Lance on Aug 02 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page
I think this is a fascinating blog, Creative Capitalism. Of Course, I am a geek.
Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book — a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global development — to be edited by us and published by Simon and Schuster in the fall [...]
Lee on Aug 01 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page
Namibian supermarket selection (photo: Olivier Peyre)
One of great inequities in the modern world is that in relative terms, food in poor and starving countries often costs far more than in the wealthy developed world. That’s because industrial countries tend to be dominated by large supermarket chains, which can achieve enormous economies of scale in volume [...]
Lee on Jul 30 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lee's Page, Uncategorized
(photo: William Bedzrah)
One of the traditional problems of economic development in sub-Saharan Africa is that internal African investment dollars tend to be spent outside the continent. Thus it’s interesting to see Nigerian investment in Ghana has now reached $580 million. Something that has sparked quick calls for a Nigeria-Ghana Chamber of Commerce and further liberalization [...]
Lance on Jul 24 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Lance's Page
From The New York Times:
Mr. Yu’s daughter had died in a cascade of concrete and bricks, one of at least 240 students at a high school here who lost their lives in the May 12 earthquake. Mr. Yu became a leader of grieving parents demanding to know if the school, like so many others, had [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 30 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Foreign affairs
Cross-posted from Registan.net, your one-stop shop for news and analysis of going on in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Thirteen months ago, I noted the problems caused by the U.S. State Department having dramatically different divisions than the military COCOMs.
The DoD considers Pakistan part of the Central Command, or CENTCOM (which includes the Middle East [...]
Peg on Apr 23 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Peg's Page
As an update to this previous post, be sure to read this from The Economist.
Governments ought to liberalise markets, not intervene in them further. Food is riddled with state intervention at every turn, from subsidies to millers for cheap bread to bribes for farmers to leave land fallow. The upshot of such quotas, subsidies and [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 17 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, regulation
Posted first at Registan.net
When last I touched on the global food crisis and how it is impacting Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia, I noted that countries continuing to ban wheat exports would make the problem worse by restricting the global market, driving up prices even more, and limiting national coping mechanisms. One of [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 10 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs
Cross-posted to Registan.net, which also has lots of other commentary, news, and analysis from and about Central Asia.
Paul Krugman had a mostly-good column in the New York Times the other day, exploring the world food crisis. After digging through his typically overheated political boilerplate, one finds he narrows down the crisis into several unavoidable and [...]
Keith_Indy on Feb 28 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Keith's Page
A short portrait of President Bush from Sir Bob Geldof, on the Presidents recent trip around Africa. Really shows what we’ve been accomplishing in Africa the last several years.
In 2003, only 50,000 Africans were on HIV antiretroviral drugs — and they had to pay for their own medicine. Today, 1.3 million are receiving medicines [...]
Peg on Feb 23 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Education, Libertarianism, Milton Friedman Memorial Page, Peg's Page, regulation
Due to free markets, capitalism and freedom in general, the world is getting wealthier.
The last quarter century has witnessed remarkable progress of mankind. The world’s per capita inflation-adjusted income rose from $5400 in 1980 to $8500 in 2005.Schooling and life expectancy grew rapidly, while infant mortality and poverty fell just asfast. [...]
Lance on Feb 18 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, social science
The Bayesian Heresy tipped me to a profile of economist Ben Olken, who has published a couple of papers on the effect of political leaders on economic and political development:
Olken wonders whether economic development and the path to democratization are shaped more by broad historical forces or by the actions of specific leaders—be [...]
Lance on Feb 06 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Election 2008, Lance's Page
In electing a President we are rarely presented with candidates who represent our views, so in the end it really comes down to prioritizing. Frankly I may yet again not vote for a major party candidate, but if I do one issue of great importance to me, though not mentioned nearly often enough, is a [...]
Lee on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Books, Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Interviews, Lee's Page
Gas flaring in the Niger Delta (photo: Ellie)
John Ghazvinian is a journalist and historian of considerable insight into African affairs. He also happens to have written one of the best recent books on the emergent international struggle for African petroleum: Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil (the paperback edition is due out in April). Whilst [...]
