Mises-Hayek Dehomogenization and Objectivism
I have great respect for the Ludwig von Mises institute. However, some of their intellectuals are precipitating a disturbing trend of attempting to dehomogenize von Mises and von Hayek, and I wish to protest this trend. All Objectivists should be familiar with von Mises as Rand’s favorite economist. Her opinion of von Hayek was much less flatterring, and regarded him as a compromiser of classical liberalism and an enemy of reason. I will get to this point later but first, some context…
The History Wars: Howard Shouldn’t Fight Them
John Howard’s contributions to the History Wars demonstrate that he does not understand the fundamental issues at stake in the debate. As such, the Prime Minister should refrain from taking part in the debate. The PM’s comments on the debate are not actually relevant; indeed they are attempts to use a deeply philosophical academic debate for political advancement.
GW: Discounting the Stern Report
People prefer to have money today rather than tomorrow. This concept is called the “time value of money” and is the reason why public policy analysis uses a discount rate to convert future cash flows into a net present value.
To understand this, consider a simple hypothetical situation. You have a choice between $100 now or $100 in one year. If you take the $100 now you can invest it and have $110 next year. Obviously, you take the money now. This shows a time value of money = 10%. However, now that you have the money you may decide to spend it. By spending the money you are showing that you get more value from $100 now than you would from $110 in the future, so the correct time value of money is actually > 10%.
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Catallaxy Files- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012More middle of the night blogging. My economics is classical. The almost perfect overlay of my own book can be found in a series of notes taken by Nicholas Kaldor at the LSE in 1927-29 from lectures delivered by the great American economist, Allyn Young. These notes were only published around a decade ago but [...]Steve Kates
- Where’s Romney? February 10, 2012It is quite extraordinary to watch the American political process up close. Now, I admit I have been busy and I don’t watch much of the television and do not read a lot of the press. But before I arrived the thing I did want to do was see more of Mitt Romney since from [...]Steve Kates
- Keeping tabs on the Climate Commission February 10, 2012Gosh, they’ve been flat out over at the Climate Commission. The last event was 9 November last year – in Alice Springs. We really are getting value for money from all those Climate Commissioners. Really educating the public on the intracies of climate change and computer modelling. But fear not, there are two upcoming events [...]Judith Sloan
- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012
- inCISe
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012When I wrote in Incise yesterday, ‘Rebate should not be means tested,’ I did not expect events to move quite as quickly as they have. The government seems confident it has the numbers to get the means test through. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Oakshott and Andrew Wilkie have indeed swallowed the government’s nonsensical arguments, but it will be interestin […]Robert Carling
- Quiggin versus Carling and Kirchner February 9, 2012John Quiggin accuses Robert Carling and I of ‘an appalling breach of elementary standards of research’ for not acknowledging that Alberto Alesina’s work on the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus and consolidations is ‘highly controversial.’ In fact, we referenced Alesina’s work precisely because it has featured so prominently in public debate, including in the […]Stephen Kirchner
- Police going too far February 9, 2012According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, police are lecturing parents for letting their children walk to the shops or catch a bus on their own, with senior police saying such incidents will be reported to the Department of Community Services (DOCs) if a child is considered at risk. But when is a child ‘at risk’? One mother was told it was inappr […]Sara Hudson
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012
- IPA news
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012Australians will be surprised to learn that, apparently, the federal government now has responsibility to help the city of...
- It's time to bring back the thrift February 9, 2012Ted Baillieu plans to shave 3600 jobs from Victoria's bloated public service. The state of Wisconsin in the US, with a...
- We'll huff, we'll puff, we'll blow the budget into surplus February 8, 2012Bill Clinton famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". So it is. Unsuccessful politicians might be inclined to argue,...
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012
