Broback’s Blog

Efficiency is generally thought of the relationship between inputs and outputs. Economic efficiency is defined by Paul Heyne here. “To economists, efficiency is a relationship between ends and means. When we call a situation inefficient, we are claiming that we could achieve the desired ends with less means, or that the means employed could produce [...]

[Read more →]

I recently added ABC’s This Week back to my Tivo since ABC took my veiled and tongue-in-cheek advice and jettisoned the talented but regrettably snooze-inducing Christiane Amanpour. (Great to have George S. back, but I’d love to see the awesome Jake Tapper in the host chair again.) Today’s episode featured a mildly bullying interchange between [...]

[Read more →]

Economics is hard. I was sent this piece written by Philosophy major Matthew Yglesias yesterday. In it he attempts to emulate thinking like an economist, and signals in a way that the untutored will likely find impressive. Phrases like “regressive”, “subsidy” and even an “at the margin” are sprinkled in liberally. (Strangely — and very [...]

[Read more →]

It appears that Obamacare is facing an uphill battle in the Supreme Court: LA Times: Supreme Court greets healthcare mandate with skepticism Chicago Sun Times: Justices’ queries could signal trouble for health-care law CBS News: Supreme Court majority skeptical on health care law Washington Post: Supreme Court expresses doubts on key constitutional issue in health-care [...]

[Read more →]

Some miscellaneous random clips I snagged this week. Classic examples of the ongoing and pervasive real-world manifestations of what students learn in Public Choice Theory 101. Might provide a little balance to those who obsess single-mindedly over “Market Failure.” Officers were told to arrest people who were doing little more than standing on the street, [...]

[Read more →]

Man of good faith and reason can differ on what an appropriate rate of societal wealth appropriation and redistribution is — but the recent volleys back and forth on the Romney tax rate have me scratching my head over the approach taken by many in the collectivist camp. Normally I’d say one’s level of outrage [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve had this queued up for some time, but Krugman’s recent assertions (and subsequent backpedaling) about capital gains taxation inspired me to take this live. This is perfect. As Boudreaux tackles the question “Who is today’s Bastiat?” as proposed by David Henderson, he puts forth the best description I’ve heard yet of what Paul Krugman [...]

[Read more →]

It’s not just housing bubbles that are caused by good intentions and market intervention. Mungowitz reports on yet another prime example of Soviet-style meddling in the U.S. pharmaceutical market. While the Food and Drug Administration monitors the safety and supply of the drugs, which are sold both as generics and under brand names like Ritalin [...]

[Read more →]

Given the recent SEC indictments, I couldn’t resist this passage from Krugman in July of 2008 (emphasis mine:) “But here’s the thing: Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with the explosion of high-risk lending a few years ago, an explosion that dwarfed the S.& L. fiasco. In fact, Fannie and Freddie, after growing rapidly [...]

[Read more →]

Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw wrote about the students who walked out of his introductory econ class because “the biased nature of Economics 10 contributes to and symbolizes the increasing economic inequality in America.” He hit upon a few points that I’ve been meaning to post about. I’ve wanted to go into detail how those with [...]

[Read more →]