NASA made news this week when it was reported the agency had conducted a major study of aviation safety, interviewing over 20,000 pilots, and then sat on the data. An official defended that decision because the findings could damage the…
Category: Other
Bailouts sometimes backfire
My friend was despondent: “I don’t know,” he said, “she is sending such mixed signals.” In economic affairs, as in those of the heart, an unclear signal can be worse than no signal. Citigroup, JPMorgan and Bank of America had…
Consumers’ bold stand may become fast retreat
The maxim attributed to Napoleon that “in war, morale is to all other factors as three is to one” could be applied just as well to an economy. We talk about consumer or investor “confidence” rather than “morale,” but the…
Hurwicz’s Nobels shows nice guys can finish first
Every time my friend Paul came back from his Ph.D.-level microeconomics course he said the same thing: “Man, Leo is just amazing.” I never had the privilege of taking a course from Leonid Hurwicz but I know many people who…
Changing conditions breed invention
A simple morning commute generates a good metaphor for how markets work. One morning last week, I left my house and found cars on Raymond were backed up to the light at Como. I slipped down Scudder instead, hooking a…
“Nanny” government should simplify savings
This week, Hillary Clinton tossed out a proposal to establish 401(k) accounts for everyone, even for people who don’t have access to one through their employers. She also proposed the federal government provide up to $1,000 in matching funds for…
Traffic and property intertwined
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that using automatic cameras to record traffic violations is not permissible if they don’t identify the driver of the vehicle. That may be proper but, like any other definition of property rights, it carries…
“Fair” climate policies are foul to poor countries
Imagine the following scene in the Old West: A bunch of tired, thirsty cowboys ride up to a desert waterhole. Seeing cool water, they whoop in delight, springing from their horses to drink deeply. Once their thirst is quenched, they…
Inflation does not create itself
Inflation does not create itself The theory of spontaneous generation, that living beings spring spontaneously from inanimate matter, died out in biology by the mid-1800s. It apparently remains alive and well in journalism. Just look at media stories about the…
How a tractor helped win WWII
Like many others, I am watching the Ken Burns documentary on World War II. The third episode shows a U.S. secret weapon without noting its importance. A photograph of a farm near Luverne, Minn., features an Allis Chalmers model WC…