Thursday, May 15, 2008
Swiss model
Much has been written about the seeming paradox of declining national borders, but rising regionalism (the Belgian mess gets a lot of press in Europe). And Paul Collier finds civil wars to be among the four plagues of The Botttom Billion. But most of these are expressions of tribalism which breaks out across and within national borders.All this makes the Swiss model so fascinating. (Looking a better source than Naylor). Tribalism may have been useful in our evolutionary past, but it is poison now.
It may be too much to ask that the model has lessons for others, but there are (sadly) so few others.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
More unintended self-parody
"Help Wanted: Lefty College Seeks Right-Wing Prof ... CU-Boulder Bid to Endow A 'Conservative' Chair Leaves Both Sides Uneasy" (from today's WSJ).As they say, you can't make this stuff up. What will the vetting process be like? The non-fiction version will be much better than any fictional academic spoof. Richard Russo, Jane Smiley, and the other practitioners of the genre may be too far on the left to get it right. And Bill Buckley is no longer with us. There must be others to pick up the challenge.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Anything but freedom
I thought that I had seen most of the protectionist arguments, but silly me. Martha Bayles, writing in Friday's IHS, sees cooperation between Hollywood lobbyists and Washington politicos to maintain free trade in movies as the worst sort of of capitalist-politician collaboration. She wants to excuse protectionism by our trading partners.It is rare that free trade has a powerful lobby behind it. And Bayles might be among those who fret over balance-of-trade negatives, but the U.S. has a strong positive in motion picture trade.
Oddly Bayles worries over U.S. objections to other countries' protectionism and to the Cultural Diversity Convention. In other words, cultural diversity (thinly veiled protectionism by the losers) trumps consumer choice. Anything but free trade and free choice.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Internet cafe plus
When in Europe, go to Switzerland. When in Switzerland, go to Lauterbrunnen. When in Lauterbrunnen, go to Airtime. It is a combination of booking agency (para gliding, bungy jumping, canyoning -- know what that is? -- river rafting, sky diving, hang gliding, canyon jump, horse trekking), internet access place, book shop, coffee shop, souvenir shop, landromat (!), you-name-it. Daniela Michel and/or Beni Brunner welcome and serve you.It takes a competitive market to come up with combinations that make the most sense. Internet cafe's have sprung up around the world. But this is the next iteration. Retailers have long dealt with the challenge of which goods to stock on limited shelf space. But the new game is which combinations of goods and services to bundle. And it's great fun to stumble on the real life experiments that are underway.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Gramlich on boom-bust
Ed Gramlich died recently, but he left us his book on the subprime mortgage market. I have not read it yet but this summary recently came to my attention. It's a refreshing read.Cycles are natural to the market economy (boom-bust). The boom-side typically involves major innovations and is remarkably productive. The legacy of the full cycle is positive!
The current real estate finance cycle involved significant innovations on the finance side that put people into homes who would not otherwise have them -- most of whom still have them and are likely to keep them.
Gramlich's analysis included some common sense innovations that deserve further discussion.
But common sense sounds downright boring compared to the devil theories that many observers (and politicians) prefer.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Shmacts
My LA Times "Dust-up" with Bart Reed is over and there are many reader comments. Some are savvy and some are not. Quite a few suggest that we look to Europe for transit success and a better way.But Wendell Cox posts research from Paris that shows only 3 percent of new light-rail riders come from autos -- compared to the hypothetical 35 percent that I assumed in my crazy-optimist calculations for LA rail. So Paris' light rail adds to greenhouse emissions.
Facts, shmacts.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Too cheap to meter?
Baptists and bootleggers, according to Bruce Yandle, cooperated to give us Prohibition. Likewise, Greens and corn growers gave us ethanol and high food prices around the world. This is why "unintended consequences" is such a cop-out. Politics is zero-sum.Plug-in autos are such a pleasant thought. Who looks at their electric meters? This morning's WSJ includes "Utilities, Plug-In Cars: Near Collision? ... Electric Firms Say Daytime Charges May Raise Costs." And electric utilities will, one way or another, be hit with carbon taxes or charges.
On a daily basis, we now get feel-good stories about how some high-minded person or group has "gone green". As if it's all free.