Joshua Foust on Jan 27 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Foreign affairs
Two weeks into my new job, I am loving it. I’m sick from sleep deprivation and brand new Midwestern pathogens (and subzero—in centigrade—temperatures!), but it’s wonderful. I can’t believe I get paid to do this… hell, I couldn’t believe I got paid to do my last job. Regardless, much has happened, and there is much [...]
Lance on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Blogs, Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page, social science
Hat tip: Tyler.
Chris Blattman has a conjecture, possibly high wages in Africa are holding back growth:
One thing that has always struck me in the African countries I have worked is that the real wages (i.e. wages adjusted for the cost of living) of African formal sector workers seem to be incredibly high, at least compared [...]
Lance on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Hugo Chavez, Lance's Page
Haven’t we said this is the way things were heading once Hugo Chavez instituted price controls? Why yes we did.
From CNN via Pejman
President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to take over farms or milk plants if owners refuse to sell their milk for domestic consumption and instead seek higher profits abroad or from cheese-makers.
With [...]
Lance on Jan 18 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page
From Strange Maps:
This is quite an education. Click for a larger image.
Although the economies of countries like China and India are growing at an incredible rate, the US remains the nation with the highest GDP in the world – and by far: US GDP is projected to be $13,22 trillion (or $13.220 billion) in 2007, [...]
Lance on Jan 18 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, regulation, social science
This is a stunning statistic:
…the annual expansion in China’s trade has been larger than India’s total annual trade during last several years.
Tyler Cowen hones in on this point, amongst a bounty of good points:
The most important factor that still holds back large [Indian] firms from entering these products is a set of draconian labour laws [...]
Lance on Jan 14 2008 | Filed under: Books, Developmental economics, Economics, History, Lance's Page
(Cross posted at Risk and Return)
Cafe Hayek fans take note, it is finally out. Short review from Tyler Cowen:
This is the best popular book explaining the benefits of international trade. Imagine Bastiat for 2008, or a Cajun updating of Henry George’s Protection or Free Trade. Sadly it is expensive but I’d sooner give [...]
MichaelW on Jan 02 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Milton Friedman Memorial Page, social science
Happy New Year! To start off the year right, let’s have a look at a mock-up of a debate between Naomi Klein, reporter-activist extraordinaire, and Milton Friedman, king of economic liberty (via Instapundit).
This video was put together by Devil’s Advocate at Copious Dissent, where you can find the others in this series.
This [...]
Lance on Dec 05 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Education, Lance's Page
Hat tip: Greg Mankiw
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addthis_title = ‘Some+Economic+Perspective’;
addthis_pub = ”;
Sphere: Related Content
Lance on Nov 15 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
In a little-noticed mid-summer announcement, the Asian Development Bank presented official survey results indicating China’s economy is smaller and poorer than established estimates say. The announcement cited the first authoritative measure of China’s size using purchasing power parity methods. The results tell us that when the World Bank announces its expected PPP data revisions later [...]
Lance on Nov 01 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Education, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Media, Milton Friedman Memorial Page
Starting this Friday, November 2nd, Free to Choose Media is continuing the work of its inspiration, Milton Friedman, of bringing the benefits of freedom to the people of this world, including its most remote corners. A new documentary, “The Ultimate Resource” which aired last Spring on HDNet is now coming to a wider audience through [...]
Lance on Oct 28 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Environment, Hugo Chavez, Lance's Page, Libertarianism
It hasn’t been all that shocking. Why not? Greg Mankiw supplies a few possibilities. My favorites? Well let us start here:
In contrast to much rhetoric to the contrary, capitalism is the most powerful weapon to achieve energy efficiency we have.
He provides us with some things I am fond of, conjectures. So I will call this [...]
Keith_Indy on Oct 18 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Keith's Page, Military Matters
Megan McArdle asks the question, Should we cut our defense spending in half? And has a follow up post entitled “The best offense is a good defense?”
