It is difficult to carve out any part of the piece because it is a discussion of a post by Russ Roberts, but let’s try this: Whenever you hear the term ‘Darwinian’ from anyone other than historians of science, assume the crash position; it’s going to get real ugly. There’s a lot here to correct… Read More »
Ronald Coase, the economist who theorised the reason for the existence of firms, turns 100 today. The Economist’s Schumpeter column has this really nice piece about him: His central insight was that firms exist because going to the market all the time can impose heavy transaction costs. You need to hire workers, negotiate prices and… Read More »
Gary Becker, the economics Nobel laureate who is probably most famous for his application of economics (in his case, rational choice and utility maximisation) to subjects such as racial discrimination, patterns of family organisation and drug addiction, has recommended the creation of a market in immigration. From The Economist: As with any price, one for… Read More »
I think that basic economics, the way it is taught today, tends to give people reflexive pro-free market, anti-government positions — positions that arenot held by people with a deeper exposure to economic thinking. When your understanding of government finances is based on reading the newspaper, it’s somewhat eye-opening to come to college and learn… Read More »
A new book by Milford Bateman, who is described as “a freelance consultant specialising in local economic development policy, particularly in relation to the Western Balkans,” is described in the following terms on the publisher’s website: Over the last thirty years or so, microfinance has risen to become one of the most high-profile policies to… Read More »
COMMISION ON URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY, IUAES ANNUAL CONFERENCE Gioiosa Marea, Sicily, 7-9 May 2010 The Informal and the Formal: Contested Categories of Socio-Economic Life Convenor: Italo Pardo (University of Kent) OUTLINE This conference recognizes both the empirical difficulty in categorising human activities as belonging strictly to the formal sector or the informal sector of the economy and the blurred… Read More »
for 2009 goes to Oliver Williamson, “for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm” and Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, “for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons”. Steven Levitt of Freakonomics thinks this means that “the prize is moving toward a Nobel in Social Science, not a Nobel in economics.”
Dani Rodrik’s take on the recent breakdown of the Doha round of negotiations.