tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62684922009-11-05T07:39:58.937-08:00A blog exploring the intersection of economic thinking and urban planning/real estate development and related big-think themes.Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-41728414539324425092009-11-05T07:14:00.000-08:002009-11-05T07:39:58.971-08:00

My favorite LA novel is The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle. Another great guide to today's LA is "The Scavenger: Pig's ear, octopus, and fish-kidney curry with LA's most adventurous eater" in the Nov 9 New Yorker. The report follows the adventures of Jonathan Gold, "the high-low priest of the Los Angeles food scene." Gold describes LA as the "anti-melting pot". And "... unlike in New York, where

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-64862107387180288782009-11-03T12:29:00.000-08:002009-11-03T13:09:03.367-08:00

The November (2009) Reason includes "Are Property Rights Enough? Should libertarians care about cultural values? A reason debate". It seems to me that libertarian (or any serious) discussions cannot avoid touching on cultural questions. But libertarian individuals and positions are another matter. All are products of a culture and all have individual interests in many aspects of that culture,

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-50079595510563327932009-10-31T13:23:00.000-07:002009-10-31T13:34:50.381-07:00

Everyone knows that social engineering is hard work. But look at this: "French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality". The thieves and opportunists are not moved by the plight of the polar bears or the shrinking ice caps. But the good guys are not giving up. They are ready with their next move.In an unsuccessful effort to stop vandalism, Paris began an advertising campaign this summer.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-56963080545159957852009-10-29T11:25:00.000-07:002009-10-30T14:11:22.498-07:00

From today's WSJ: "Politicians Butt In at Bailed-Out GM" Read more below. Setting the salaries of a few senior execs on Wall Street is nothing. Running one of the country's largest companies from Washington, now that's getting somewhere. Yes, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste if you are a politician looking for ways to expand influence and power. The beauty of it is that GM will become

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-74674689626060513322009-10-26T18:15:00.000-07:002009-10-26T18:18:19.379-07:00

Were there serious policy errors that led to the current economic crisis? Or did people on Wall Street suddenly (ca 2004) become extraordinarily greedy? Listen to this.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-81274479929637875502009-10-26T07:54:00.001-07:002009-10-26T08:10:39.384-07:00

The idea that "institutions matter" has been embraced by many economists and has garnered a bunch of Nobel prizes, including the most recent ones. Does culture matter? Dumb question? Comparisons of the two Koreas, the two Germanies (until 1989), the various Chinas as well as Finland vs Estonia have been used to make the point that institutional differences are profound with respect to economic

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-57665967963307100592009-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:002009-10-26T07:42:18.382-07:00

Last night's 60-minutes included a segment on Medicare fraud. The President's claim that Medicare has very low administrative costs had already been challenged, but last night's TV segment might get some "public option" fans to re-think this clunker.One of the best analyses of where we are headed on health care "reform" was in yesterday's NY Times by Tyler Cowen ("How An Insurance Mandate Could

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-79695625561953456892009-10-23T05:03:00.000-07:002009-10-23T05:21:42.657-07:00

I always thought that Fox News' use of the "fair and balanced" moniker was a cute in-joke.Yet, the current round of salary-setting by the administration is routinely explained with the same rhetoric.Hubristic actions on Wall Street and in Washington DC combined in ways that ended up being a witches brew (tired of "perfect storm") which ended up being a financial crisis which ended up prompting an

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-45179215917649484612009-10-23T04:53:00.000-07:002009-10-23T04:56:42.603-07:00

It's nice to be on this list. It's even nicer to stay on. So, remaining for a while is the project.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-6453640963805758172009-10-21T09:05:00.000-07:002009-10-21T09:22:41.210-07:00

Here is one discussion of multipliers and what we know as the current experiment reveals itself.There are two principles that are often skipped in these discussions. First, there are hypothetical multipliers that come out of macro-models and that require a ceteris paribus assumption. But the ex post evaluations of multiplier effects must relax the assumption and, therefore, require careful

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-31212771272891291242009-10-19T10:02:00.000-07:002009-10-19T10:21:47.397-07:00

This morning's WSJ includes "5 Technologies That Could Change Everything." Yesterday;s LA Times included "He's light-years away from EU's bright idea ... Taking a dim view of the incandescent ban, a German scrambles to snag a lifetime bulb supply. He's not alone."It's quite plausible that we will soon look back at today's Doomsday forecasts with the same bemusement that we attach to all the

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-39020102329548222822009-10-16T11:57:00.000-07:002009-10-16T14:20:06.783-07:00

Ken Orski nicely summarizes the debate over the Obama Administration's efforts to make the federal government a player in local "livability" land use-transportation planning. It is worth reading (below).Sin taxes are supposed to raise revenues and reduce sin. Trouble is that it's very hard to get both results. Mostly, we get higher prices. Most people like their cars and their single-family

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-69564303052728076862009-10-13T13:35:00.000-07:002009-10-13T13:46:38.521-07:00

Some weeks ago, the WSJ's wine critics wrote about all the bad stuff being shipped from Australia to the U.S.These past days, we have been in Australia and tasted wines that are (here goes) divine. And I find that many of my favorites are not available at the web sites of U.S. retailers that I am familiar with.Tyler Cowen cites the Alchian-Allen theorem in his wonderful new book. The theorem

