The Emerging Markets’ Century — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Whereas public debt levels in many major industrialized countries will soon exceed 100 percent of GDP, those in the major emerging market economies generally range between 40 to 50 percent of GDP.”

Catholics and the Cosmos: Thinking About Souls and Human Origins, and What Pius XII Said About Evolution

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column, John Farrell writes about the 60th anniversary of Pope Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical on Christianity and the theory of evolution and asks whether advances in science call for more discussion in the church.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger challenges the State Assembly in Sacramento to bring rising pension costs under control.”

The $31 Billion Revenue Fantasy – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that those who make $200,000 a year are 3% of all taxpayers but pay 52% of all income taxes.”

Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Peter J. Boettke is emerging as the intellectual standard-bearer for a revival of the Austrian school of economics.”

We Just Don’t Understand – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Americans look at the president and see a stranger, writes Peggy Noonan.”

Fiscal policy: Is economics a right-wing conspiracy? | The Economist

www.economist.com

“I’LL admit it, I am ambivalent about whether we need more fiscal stimulus and still think it’s too early to tell how effective the last one was. I dare to voice my concerns and I get labelled “a conservative economist”. But my worries are based on my professional training—my fields were public finance and macro—more than any political agenda.”

An Updated Guide to the EconoTwitterverse – Real Time Economics – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

” An updated and expanded list of econ-related tweeps, from journalists to economists.”

Peter Berkowitz: The Death of Conservatism Was Greatly Exaggerated – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Peter Berkowitz says that liberals completely misread the election of Obama as the death knell of conservatism. Instead, the president’s progressive agenda has led to a revival of conservatism.”

Charles Krauthammer – The last refuge of a liberal

www.washingtonpost.com

“The only hope for liberals is to play the race card.”

Obama’s Illegal Stem-Cell Policy « Public Discourse

www.thepublicdiscourse.com

“A year and a half ago, when President Obama signed his executive order funding embryo-destructive stem-cell research, I argued in The Weekly Standard that he was perpetuating a needless stem-cell war, that his decision was “bad ethics, bad science, and bad politics.” Add “bad law” to the list.”

Gone 20 years, Stevie Ray Vaughan stands forever tall in Austin

www.austin360.com

“The Austin music community woke up on Aug. 27, 1990 20 years ago today with a piece of its soul gone.”

Debate Heats Up Over Stimulus Spending – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Eighteen months after Obama administered a massive dose of spending increases and tax cuts, a fight has broken out about whether fiscal-stimulus medicine is curing the illness or making it worse.”  For a page 1 story of a major newspaper, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the reporter (Jon Hilsenrath) was able to summarize the empirical academic literature which assesses the relative efficacy of fiscal policy instruments such as deficit spending and tax cuts…

Robert M. Kimmitt and Matthew J. Slaughter: The Foreign Investment Solution for American Jobs – WSJ.

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Robert M. Kimmitt and Matthew J. Slaughter write that the Obama administration can spur job growth for Americans by making it easier for foreign companies to do business in the United States.”

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Yoweri Museveni: Free Trade and the Fight Against Malaria – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni write in the Wall Street Journal that removing tariffs would be good for African health and for African entrepreneurs.”

Stephens: From WikiLeaks to the Killing Fields – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens says that liberals contemplate withdrawal from Afghanistan with no thought of the consequences.”

The Patriarch’s Will – a game theory puzzle – Mind Your Decisions

mindyourdecisions.com

“Here is a scenario which occurred many millennia ago: The patriarch of a wealthy family was on his deathbed and wanted to divide his gold among his eight sons who were all very, very greedy. Wishing to favor the oldest son (as tradition would have it) but also to reward the more cunning of his progeny, he made the following decree…”

The Costs of War – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“A new paper reviews war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

McGurn: Giving Lousy Teachers the Boot – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn on bad teachers in D.C. who were booted by school chancellor Michelle Rhee.”

Science Turns Authoritarian — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

american.com

“Science is losing its credibility because it has adopted an authoritarian tone, and has let itself be co-opted by politics.”

The American Spectator : America’s Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution

online.wsj.com

My friend Kevin Stuart (Ph.D. student in UT-Austin’s Department of Government) brought this very compelling essay to my attention the other day…

2010 Tour de France – part II – The Big Picture – Boston.com

boston.com

The Cop on the Banks of the Nile – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

Fouad Ajami writes in The Wall Street Journal that no great upheaval has taken place in the Egypt of Hosni Mubarak. But the country has stagnated, and some of its children have blamed the U.S. and embraced terror.”

Fan and Fred and the Problem of Narrative – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Brian Carney notes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s blunders don’t fit the left’s story about how greedy bankers caused the financial crisis. That’s why they haven’t been reformed.”

