Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents January 2010
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages:
Volume:
Issue:
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/417/TableOfContentsJanuary2010.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/471
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v::y:2010:i::p:
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel Klein
Title: Editor’s Notes: Acknowledgements 2008-09
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1-3
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/393/EditorsNotesJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/466
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:1-3
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lars Jonung
Author-Name: Eoin Drea
Title: It Can’t Happen, It’s a Bad Idea, It Won’t Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002
Abstract: On the whole, the euro has, thus far, gone much better than many U.S. economists had predicted. We survey how U.S. economists viewed European monetary unification from the publication of the Delors Report in 1989 to the introduction of euro notes and coins in January 2002. U.S. academic economists concentrated on whether a single currency was a good or bad thing, usually using the theory of optimum currency areas, and most were skeptical towards the single currency. In contrast, Federal Reserve economists had a less analytical and a more pragmatic approach. Both groups adjusted their views as European monetary unification progressed. It is surprising that academic economists, living in and benefiting from the U.S. monetary union, were so skeptical of monetary unification in Europe. We explain the skepticism as resulting from the strong influence of the original theory of optimum currency areas; failure to see monetary unification as an evolutionary process; failure to identify pegged exchange rates, rather than floating rates, as the practical alternative to a single European currency; and the belief that the single currency for Europe was primarily a political project that ignored economic fundamentals.
Classification-JEL: B22, E 42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 4-52
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/403/JonungDreaJanuary2010.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/8
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:4-52
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: C. Fred Bergsten
Title: I Was a Euro Enthusiast
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E 42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 53-55
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/391/BergstenJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/440
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:53-55
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeffry Frieden
Title: A Political Scientist’s Perspective
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 56-58
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/395/FriedenJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/441
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:56-58
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Charles Goodhart
Title: Understanding the Euro Requires Political Economy, Not Just Economics
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 59-60
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/397/GoodhartJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/442
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:59-60
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Steve H. Hanke
Title: Reflections on Currency Reform and the Euro
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 61-66
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/399/HankeJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/464
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:61-66
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Otmar Issing
Title: It Has Happened—And It Will Continue to Succeed
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 66-72
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/401/IssingJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/443
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:66-72
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Peter B. Kenen
Title: There Was No Analytical Alternative to the Theory of Optimum Currency Areas
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 73-75
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/405/KenenJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/444
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:73-75
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ronald I. McKinnon
Title: Mundell Changed His Mind
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 76-77
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/409/McKinnonJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/445
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:76-77
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: George Selgin
Title: The Secret of the Euro’s Success
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 78-81
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/411/SelginJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/446
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:78-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Roland Vaubel
Title: The Euro and the German Veto
Abstract: A comment on Lars Jonung and Eoin Drea's (2010) article, "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989-2002." _Econ Journal Watch_ 7(1):4-52. Link
Classification-JEL: B22, E42, E5, F02, F33 and F41
Keywords: Euro,optimum currency area,European Central Bank (ECB),Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),Federal Reserve System,monetary unification,Europe,United States.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 82-90
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/413/VaubelJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/447
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:82-90
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: H. Douglas Witte
Title: Outliers and the Halloween Effect: Comment on Maberly and Pierce
Abstract: Maberly and Pierce (2004) re-examine the work of Bouman and Jacobsen (2002) that documents significantly lower monthly stock market returns over the period May to October than over the period November to April. The finding has been called the Halloween effect and is present to varying degrees in most equity markets worldwide. Maberly and Pierce focus on the Halloween effect in the United States and contend it is driven by two negative-return outliers. We argue that controlling for two outliers is somewhat arbitrary. We apply robust regression methods—including all the data but limiting the influence of extreme returns—to the estimation of the Halloween effect in the United States. Contrary to the Maberly and Pierce findings, our results indicate statistical significance of a Halloween effect in the U.S. at levels similar to those originally reported in Bouman and Jacobsen.
Classification-JEL: G14, G10
Keywords: Halloween effect,outliers,influence vector,robust regression
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 91-98
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/415/WitteJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/448
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:91-98
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Jason Briggeman
Title: 305 Economists Called to Answer Questionnaire on the Pre-Market Approval of Drugs and Devices
Abstract: We have created an online questionnaire that queries the respondent about whether the policy of pre-market of approval of drugs and devices has behind it any market-failure rationale. The questionnaire interactively interviews the respondent, making a virtual conversation. The point of the questionnaire is to explore whether anyone can provide a reasonable justification for the policy. This article presents the questionnaire and ethically summons 305 relevant economists to complete the questionnaire. We explain why any conscientious researcher is entitled to issue a summons of this kind, and why the summoned economists may have a responsibility to respond. The responses will be collated and reported (without commentary) in a subsequent issue of EJW.
