Mises Search

In my seminar on spontaneous order, the topic today was road design. One of the articles discussed experiments with variable rush hour pricing for certain lanes (in California, I think). The idea is that there is always a certain lane that will have 65 mph travel, but it might cost $20 to use it at 6 pm. Anyway, I explained other applications of

Most of us are familiar with the feud between Rothbard and Rand, and of other aspects of Rand’s personal life that make great fodder for jokes. There are also plenty of self-described Objectivists who advance (what Rothbardians consider to be) silly arguments on the necessity of government. But after discussing these issues with two Objectivists

Here is an amusing article where Larry Kudlow (correctly) advises Bush that an increase in the Social Security payroll cap is a tax increase, just as surely as an increase in the rate . (Bush’s people had denied this.) But what’s really funny is Kudlow’s incredulity that W. would go back on his word: One of the defining characteristics of the

One of my colleagues (an accounting professor) mentioned that he almost always applies for an extension on his taxes, and admitted that it was due to pure procrastination. He said that most accountants do this too (but said in their case it was that they had to do their clients’ taxes first). I said that it would be interesting to run a regression

Search-Optimized Domain Portfolio Sells for $164 Million : Internet marketing firm Marchex Inc. has finalized a deal to pay a whopping $164.2 million for Name Development Ltd., which displays keyword advertising across a portfolio of more than 100,000 domains. The deal, along with the recent sale of a misspelled domain name for $112,000, offers

Cato’s Tom Bell is starting up the “Simon Market in Science Claims.” From what I can gather, it will orchestrate a market for “idea futures” in various environmental claims. (It’s named, of course, in honor of Julian Simon’s famous bet with Paul Ehrlich.) I suppose the idea is a good one, but I think Bell is a bit optimistic when he says his group

No, I’m not linking to somebody’s silly article on this topic, so that we can all make fun of him. For a few years now I’ve thought there were a few uncomfortable problems with subjective value theory (in the Austrian tradition, the only one with which I’m familiar), and Stephan Kinsella’s recent concerns about profit (on a private email list)

I was sitting in my wife’s intro to philosophy class a while ago, and the professor was reviewing their first exam. He chided the students for relying on cutesy arguments against certain positions such as the following:  “Relativism must be wrong, because if nothing is true or false, what of relativism?” The professor warned the students that such

At least two bloggers ( 1 and 2 ) have cheerfully cited Steve Landsburg’s article in praise of misers. Although it is refreshing anytime someone takes such an unconventional and pro-capitalist position, I’m afraid that I must be a Scrooge with the kudos. Landsburg’s main point—at least, the point to which he devotes the opening of his article, and

Last year my wife came across Jennifer Government in the airport bookstore and had to pick it up after glancing over the back cover. The description from Amazon (I hope this link works): In Max Barry’s twisted, hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations (except for a few deluded holdouts like the French);