It is an interesting discussion in that our military has always been about projecting and protecting Americas national interests beyond our border. That is what the Navy [...]
Joshua Foust on Oct 11 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters
Originally at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
Okay, now this is silly. Expecto Petraeus is not worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Our respect for taking on the hardest job in America (yes, deliberate phrasing), but not a Nobel.
RJ Hillhouse takes another step into the big time by posting on Danger Room. Go you!
“It is not [...]
Lance on Oct 02 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page, Milton Friedman Memorial Page
Alan Greenspan allowed her to prove it of course, but she also is pretty much making things up in this attempt to slander Milton Friedman.
I say pretty much because she is showing little to no originality as this lie, and there is no other thing to call it, has been spread for many years. I [...]
Lance on Sep 29 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Alan Greenspan gives an interview at Democracy Now! There is both a link to the audio and a transcript at the link. Brave. The interview is given by Amy Goodman, who generally I find insipid. Her guest interviewer however is the the frankly ignorant Naomi Klein. I don’t mean she is merely wrong in her [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 27 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Probably pirating em-pee-threes over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
Well, the military realizes how fundamentally broken our relationship with the PMCs in Iraq has become, and are now pressuring the State Department to exercise some control or oversight over Blackwater. Some military officials are now comparing the Blackwater shootout, which resulted in 11 dead Iraqis, [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 26 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
This look at PMCs, from late August no less, is pretty close to my views. Recognizing the impracticality of removing all PMCs in the lack of any ability to regrow military capacity for at least a decade, we’re stuck with them. But some groups, such as Blackwater, have acquired [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 25 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Respecting all races and religions over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
It turns out the U.S. repeatedly refused to investigate or handle any of the complaints about Blackwater allegedly murdering civilians. But don’t worry—there are clearly laws against murder, so we can rest assured the lack of convictions is evidence that no crimes have been [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 19 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, History, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Three kinds of busy over at The Conjecturer.
Good News
I was ambushed by the Anonymous Lobbyist of Wonkette fame, and asked a lot of questions about Central Asia for Jezebel, a sister publication in the Gawker blog family. The result? A creatively-edited and mildly schizophrenic interview about the issues surrounding the region. Neat!
Defense & The War
Yes, [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 19 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Slowly going mad with exhaustion at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
Security is falling to pieces in Southern Iraq. Rather than taking it as evidence of the need for benevolent Western leadership over Iraqi affairs, I see it as evidence that we really can’t solve their problems for them.
Meanwhile, Iran continues to beat the drum that [...]
Keith_Indy on Sep 13 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Keith's Page
Gee, here I was thinking the Democrats were going to:
serve the people’s interests, not special interests
create balanced budgets
pay down our national debt
put an end to Republican business as usual
And that they were mighty concerned with the lack of spending on maintaining our crumbling infrastructure. So, what’s a Democratic Congress to do???
Why, spend [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 06 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Probably in a bad mood over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
Those silly experts and their “numbers,” always undermining the troops. To wit: there is no discernible drop in violence in Iraq, and what little there was occurred between December and February—before the surge. What’s more, the way numbers are compiled and reported by Petraeus [...]
Joshua Foust on Sep 06 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
At loggerheads over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
The DoD has crossed its arms, pouted, and insisted the GAO report on Iraq is wrong. Meanwhile, living among the world of verifiable measures of progress is news that “the number of Iraqi corpses found dumped on street corners was higher in August than before the security [...]
MichaelW on Aug 23 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, History, MichaelW's Page, social science
Is it possible that a proclivity for capitalism is genetic, and therefore hereditary? At first blush the idea seems preposterous. How can an idea be hereditary? And how can capitalism, which rewards innovation, risk-taking, and creativity, no matter who you are or where you come from be an inherited trait? Well [...]
MichaelW on Aug 09 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, social science
“Is government the answer?”
That’s probably not a question unfamiliar to most readers of ASHC, and it’s not the “wrong question” referred to in the title. In fact, I routinely present my arguments with that question as the implied premise. Unfortunately, it’s not the question asked, either explicitly or implicitly, by those who set [...]
