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RE: Harmful illusions bedevil ideas about free markets and imprisonment: professor By Sarah Galer In which yet another left wing professor who hasn’t read Hayek, criticizes him (and advocates like myself) while relying upon ‘silly psychology’ to do so. He rails against ‘free markets’. The author (Sarah Galer) is positing a straw man that does…

From FP Magazine: “How Did Obama Lose Karzai?” … “Karzai now appears mistrusting of the West’s long-term commitment to his country. He considers the Americans to be hopelessly fickle, represented by multiple military and civilian envoys who carry contradictory messages, work at cross-purposes, and wage their Washington turf battles in his drawing room, at his…

(Note: I posted this as a comment on http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ and am copying it here, as a I always do.) Guns are for more than hunting and self defense. They’re also a political symbol, and a political institution. Arms have uses. But the purpose of arms is to maintain the ability to overthrow an oppressive government,…

A Perfect Quote: “Thirty years ago, the public saw teachers as underpaid and overworked professionals trying to prepare the next generation for leadership. These days, the teachers unions are doing their best to present an image of arrogant entitlement combined with an inability to withstand scrutiny and accountability. ” – ED MORRISSEY, of Hot Air…

Whence comes Property? The answer is a strong army and navy, a strong diplomatic corps, a strong currency free of debasement Trade rests on trade routes. Trade routes rest on the military. THe purpose of militarily established order is to create teh institution of property, and the market for trading it. It’s purpose iis to…

All human beings seek to game the market. The market system depends upon it. Without the desire to game the market and prices, we would have no innovation, no production increases, and no price decreases. In our market, innovation is the only ‘fair’ means by which we tolerate winning. Because winning in this market, means…

Over on Climate Etc, Judith Curry writes Blame on Heartland, Cato, Marshall, etc. The fossil fuel industries have been funding dedicated minions at the Heartland, Cato, and George C. Marshal Institutes (among others) to generate misinformation about global warming and global climate change. They have attempted to attack the climate science message (such attacks actually…

I. Curt, what does “Exchange under trade is different from exchange under market.” mean? Trade and Market are commonly framed as causally synonymous when they are not. Trade is natural to humans. Markets are an institution that humans have made on top of the natural human proclivity for trade. Trade=exchange between individuals of portable, several…

The left is wrong on it’s face, because of the problems of incentives and economic calculation. The left is wrong on it’s perceptions: the pie isn’t fixed and people are not even closely equal in ability. The left is wrong on it’s sentiments: they are universalist and familial rather than group and political. They are…

In a nation with no institutions other than tribal alliances, only members of the existing hierarchy can replace a leader, because the only institution that the society relies upon is loyalty to individuals, and religion, not to principles. In fact, this is the entire problem with the primitive civilization we call Islam. There is loyalty…

Regarding the debate as to whether Jefferson or Paine wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. I don’t care whether Paine or Jefferson authored the constitution one way or the other. I don’t think it’s material. I am fairly sure at this point that we would have been better off in the end…

Radical Islam is just Marxism for even ‘dumber’ people. The IQ in the West? It’s 100. In it’s proletariat? Looks like in the UK it’s 84-85. Among eastern Europeans? It’s 94. In it’s proletariat? Hard to calculate. Perhaps 80? Among muslims? It’s 84. In it’s proletariat? Again, hard to calculate. Perhaps 80, but more likely…

When we invented farming, money and cities, we had to convert the barbarians into peasants. As a consequence, we had to endure their disastrous magical religions. When we invented credit, and machines, we had to convert the peasants into proles. As a consequence, we had to endure their ridiculous Marxism and it’s murderous and impoverishing…

[P]areto, in his study of society, and Haight in his study of emotions, and perhaps Axelrod as well in his study of human cooperation, do not attribute to Status Signaling the importance which it deserves. Haight is far too interested in the egalitarian assumption. Pareto, in his analysis of Sentiments, misses status signals almost entirely.…

Leading an organization of human beings of any size, is a complex and difficult task. Human events are kaleidic. The common people have complex and conflicting motivations and incentives. Leaders must convey near omniscience because their followers are moved at the lowest cost in the shortest time under the assumption of near omniscience. Power is…

I am not really sure that I should talk about theses biases as a hierarchy, because I think that the different cognitive biases we rely upon to make our multitudinous decisions every day is actually a map: an unordered but weighted network of relations. But if we express them as a spectrum from the most…

Time Preferences form a spectrum, from the very short (high), to the very long (low) — just as do frequencies of light. As one’s [glossary:time preference] increases in length (lowers), and the ability to perceive abstracts must necessarily increase. As one’s ability to perceive abstracts decreases, time preference also must necessarily decrease (lower). On average…

Obama was warned by Bush, along with the other democratic candidates, that once he gained office he would not be able to exit either country. The one who paid attention to that warning was Clinton. Obama softened slightly but was more reliant on the radical left. So he wasn’t as careful. Now that he’s in…

There have been a large number of police deaths lately. “It’s not a fluke,” Richard Roberts, a spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, told MSNBC.com. “There’s a perception among officers in the field that there’s a war on cops going on.” This is not rocket science, but it cannot be attributed to one…