While we're doing the econ roundup, sometime respectable economist Robert Barro ditches his academic credibility in a bizarre piece written for - who else? - the Hoover Institution, which appears to be sailing straight toward Davy Jone's locker these days with the junk they publish.
Mankiw "assists" his students with emphasizing the viewpoint that the benefits of a monopoly like Microsoft (a) are due to Bill Gates and not the rest of us who let him proceed as is and (b) ought not to be regulated like we would any other utility.
Truly, Warren Buffet ought to receive laurels for his decision to return his wealth to the common good, because it is a clear-headed recognition about what financial claims (stocks) really amount to in social terms. Listen to Buffet and to what Bill Clinton has had to say about his wise decision against "perpetual foundations" and dynasties. The countries of Europe had several hundreds of years to ossify - let's hope that America's captains can avoid the same sclerosis by avoiding all that Barro opines (it looks increasingly unlikely, however).
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Stifling Rightwing Bias in Academia - New Data
