Whisper to the Wind
Don Boudreaux: Is Antitrust Worthwhile?#
The Cato Institute hosted a book forum for Global Crises, Global Solutions, by Bjørn Lomborg, in January.#
How should governments prioritize responses to the most serious problems facing the world today, such as climate change, communicable diseases, armed conflicts, malnutrition, and hunger? Bjørn Lomborg, author of the controversial bestseller The Skeptical Environmentalist, answers that question in his new book Global Crises, Global Solutions. The book is a product of "The Copenhagen Consensus," an effort sponsored by Denmark's National Environmental Assessment Institute. Its purpose was to bring together some of the most respected scholars in the world to map out a path toward positive global change. Professor Lomborg, who served as director of the project, will report what "the best and the brightest" concluded.
Tom Palmer in a suit against the District of Columbia for its unconstitutional ban on firearms.#
Why can't you learn to be happy?#
Ong Bak really was amazing. I thought it was great when there was a foot-chase scene and during a slow motion sequence there was graffiti on the wall behind the stunt. What did it say? "Hey Spielberg! Let's do it together!" Later on there was another thing like this--a movie poster for "Spy Game" with a sticky note that said "Call Me".#
Bryan Caplan comments on Saw.#
The premise of Saw is straight out of intro micro: two men wake up chained in a room together, and soon learn that at most one gets out alive. And the execution is straight out of experimental economics: The characters' first instinct is not to try to kill each other, but to cooperate.
But before long, we bump into a hard truth: Human beings are better than economic theory tells us, but also worse. Unselfish people might sacrifice their own interests to help others, but they also might sacrifice their own interests to hurt others. The characters in Saw start to accumulate grievance after grievance against each other, until the audience starts to wonder: Maybe these guys would kill each other even if they didn't have to!