ATMs in Antarctica: An Interview With Wells Fargo’s David Parker

needcoffee.com

“I was fascinated when I learned that there was an ATM on Antarctica, specifically at McMurdo Station. Just because, you know, it’s not like your local ATM that they can zip a service tech out to. So to sate my curiosity, I gave a ping to Wells Fargo, who manages that ATM–and got a chance to chat with David Parker. All shall be explained.”

David Cameron: A Staunch and Self-Confident Ally – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“British Prime Minister David Cameron writes in The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. and Britain have a clear common agenda: succeeding in Afghanistan, securing economic growth and fighting protectionism.”

You Don’t Have to Pay for Cable TV

www.moneytalksnews.com

“The average cable subscription costs $900 a year, but you can radically reduce that amount and still watch everything you want.”

Leeds: Chew on this: There is no surplus fairy for Social Security

www.statesman.com

Here’s the bottom line from Sandy Leeds’ editorial, published in today’s Austin American Statesman:

“The bottom line is that we’re in trouble. Social Security is woefully underfunded and Medicare is an even larger problem. This is going to increase the amount that we’re going to have to borrow from investors – and there’s no certainty that investors will always be willing to lend to us. Most importantly, we’re never going to solve these problems until the electorate understands the issues and starts to pressure our elected officials into making the hard (but right) decisions. We’re not doing anyone any favors by convincing them that we have “built up a big trust fund.”"

Economics One: New Data Show the Debt Problem Is Spending (not Taxes) and Obamacare Worsens the Problem

johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com

Quoting from Stanford Professor John Taylor’s Blog (Economics One): “Everyone now seems to agree that the exploding federal debt is a serious problem that must be addressed. But how? The following … charts provide some data to help answer that question.”

Review & Outlook: A Climate Absolution? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“A Wall Street Journal editorial says the global warming alarmists still won’t separate science from politics.”

Firms cancel health coverage

www.boston.com

Here’s what we have to look forward to as Obamacare starts to come “on line” (Massachusetts passed so-called Romneycare in 2006, and Obamacare structurally closely resembles Romneycare, only on a national as opposed to individual state level)… “The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budgets”.

Studying a Suicide Cluster at Foxconn – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“To analyze whether a recent spate of suicides at a set of Chinese manufacturing facilities represents an unusual outbreak, it helps to make the right comparisons.”

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Eugene White explains why a ‘Financial Crisis Fund,’ similar to current proposals, was rejected over a century ago during the financial crisis of 1893.”

Amity Shlaes: FDR, Obama and ‘Confidence’ – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Amity Shlaes writes in The Wall Street Journal that demonizing business deepened the Great Depression. The Obama White House can learn from Roosevelt’s mistakes.”

William McGurn: Obama’s Immigration Fakery – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn says that in 2007, Barack Obama helped derail immigration reform as a junior senator from Illinois. As president, he is not serious about a bipartisan bill today.”

Brian Riedl: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Deficit Myth – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal Heritage Foundation fellow Brian Riedl explains that runaway government spending, not declining tax revenues, is the reason the U.S. faces dramatic budget shortfalls for years to come.”

Two Thumbs Down on the Financial-Reform Bill – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Economics Nobel laureate Gary Becker’s take on the financial-reform bill; he particularly dislikes the facts that this bill 1) adds regulations and rules about many activities that had little or nothing to do with the (financial) crisis, and 2) essentially says nothing about Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.

Bret Stephens: Dr. Berwick and That Fabulous Cuban Health Care – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens writes about the death march of progressive medicine.”

Op-Ed Columnist – An Economy of Grinds – NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com

“The slow economic recovery is shutting out the small businesses that are vital to its success.”

Fund Track: Collar Fund Offers Low Risk, Low Reward – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“A cautiously bullish strategy is the mainstay of the $31 million Collar Fund, whose portfolio has low enough risk to inspire comparisons to a bond fund, but whose hedged exposure to stocks aim for stronger returns than bonds.” The Collar Fund represents an interesting application of some very simple financial engineering; this is the sort of stuff we study in my “Options, Futures and Other Derivatives” course at Baylor University…”

Correlation Soars on S&P 500 Shares – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Stocks are trading in lock-step more than at any time since the 1987 crash, and the trend has some analysts concerned.”

2010 World Cup comes to a close – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

Who Pays for ObamaCare? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal on what Donald Berwick and Joe the Plumber both understand.”

Lessons From the Swedish Welfare State – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Swedish economists Andreas Bergh and Magnus Henrekson cite research that shows bigger government is associated with slower economic growth. Sweden is a prime example. It’s recent performance is due to market-oriented policies and a declining government share of GDP.

