Author Archive | Tyler Cowen

“Online gambling sites are betting on tighter security after a recent wave of computer attacks from cyberextortionists plunged several into darkness. Shadowy hackers demand $20,000 to $50,000 for protection from distributed denial-of-service attacks, which flood a Web site with data so that it is overloaded. BetWWTS.com in Antigua was forced to pay $30,000 when hackers […]

“A group is challenging the rule of chess which states that white moves first is racist; it just perpetuates the image that whites make moves and blacks have to adjust to it. How they plan to change the rule I don’t know. I saw this on television. Who they would sue to have this changed […]

Who better to read on this topic than Professor Bainbridge? His bottom line: “Martha Stewart was convicted on all counts. Longtime readers know that my take on the Stewart case was as follows: (1) The securities fraud count was bogus. The judge agreed and threw that one out. (2) The obstruction and false statement were […]

“Less than two months before 10 new member states join the European Union, it has emerged that about half have failed to translate the EU’s 85,000-page rulebook into their national languages. The embarrassing disclosure could have serious legal consequences, because EU laws are only enforceable in the new member states when written in the national […]

I’ll be several days in Orlando, at a Reason Foundation event, for one thing this will cut into blogging. But if you know of any good ethnic food there, please let me know. Don’t recommend anyplace that would show up in a guidebook or is owned by a corporation. Spicy is good, Cuban and Haitian […]

“Amateur astronomers could receive awards of $3,000 for discovering and tracking near-Earth asteroids under legislation approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. “Given the vast number of asteroids and comets that inhabits Earth’s neighborhood, greater efforts for tracking and monitoring these objects are critical,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, sponsor of the legislation that passed […]

I wish to sidestep all of the debates so far. Rather I am struck by the growing likelihood that future generations will achieve their major knowledge of religious figures through movies, television, and DVDs. To be sure, there are already many Christian movies. But I don’t think they are culturally central in shaping how the […]

For the Washington, D.C. area, that is, here is the link. Move around your mouse for a fascinating study in economic and intellectual geography. We’re on the Orange line, of course, on the Virginia side, check out the contrast on the eastern side of that same line. Thanks to Andy Roth for the pointer. Addendum: […]

My colleagues Vernon Smith, Kevin McCabe, and Terence Chorvat have written a paper with the following abstract: “As legal scholarship has come to rely more on economic analysis, the foundational questions of economics have become important questions for legal analysis as well. One of the key foundational elements of modern economics is the assumption of […]

John Holbo, guesting at CrookedTimber.org, writes: “I don’t think the blogosphere has thrown up nearly enough stylists of true distinction, incidentally. Do you?” I concur with his basic point, though I have been wondering what it means to be a stylist of distinction in the blogosphere. Lileks is one example cited by Holbo and surely […]

VC readers will know I am skeptical of many government interventions. But I view asteroid protection as a genuine public good. Budget deficit or not, we are not spending enough money to address this problem. Here is a story about a recent near miss. Here is a group calling for greater asteroid protection, with Dana […]

There is little doubt that most people do (and should) form their views on abortion primiarly through ethics, religion, and philosophy. Nonetheless abortion policy also has significant consequentialist elements. That is, to whatever extent we ban or legalize or regulate abortion, this decision has practical repercussions. Now, for the first time, I have come across […]

Most of you probably already know I am a big fan of www.2blowhards.com. It has some of the freshest writing in the blogosphere, combining such diverse topics as culture, economics, cinema, and evolutionary biology. Read Michael’s recent treatment of The Economics of Mozart. The bottom line? Mozart was a successful commercial entrepreneur. His economic problems […]

Read the thoughts of Will Wilkinson, a very smart philosopher.

Nicholas Eberstadt of AEI offers a fascinating article on world population. Here is one interesting paragraph of many: “Between 2000 and 2025 China’s median age is set to rise very substantially: from about 30 to around 39. According to unpd projections for 2025, in fact, China’s median age will be higher than America’s. The impending […]