This has got to be one of the silliest statements ever made on any of the blogs I read regularly. Continue reading
So much for free speech
I do not normally blog on American politics, but this deserves attention. A former professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, who has also been a US Marine colonel and who has been injured in action and decorated, is on a terrorist watch list. This is apparently that he has publicly criticised George Bush. This is not an isolated incident. Continue reading
The future of newspapers
Judging by this interview, it appears that at least one major investor in newspapers in the US is over-optimistic about the impact of the internet. It reflects the same problem as the trends we have seen in British newspaper circulation. Continue reading
Technology subverts more markets
It looks like it is not just consumers who are unable to make informed rational decisions when faced with technology. It appears that Indian cotton farmers have a similar problem when faced with choosing GM seed varieties. In this case as they would clearly wish to choose according to rational criteria, but they cannot.
Innumerate Polly
Anyone even vague numerate reading this article by Polly Toynbee would would have probably spotted where it went wrong. It is very hard to read it without thinking “surely that £5bn must be a reccuring annual amount whereas as she is comparing it to one off amounts”. David Smith confirms that this is the case. Continue reading
Is The Economist still worth reading?
This post on The Economist’s rather bizarre liking for the Bush government (found via Brad DeLong’s post) only highlights what is wrong with The Economist. While it is still often better than the competition, but nothing like as good as it once was.
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Where’s the perfect competition?
This post at Economist’s View touches on a problem that bothers me. The assumption by economists and policy makers that markets are competitive and efficient. Continue reading
Free market hypocrisy: Part 2
My previous post on hypocrisy about free markets may given the impression that I am opposed to free markets. My problem is not with free markets per se, but with inconsistency and hypocrisy in advocating them, and with regarding free markets as a panacea. Continue reading
Free market hypocrisy
This change of heart on the benefits of outsourcing is, to me, just another example of both the hypocrisy of many supposed free markets advocates. Everyone seems to favour free markets, but as Adam Smith himself pointed out, no one wants free markets to apply to themselves. Everyone wants free markets their own way. Continue reading
The end of sell-side?
Merril Lynch’s widely reported reduction in access to its sell-side research is something that I would interpret as a sign of trouble. I expect things to get worse for sell-side research, and I wonder what could replace it. Continue reading