RobinJerauld.com
Interesting Economics
How to Predict Presidential Elections
Follow people's money instead of their mouths. A look at why futures markets are more effective than polls.
Rational Criminals & The Economics of Law-Breaking
Want to decrease your chances of being robbed? Start thinking from the criminal's point of view.
Holds that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management. This is perhaps a corollary of the Peter Principle, the concept that workers are promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. For more wisdom from Scott Adams, click here.
Of course tax cuts benefit the rich most, they're the ones paying the most taxes.
Hurricane Relief or a $200,000 Check?
The ridiculous economics of government bail-outs.
Most published books require an editor, a costly printing press and distribution system as well as the risk the publisher assumes of the book becoming a dud. Electronic information is undeniably more efficient and cost effective. So why are real books still prevailing over e-books? Applying Star Trek to real life.
Kurzweil's Law and The Accelerating Rate of Change
We are likely to see as much progress in human knowledge and technology over the next 20 years as we saw all of last century.
Do What You Love and You'll Probably Starve
Not sure I agree with this entirely, but he's got a point.
The Stock Market is Not Physics
In 1886, the American railroad industry was booming. Would you have foreseen then the demise of the industry over the next century? Why basing financial predictions on past trends so often fails.
Perhaps the most plausible explanation of behavior in the workplace: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
Economists are boring, but this guy fascinates me. While everyone else is out promoting democracy as the only way to make poor countries prosperous, Hernando de Soto has pinpointed the essential ingredient: clearly defined and enforceable property rights.
Count Your Capitalist Blessings
Soap is cheap, food and clean water are abundant, we live better than our parents did, Email is free, everyone has indoor plumbing, you can find out almost anything you want instantly on Google, cars are universal, you don't have to watch commercials anymore (Tivo), you have more than a king 300 years ago could have dreamed of.....
An idea whose time has past. They've lost control over the the means of distribution and the young would rather read the Internet. Blame it on a guy named Craig. Copyrights and traditional record companies have seen better days as well.
And hello BitTorrent.
4,000 days ago the web went commercial. AT&T never saw it coming. Will radio, cell phone networks, cable and satellite television survive the next 4,000?
The average Barnes & Noble carries about 130,000 titles, yet more than half of Amazon's book sales come from outside its top 130,000. Rhapsody users stream more songs outside the top 10,000 each month than from the top 10,000. 60% of rentals on Netflix come from recommendations, and a nearly out-of-print book, Touching the Void, became a bestseller due to the recommendations feature on Amazon. With the Internet's ability to overcome the limitations of physical space, the future is in the niche markets.
Ignorance of economics makes the public easy prey for politicians promising something for nothing. This article breaks down the myths about "free education", "free health care" and "free" you name it.
Don't read this if you're married, it's depressing. However if you're not married, would like to get married, but at the same time would like to avoid the insanity of certain aspects of marriage law (e.g. community property), click here.
Lawyers use the argument of protecting the public interest to artificially hike their fees. By making it illegal for anyone without a license to render legal services, supply is restricted and legal fees are artificially high as a result. It doesn't have to be this way. The case for repealing unauthorized practice of law statutes.
The ultimate satire of protectionist foreign trade policies: how we must protect ourselves from the unfair competition of the sun. As applicable today as when Frederic Bastiat wrote it in the 19th century.
How the Fractional Reserve Banking Con Works
The part they didn't teach you in your university macroeconomics class.
John Hancock's Big Toe and The Constitution
The victors write the textbooks, even in America.
Interesting parallels between 1920's America and China today.