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-52909819320669903522009-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:002009-10-11T12:47:35.062-07:00

Statists feast on the "market failure" idea. Trouble is that too few bother to be critical. "Externalities" are everywhere and allegations are sufficient to extend the police (or other) power of local (or other) government. "The environment" and "climate change" are special because they can be used to add sanctimony to the discussion. Blame the teachers of economics? Note to self: Check

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-73946032809271082972009-10-07T12:38:00.000-07:002009-10-07T12:47:45.009-07:00

All governments grow. But the details are always fascinating. In this piece, Fred Siegel and Dan Di Salvo write about the rise of public sector unions and their contribution to the problem. In all of the hand-wringing over state and local government budget problems, this part of the story has not gotten the attention it deserves. Just as in yesterday's post, we keep bumping into 800-lb

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-443935694194653662009-10-06T14:34:00.000-07:002009-10-06T14:58:09.747-07:00

Becker-Posner blog about the Swiss health care system, its advantages and disadvantages as well as why it may not be a good fit in the U.S. They actually mention that the U.S. has a large underclass while Switzerland does not. Well, yes. But you're not supposed to mention that. The historian Kenneth T. Jackson recently wrote: "Since World War II, America's northeastern and midwestern cities

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-17306694176907608132009-10-02T09:49:00.000-07:002009-10-02T13:28:28.015-07:00

The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson ("Gangland: Who controls the streets of Rio de Janeiro?") reports that Rio is "the top-ranked in the world for 'violent intentional deaths.'"How will that work for the 2016 Olympics? Beijing got mixed results with efforts to dampen air quality problems. Los Angeles got better results with auto traffic in 1984. But in the first days of the '84 Olympics, an

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-81057383820641886502009-09-30T07:55:00.000-07:002009-09-30T08:07:17.046-07:00

Today's WSJ includes "The Next Youth-Magnet Cities". The piece reports the views of six experts who agree that Washington DC, Seattle, New York, Portland, Austin are the now the "hot" places where "cool" young people go (not the reporter's cliche). Interestingly, in 2000-2008, all but New York had suburbs that outgrew the central city. As a group, the five suburbs outgrew the five central

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-38627644688751978222009-09-26T16:18:00.000-07:002009-09-26T16:24:00.879-07:00

This LA Times story indicates that a strip club near LAX is being torn down to be replaced by an airport parking lot. And in the WSJ piece re transit in LA in my earlier blog today, the report mentioned that Michael Dukakis takes the bus to LAX. If only there were more like him, the strip club might have survived.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-81318311730448895922009-09-26T07:48:00.001-07:002009-09-26T07:56:30.600-07:00

Monty Python once suggested "we tax all foreigners living abroad." Bob Nelson notes that this is exactly what Delaware's Robber Barons are doing. The Turnpike has few alternatives and most of its customers are from other states.Those of us who advocate peak-load tolling should put on our public choice hats once in a while and consider that the tolling and spending would not be by well meaning

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-6554980140454757062009-09-26T07:40:00.000-07:002009-09-26T07:44:44.681-07:00

Los Angeles will never be a transit town. Obvious to some, but others want to find out for themselves. First-hand experience is a pretty good teacher. Trouble is that planners and politicians continue to waste resources (read other people's money) in the vain pursuit.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-63909148471927714832009-09-24T16:31:00.000-07:002009-09-24T16:46:02.425-07:00

In the Sep 28 New Yorker, James Surowiecki writes: "When Barack Obama went to Wall Street last week,to make the case for meaningful financial regulation, he took well deserved shots at some of the villains of the financial crisis ... But to that list he could have added the credit rating agencies." And "... we need a divorce: the rating agencies shouldn't be government-sanctioned and

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-33228785722894083492009-09-23T17:00:00.000-07:002009-09-25T15:54:44.557-07:00

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Guy Sorman's Economics Does Not Lie. It is very readable and very smart. The author brings us up to date on the state of development economics as well as the status of various developing economies. The book can be enjoyed by any intelligent layman. You can even try giving it to the intellectuals on your gift list.Institutions matter and a growing body of research

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-1463983264657034342009-09-22T11:42:00.001-07:002009-09-22T18:27:16.519-07:00

And they say that you can't make this stuff up. From Cafe Hayek.Nor this. From today's WSJ.Nor this. From Aid Watch.You're not in Guatamala City, Dorothy. From the LA Times.Will annual federal borrowing in 2019 equal annual interest owed by the Treasury? From Forbes.

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268492.post-40145867215561425882009-09-20T08:09:00.000-07:002009-09-20T08:20:08.485-07:00

Taking a cue from Tom Sowell, I try to disuade students from talking about "solutions". There are only trade-offs. Second on the list of offenders is the easy use of "success". Today's NY Times includes "In Phoenix, Weekend Users Make Light Rail a Success".Well, no. Just use the data in the article. $1.4 billion of capital costs, 33,000 riders per day and fares of $1.75 suggest $109.5

Peter Gordonnoreply@blogger.com