Asymptosis: Always Approaching

Month: October 2009

  • One Completely False Statement in Superfreakonomics

    Then there’s this little-discussed fact about global warming: While the drumbeat of doom has grown louder over the past several years, the average global temperature during that time has in fact decreased. This “fact” is true…but only if you calculate forward from 1998–one of the two hottest years in history (2005 was hotter). It’s not…

  • Most Regressive Taxes? My Home State 🙁

    I’m finally getting around to following up on a graph I posted sort of in passing a while back, a graph that to my eyes makes a profound statement about our country and our economic system. It shows total taxes paid–local, state, and federal combined. People making $55-90K (fourth quintile, approx.) pay the same share…

  • The Problem with “Socialism”

    As an attack term, “socialism” packs a lot of wallop. But that’s mainly because it’s used to attack things that aren’t actually socialism. Socialism, defined: “various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production.” But when attackers go after “socialistic” policies, they’re usually imprecating against something…

  • Socialism and Prosperity: Does One Cause the Other?

    Regular readers will find me beating something of a dead horse here, but I felt it necessary to respond to a recent post by Bryan Caplan, who continues to speculate on the putative negative economic effects of “socialism.” >”Lots of developed countries have some significant socialistic elements,” … would be an understatement. Every developed country…

  • Ratings Agencies and Real-Estate Appraisers: How Do You Keep ’em Honest?

    Megan McArdle points to an interesting suggestion from Joe Wiesenthal at Clusterstock: form a pool of say, ten certified ratings agencies. When an issuer wants a rating, they are assigned an agency by lottery. They can’t go shopping for the best rating. I’ve suggested exactly the same lottery-type system for real-estate appraisers. We’ve been hearing…