Lance on Aug 01 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tyler Cowen links to this review of his latest book:
This book review has introduced me to a new enemy, the economist Tyler Cowen…
“The critical economic problem is scarcity,” he says in his book. Like all other capitalist economist, Cowen is ideologically welded to this bad idea of lack and shortages as the key problem. However, [...]
Joshua Foust on Jul 19 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
Cross-posted at The Conjecturer
Defense & the War
My respect for Kilcullen continues to rise. I hope he can affect some sort of change in the Army. But, I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t. His thoughts on how our over-focus on states is what is leaving us behind are essential reading (though he is not by [...]
MichaelW on Jul 10 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Foreign affairs, MichaelW's Page
Following a link from Insty to read about the latest misery in Zimbabwe, I encountered this jaw-dropping line:
Most economists say Mr Mugabe’s policies are to blame for ruining the economy.
Most economists? Most? Really? Praytell, who is holding themselves out as an economist and claiming that anything other than Mugabe’s policies have created [...]
Keith_Indy on Jul 05 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Foreign affairs, Keith's Page
Perhaps the old saying “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a life time” should be revised to include “invest in the man buying a fishing boat, and you feed and employ hundreds…”
Investment in Africa, the private kind, [...]
Joshua Foust on Jul 04 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Cross-posted at The Conjecturer.
Defense
There goes Bob Gates, recklessly fear-mongering and not supporting the troops again.
An example of the general malaise facing the military: the San Antonio-class amphibious ship, $840 million over budget and two years behind schedule, is still not completed… but the Navy wants nine of them anyway.
An example of the bureaucratic inefficiencies that [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 27 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Libertarianism, Military Matters, Notes on the war, social science
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense
A look at the operations in Baquba, with entire blocks of booby-trapped houses wired to explode for the troops. These kinds of delays are just what happen in warfare. But it speaks to how the insurgents are once again switching tactics: is this a new scorched earth-type policy?
Related to this is David [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 27 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Cross-posted at The Conjecturer.
Defense
Declassified documents reveal one of the CIA’s biggest fears during the Cold War was the illicit wiretapping of American citizens—precisely what has happened under Bush’s war rules. All for freedom!
An absolutely fascinating look at the insurgent media machine. It’s not as efficient or as effective as you’d think… yet remarkably, it still [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 26 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense
(HT: the ever-excellent Bonnie Boyd) The way we treat the disabled veterans we create is our shame. What’s worse is, war supporters tend to write off these kinds of stories as “anti-Bush lefty shilling” or some such, while the left tends to see it as another way to twist the knife—the end [...]
Keith_Indy on Jun 25 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Keith's Page, Technology
Instapundit links to an article in Reason about how the increased production of ethanol is leading to higher prices for food.
I also think it could lead to increasing reliance by America on foreign grain. Which, as we saw with the pet food recall, could mean a riskier supply. You can poison grain, but [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 23 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense
Air Force planes are being used to scour for IEDs. This is related to the Inside the Air Force piece I mentioned a few months ago, about the use of “show of force” operations to hopefully dissuade insurgents. Only, it seems now AF Gen. Keyes, who didn’t buy the F-22 for Iraq, [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 22 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Economics, Environment, Foreign affairs, Notes on the war
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense
Follow up to the story on the pathetic number of fluents in Arabic currently stationed at the Baghdad Vatican-Embassy (and shame on me for not noticing this): the 3/3 proficiency level is virtually useless—both because it is not advanced enough for technical or legal matters, and it of a sort not actually [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 12 2007 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology
Cross-posted at The Conjecturer.
Defense
Could the shakeup at JCS be an indication of a possibly positive move toward skepticism on Iraq? Possibly. I’m more intrigued with putting two Navy guys in charge of our insurgency campaigns—what kind of insight might they bring a more traditional land warrior cannot?
Then again, the DoD does have a habit of [...]