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Megan McArdle nicely explains (about a month ago) why believing that pharmaceuticals can be both innovative and cheap is nonsense.
If anyone needs more help understanding this, a good place to start would be Lester Thurow's article on profits.
Capitalism requires profits, and profits require ownership. Property ownership generates responsibility.
Female writer blogging in the NY Times is disgusted after realizing that a lot of older men like younger women. She fantasizes about proposing Congress pass "legislation requiring that all men be sterilized once their wives enter menopause."
I think, instead, she should strengthen her coping skills.
Whenever an event widely viewed as a "market failure" occurs, the fight over interpreting what happened is intense and politically charged.
The subprime "crisis" will be an example. As you try to follow the debate, you may find this post by Ilya Somin on Volokh useful: it summarizes the argument that zoning and other land-use restrictions played an important role.
And don't forget that government-fostered lower underwriting standards also probably contributed.
(This is drawn from my short piece that James Pethokoukis posted on his blog. I thank James for inviting me to contribute.)
I don't know whether this is good news for parents or not. Another manuscript by Margaret Wise Brown, author of the ubiquitous, much-loved-by-toddlers Goodnight Moon, has been discovered.
Just how good for you is vitamin D? A Forbes article claims that scientists disagree. (One research scientist has written me, however, that the benefits are clear and substantial.)
Red wine is supposedly good for you (in moderation, of course).
"Metabolic Syndrome Tied to Diet Soda". I'd bet that this is a classic case of "correlation does not imply causality".
I love this country, but a few things could be better here. Look at how they do the weather in Italy.
Another network.
(Link via Listgasm.)
Peter Klein, at Organizations and Markets, writes about young George Mason economist Josh Wright:
Josh recently (2003) completed his PhD in economics at UCLA, where Ben Klein, Armen Alchian, and Harold Demsetz were on his dissertation committee. Josh is quite sure this committee had the highest median age of any dissertation committee on record.
That sounds right. The committee would rank very high on a scale of intellectual firepower, too.
Peter closes his post on this sad note:
Almost certainly Josh is the last representative of the UCLA tradition in economics which, like the Chicago school from which it sprung, has been absorbed into the Borg-like consciousness of mainstream (MIT) economics.
Big Coach K hater has a hard time hatin' when he finds out how much K loved his mom.