Awhile back I noted an article in the Washington Post that observed that a major reason why many people bought hybrid cars was the same reason that many other people buy a Corvette or Mercedes–because of the image the car projects to the world. “The Prius and Civic have similar new technologies, so it’s not […]
Author Archive | Todd Zywicki
WATER RUNS DOWNHILL?
It has been said that good economics consists of proving that water runs downhill. I herewith present the abstract for a new economics article by David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald that came out on the SSRN abstracting service today, entitled “Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study” (I have bolded the key sentence): ABSTRACT: The […]
TOM WOLFE, I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS:
I just got back in town after a week-long vacation in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. I received Tom Wolfe’s new book as a Christmas present to take with me on vacation. For those who still have some down time to do some reading over the holidays, let me strongly recommend this book to you. […]
WHAT WOULD TY WEBB DO?
How did our Chief Conspirator miss the obvious Caddyshack joke? “You don’t have to go to college. This isn’t Russia. Is this Russia? This isn’t Russia.” From (believe it or not) the Chevy Chase Quotes Page. I doubt that Chevy’s latest quotes will make the cut.
CRACKS IN THE LAWYER CARTEL?
A number of interesting occurrences over the past few days with respect to the efforts by lawyers to maintain and expand our cartel. First, this interesting paper by Mario Pagliero on the effects of professional licensing in the US market for lawyers finds that the structure of lawyers’ cartel entry-restrictions and rules is better explained […]
BEST COUNTRY SINGLE OF THE YEAR:
I don’t listen to country music much, but was amused to see the title and lyrics to one of the Grammy Nominees for best Country Song, “It’s Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long,” by The Notorious Cherry Bombs (written by Rodney Crowell & Vince Gill). Update: […]
AND THE SAME INITIALS:
The “coincidences” multiply …
IS SOCIAL SECURITY “STUPIDITY INSURANCE”?
I have received a surprisingly large amount of email in response to my post on money markets investments and Social Security. To remind everyone, the small point I was making was that even if people can invest some of their Social Security money that does not mean they have to invest it in the stock […]
“RISKY” SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME?
I am puzzled by one part of the argument that some have made about the supposed “riskiness” of social security reform. Albert Crenshaw, a business columnist in the Washington Post yesterday called it a “retirement crapshoot”, for instance: And now the Bush administration says it wants to do something similar with Social Security. Instead of […]
A REMINDER ON THE LOGIC OF MARGINAL DETERRENCE:
My colleague Don Boudreaux, Chair of the GMU Economics Department and sometimes Professor in the GMU School of Law reminds us of the logic of marginal deterrence: 13 December 2004 The Editor, New York Post Dear Editor: Readers opposed to milder drug sentences (Letters, Dec. 13) forget that an important goal of the structure of […]
BETCOM.COM ON NEXT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE:
The Law.com newswire just to the right of this post on the VC page has a story about Betcom.com’s odds on the next Supreme Court Justice. The actual odds are posted on Betcom.com here. Current favorites are Fourth Circuit Judges Luttig and Wilkinson. According to the Law.com story, however, the betting lines will not adjust […]
STUART BUCK ON TOP 20 THINKERS:
Stuart Buck raises some questions about puzzling inclusions and exclusions from the Legal Affairs Top 20 list voting.
THE CONGLOMERATE:
A new entrepreneurial venture from some scholars of entrepreneurship. The BizFems Speak! blog is no more, but the chief BizFem Christine Hurt of Marquette Law School has moved over to team up with Gordon Smith of the University of Wisconsin Law School at the Conglomerate. They describe their founding: Welcome to the new Conglomerate blog […]
WASHINGTON TIMES AND WINE WARS:
I was surprised (and delighted) to see that the Washington Times today heavily discusses Wine Wars in a house editorial on the wine cases. They correctly summarize my argument: But as Todd Zywicki, a George Mason Law School professor, points out in “Wine Wars: The 21st Amendment and Discriminatory Bans to Direct Shipment of Wine,” […]
THE “ENDOWMENT EFFECT” AND BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS:
Another interesting article by one of my colleagues is a forthcoming article by my colleague Kathy Zeiler, co-authored with the legendary Charlie Plott, in the American Economic Review on the so-called “endowment effect.” The “endowment effect” has emerged as a staple of behavioral economics, especially in critiques of the real-world validity of the Coase Theorem. […]