Pat Michaels: The Climategate Whitewash Continues: Don’t Believe the ‘Independent Reviews’

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, climate scientist Patrick J. Michaels criticizes the recent exoneration of charges that the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. He says that the members of the committee had a conflict of interest and that the review work was shoddy.”

Fred Barnes: Obama’s Entitlement Opportunity – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Fred Barnes notes that the president’s deficit commission isn’t likely to agree on tax increases. But it might recommend Social Security reform.”

Book review: Getting It Wrong – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Edward Kosner reviews W. Joseph Campbell’s Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism.”

Scientists Discover Keys to Long Life – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“By analyzing the DNA of the world’s oldest people, Boston University scientists said Thursday they have discovered a genetic signature of longevity. They expect soon to offer a test that could let people learn whether they have the constitution to live to a very old age.”

Charles Krauthammer – Terror — and candor in describing the Islamist ideology behind it

www.washingtonpost.com

“The administration’s refusal to identify terrorists reflects a dangerous cowardice.”

Brad Greenberg: How Missionaries Lost Their Chariots of Fire and Why They Should Add the Gospel Back

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column, Brad Greenberg says that over the past century, Protestant mission workers have moved from spreading the Gospel to do doing good works, and says that they should be doing both.”

Paul H. Rubin: Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Paul Rubin writes that there are obvious actions to speed up the Gulf oil spill, but the government oddly resists taking them.”

Kim Strassel: The Obama Trade Games – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Potomac Watch columnist Kimberley Strassel writes that free trade is making a convenient comeback in the Obama administration.”

E.J. McMahon: The Empire State’s Stimulus Addiction – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, E.J. McMahon writes that New York will never get its budget under control as long as Washington feeds its spending habit.”

Daily Kos Founder Says Polling Data Was Faked – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“In an unusually public rift, a prominent left-wing political Web site is renouncing polling it had commissioned and published and is suing its former pollster.”

Short-term insurance buyers in Massachusetts

theincidentaleconomist.com

“Further evidence on how consumers in the real world “game” insurance mandates – this is a cautionary tale for Obamacare, given that ObamaCare is in essence a nationwide implementation of RomneyCare…”

Keynes vs. Alesina. Alesina Who? – BusinessWeek

www.businessweek.com

“Economist Alberto Alesina argues that austerity triggers growth.”

The Problem With Food Aid – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“Planet Money and Frontline report on the distorting effects of foreign food aid on local food economies, particularly in Haiti. People don’t buy rice when they can get it for free.”

It Depends on What the Definition of ‘Austerity’ Is

www.american.com

“Paul Krugman says we are in a ‘new era of austerity.’ When will government spending be enough? … In the last ten years, the private sector has, on average, grown 1.2 percent annually, while the government has, on average, grown 3.5 percent annually.”

John B. Taylor: The Dodd-Frank Financial Fiasco – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stanford University economist John B. Taylor says the Congressional financial reform bill all but guarantees bailouts as far as the eye can see, while failing to address real problems like Fan and Fred and our outdated bankruptcy code.”

No Way to Help Small Business

www.american.com

“The need of many small businesses to raise money has led to several proposals to give small businesses more access to credit. Will they work?”

Menace to Mobility

www.american.com

“Comparing the administration’s new transportation plan to a Soviet ‘five-year plan’ would be unfair to the Soviets.”

Rory Sutherland: Sweat the small stuff | Video on TED.com
www.ted.com
“It may seem that big problems require big solutions, but ad man Rory Sutherland says many flashy, expensive fixes are just obscuring better, simpler answers. To illustrate, he uses behavioral economics and hilarious examples.”

If Morgan Stanley Caused The Oil Spill – Forbes.com
www.forbes.com
“In time we’ll learn how to prevent another Deepwater Horizon oil spill. What about another financial crisis?”

Preparing for the World Cup – The Big Picture – Boston.com
boston.com
“Next Friday, June 11th, South Africa will step onto the world stage as host nation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the international soccer tournament begins – welcoming 32 teams from around the world.”

Are Government Workers Underpaid? No — The American, A Magazine of Ideas
american.com
“Once all promised benefits are included, government employees at all levels—local, state, and federal—receive significantly greater total compensation than private-sector workers.”

Charles E.F. Millard: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Is Billions in Deficit – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Charles E.F. Millard says the PBGC, which guarantees private pensions, is deeply underfunded and may not be able to meet its obligations to retirees.”

Dorothy Rabinowitz: The Alien in the White House – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“Dorothy Rabinowitz writes in The Wall Street Journal that the distance between the president and the people is beginning to be revealed.”

Scott Gottlieb: Two Steps Forward in the War Against Cancer – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“Scott Gottlieb writes in The Wall Street Journal that the time from lab to market for new drugs keeps getting shorter, but bad government policies threaten to reverse this trend.”

