Disqus - Latest Comments for Ronald Hayden

Re: Can You Hear Me Now?

Ronald Hayden — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:45:46 -0000

I'm sensing a deep insecurity here of a most existential sort...

Re: Economics Crimes

Ronald Hayden — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:09:46 -0000

Given how this gives people the power to tattle as a form of general retribution, and given how any price at all can be called gouging in an emergency, were I a vendor in this region, I think I'd just close up shop and wait it out.

Depriving people of needed goods is terrible, but being put at the mercy of any scold or person with a grudge may be untenable.

I assume if enough vendors take this approach, the government reaction will be (if it isn't already) to force you to sell goods, and at a "reasonable" or, more likely, set price.

Re: No End of Oil

Ronald Hayden — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:23:05 -0000

Just got back from the movies, and there was a trailer for a documentary based on the premise that we're running out of water (thanks to evil corporations, of course!), called Flow:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149583/

I suspect it won't be long before we hear about "peak water" or some such.

However, there's a legitimate question in the catastrophism that I haven't wrapped my head around yet: When it comes to necessities of life (particularly food and water, without which we live only days or weeks), and those necessities have a cost associated, how do the poorest in the world get access to them?

I understand the need and unavoidability of prices, but the basic question remains.

Re: No End of Oil

Ronald Hayden — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:14:09 -0000

John Dewey: what economic system provided the most food to the poor of the world?

I understand, but in the meantime, what is the best way to help the extreme poor in countries that not only are not going in the right direction when it comes to using the market, but are backsliding (Africa, basically)?

How do they get access to food and water, with basically no economic resources, and with political systems set up to siphon off anything that comes their way? (And, worse, governments talked into avoiding GM foods...argh.)

This is not a hidden appeal to communism or some such -- it's wondering how the extreme poor can get access to necessary resources when they can't afford the associated cost, and when they don't have the time to wait for political change.

This is both a question of how to help fellow humans, and how to avoid one of the more persuasive images of those opposed to markets: Showing pictures (as the Flow documentary does) of starving kids in failing states, and insisting that the evil corporations are killing them by charging for the food, water, and drugs they need to live.

There may not be a good answer. But I don't think it's a persuasive answer to say, "Someday maybe they'll have a developed market-oriented economy." It's much more likely, in that case, that the anti-market forces will continue to have their way, especially if they manage to blame the initial situation on evil corporations and human greed.

Re: EconTalk Book Club—The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Ronald Hayden — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:47:41 -0000

Just getting to this -- the discussion I've heard so far is fascinating, and I'd love to see other books covered in the future (Hayek and Friedman would be great) -- maybe do a book or two a year?

From EconTalk and a few Econ bloggers I have a vague sense of these influential thinkers and their defining works, and I have Bern planning to fill in the gaps in my knowledge -- I can think of no better way to do so than under the guidance of Russ and his contributors...

Re: The Woman and Man of System

Ronald Hayden — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:11:12 -0000

Honestly, when I would find myself thinking during the campaign that Obama would take us toward 70s British-style socialism, I would feel guilty for overdoing it and playing the partisan game.

It's gone so much further than I feared.

Though I was wrong in that he seems more intent on Japanese-style coopetition wherein the wise hand of government tells businesses who to partner with and what to create.