and to … Continue reading →

Posted in Three-Axes Model | 9 Comments

Interpreting Roland Fryer

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Arnold Kling

He is the latest winner of the John Bates Clark Medal. The announcement reads, in part Roland Fryer in a series of highly-influential studies has examined the age profile and sources of the U.S. racial achievement gap as measured by … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, statistical methods | 4 Comments

Throw Peer Review Under the Bus?

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Arnold Kling

From The Independent Richard Smith, who edited the British Medical Journal for more than a decade, said there was no evidence that peer review was a good method of detecting errors and claimed that “most of what is published in … Continue reading →

Posted in Jason Collins is Indispensable, statistical methods | 10 Comments