Feel the Rage – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that liberals who are assaulting President Obama and government over the Gulf oil spill have discovered conservatives’ critique of the regulatory state.”

A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man ‘Academy’ on YouTube – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education
chronicle.com
“Salman Khan, a former financial analyst, has created 1,400 educational videos and posted them to YouTube. “My single biggest goal is to try to deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me,” he says.”

The new Democratic claim about job creation
keithhennessey.com
“A new claim about job creation appears to be bubbling up through the Democratic ranks. Here is the clearest statement of that claim, from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Stuart Varney’s show:”

Responding to the President’s Carnegie Mellon economic speech|KeithHennessey.com
keithhennessey.com
“Yesterday I tried to neutrally summarize the President’s 5,000+ words economic speech delivered last week at Carnegie Mellon University. Today I’ll give my views on the substance.”

Okrent on Prohibition and His Book, Last Call
www.econtalk.org
“Daniel Okent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. They discuss how the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating beverages came to pass in 1920, what life was like while it was in force, and how the Amendment cam…e to be repealed in 1934. Okrent discusses how Prohibition became entangled with the suffrage movement, the establishment of the income tax, and anti-immigration sentiment. They also discuss the political economy of prohibition, enforcement, and repeal–the quintessential example of bootleggers and baptists.”

www.theatlantic.com

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

“In the three weeks since the April 20th explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the start of the subsequent massive (and ongoing) oil leak, many attempts have been made to contain and control the scale of the environmental disaster.”

PolitiFact | Will says Greece’s economy is same size as Dallas-Fort Worth’s

www.politifact.com

“During the May 9, 2010 edition of ABC’s This Week, commentator George Will sought to add some context to one of the previous week’s biggest stories — the financial troubles in Greece, which prompted a bailout by its European neighbors that drew protests in Athens and shook financial markets across …”

In-the-Red State — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“When we properly account for Social Security, our national deficit proves worse.”

Mahalanobis

mahalanobis.twoday.net

“Michael Fleming and Nicholas Klagge provide an overview of the U.S. dollar swap line program—a system of reciprocal currency arrangements with foreign central banks—introduced by the Federal Reserve in late 2007 to address global disruptions in dollar funding markets.”

Was There Good Reason for a Housing Boom? – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“At least part of the housing construction boom of the 2000s served a legitimate economic purpose, an economist writes.”

Larry Harris: How to Prevent Another Trading Panic – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, former SEC economist Larry Harris says that the SEC should require price limits for all buy and sell orders in electronic trading.”

Holman Jenkins: Welfare Wagons – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman Jenkins writes that the new electric cars from Chevy and Nissan are powered by taxpayer credits.”

Martin Feldstein: Extend the Bush Tax Cuts—For Now – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Martin Feldstein writes in The Wall Street Journal that deficits are a real problem but the recovery is still too fragile to choke off growth with higher rates.”

Fannie mae and Chris Dodd – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Democrats leave Chris Dodd alone to defend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Michael B. Mukasey: Shahzad and the Pre-9/11 Paradigm – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey writes in The Wall Street Journal that in the 1990s we mocked the ineptness of jihadists and were confident civilian courts could handle them. Look where that got us.”

The Judge in the Gray Flannel Suit – Politics – The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com

“What’s disturbing is that this is what our nomination process now selects for: someone who appears to be in favor of nothing except self-advancement. Then we complain when the most passionate advocates for ideas are the lunatic fringe.”

Why Are Cancer Costs Rising? – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“People are living longer, but getting cancer.”

Nathan Myhrvold: Could this laser zap malaria? | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

“Nathan Myhrvold and team’s latest inventions — as brilliant as they are bold — remind us that the world needs wild creativity to tackle big problems like malaria. And just as that idea sinks in, he rolls out a live demo of a new, mosquito-zapping gizmo you have to see to believe.”

Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):

Economics and Happiness

• Are economics students happier? One estimation from Germany, by Tyler Cowen

Health Care Reform

• Single Payer, Many Faults, by Joseph Rago

“Roger M. Battistella argues in “Health Care Turning Point” that the last thing the health-care system needs is more government involvement. His prescription: market competition.”

• Obama’s Misleading Assault on the Insurance Industry, by John Calfee

“The president knows better than his demagoguery suggests.”

• Why Health Reform Is Bad Politics, by Kim Strassel

“Contrary to all the theories, Democrats will not benefit from ObamaCare.”

Politics

• Road to the Nut House, by Peggy Noonan

“You have to be crazy to run for president. Seriously, you do.”

Magic and Science

• The magic of the placebo, by Eric Mead

“Sugar pills, injections of nothing — studies show that, more often than you’d expect, placebos really work. At TEDMED, magician Eric Mead does a trick to prove that, even when you know something’s not real, you can still react as powerfully as if it is. ”