The ungated interactive questionnaire:
http://www.surveywriter.net/in/survey/survey1427/pma.asp
The pdf showing the whole architecture of the questionnaire:
http://econjwatch.org/file_download/388/PMAQuestionnaire.pdf
Classification-JEL: K23, L51, L65, A11, A13, D8
Keywords: U.S. Food and Drug Administration,FDA,pre-market approval,drugs,medical devices,market failure
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 99-106
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Year: 2010
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/407/KleinBriggemanJanuary2010.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/461
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:7:y:2010:i:1:p:99-106
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents September 2009
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/340/ejw_toc_sep09.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/383
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Steven Horwitz
Title: Great Apprehensions, Prolonged Depression: Gauti Eggertsson on the 1930s
Abstract: Gauti Eggertsson uses a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model in arguing that the period 1933 to 1937 represented recovery from the Great Depression, by virtue of regime change between the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. He claims that the Hoover administration was defined by adherence to three “policy dogmas,” and that Roosevelt shifted expectations for the better by making credible commitments rejecting those dogmas. Eggertsson’s argument is wrong on several counts. He misrepresents Hoover’s economic policies, he mischaracterizes Roosevelt as “dogma-free” and committed to a clear alternative plan for recovery, and he misreads the economic consequences of Roosevelt’s policies. Eggertsson’s problems begin with his notion of “recovery,” wherein the economy’s progression from critical condition to prolonged infirmity is trumpeted as “recovery.” Eggertsson’s article is entitled “Great Expectations;” I have titled this piece “Great Apprehensions” because the Hoover-Roosevelt period needs to be seen a whole, in which the statist trend of policy and rhetoric created great uncertainty about the rules under which enterprise and investment would proceed. Moreover, Eggertsson’s narrative cutoff at 1937 is misleading and opportunistic, as the ensuing years are all part of the same prolonged apprehension and under-performance.
Classification-JEL: N12, N22, E60
Keywords: depression,economic history,laissez-faire,public policy,Hoover,Roosevelt
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 313-336
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/8/ejw_com_sep09_horwitz.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/340
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:313-336
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert Whaples
Title: The Policy Views of American Economic Association Members: The Results of a New Survey
Abstract: This article presents the results of a 2007 policy-views survey of a random sample of members of the American Economic Association. The new survey contains questions about many policy issues not treated by previous surveys. The questions treat such issues as trade restrictions, social insurance for those put out of work by international competition, genetically modified foods, curbside recycling, health insurance (several questions), medical malpractice, barriers to entering the medical profession, organ donations, unhealthy foods, mortgage deductions, taxing internet sales, Wal-Mart, casinos, ethanol subsidies, and inflation targeting. Additional questions treat the relationship between economic growth, happiness, and well-being, whether the typical American consumes too much, works too much, saves too little, and lives in houses that are too large. It finds disagreement on many issues but evidence of considerable agreement on others, including a consensus that the benefits of Wal-Mart stores typically outweigh their costs, that Americans save too little and that economic growth in developed countries increases well being. It finds a consensus in favor of eliminating trade barriers, eliminating or cutting ethanol subsidies, allowing payments to organ donors, and against requiring employers to provide health insurance. The article opens with reflections about why we care whether economists reach a conclusion, and methods for determining whether a consensus has been reached.
Classification-JEL: A1, H1, I1
Keywords: consensus among economists,surveys of economics,public policy,trade,health care industry,ethanol,Wal-Mart,casinos,inflation,savings rate
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 337-348
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/9/ejw_derc_sep09_whaples.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/341
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:337-348
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David R. Hakes
Title: Confession of an Economist: Writing to Impress Rather than Inform
Abstract: In this paper I confess the following sin: I deliberately complicated a piece of research to advance its prospects of being published.
Classification-JEL: A14
Keywords: preference falsification,confession
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 349-351
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/11/ejw_wat_sep09_hakes.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/342
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:349-351
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Stephen Kinsella
Title: Preference Falsification in Teaching
Abstract: Today’s macroeconomics courses are built around Solow and Romerstyle growth theories, and micro-founded equilibrium macro models of the ‘real business cycle’ variety. Hewing to a course description with such an intellectual structure is a derogation of my personal and professional views. This short, confessional note explores the activity of teaching what one does not believe, and argues this is preference falsification writ large. The act of teaching equilibrium business cycle theories to students who take these theories out into the world and act upon them there is, I believe, socially destructive. Yet many economists engage in this public activity contra their personal preferences. One solution is judicious use of the course description, in order that a broad church be maintained.
Classification-JEL: A1, A10, A11
Keywords: Preference falsification,pedagogy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages:
Volume: 63
Issue: 352-358
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/14/ejw_wat_sep09_kinsella.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/343
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:63:y:2009:i:352-358:p:
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William Patrick Leonard
Title: Confessions of a College Non-Economizer
Abstract: The writer observes that the fundamental economic principles taught in our higher education classrooms have not found their way into our colleges’ administration suites. Administrators rely on enrollment and tuition increases to balance their budgets. Although there are some cost-containment measures that are viable, administrators face internal opposition from faculty and too little pressure from their boards to contain costs.
Classification-JEL: A10, A11
Keywords: College administration,confession
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 359-363
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/13/ejw_wat_sep09_leonard.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/345
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:359-363
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bruce L. Benson
Title: Economic Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Math Gamer, the Anti-Policy Econometrician and the Narrative Political Economist
Abstract: In this self diagnosis, I examine my career as an economist over 30 years in terms of dissociative identity disorder. The multiple identities of my career have been the math gamer, the anti-policy econometrician, and the narrative political economist. I hope that others can learn something from my story.
Classification-JEL: A13, A14, C0
Keywords: Dissociative identity disorder,model building,econometrics,narrative political economy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 364-373
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/10/ejw_wat_sep09_benson.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/346
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:364-373
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gavin Kennedy
Title: A Reply to Daniel Klein on Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand
Abstract: The May 2009 issue of this journal featured a two-part exchange between myself and Daniel Klein on the meaning and significance of the expression “invisible hand” in the writings of Adam Smith. In his comment on my piece, Klein imputed much larger, and, in my view, extraneous meaning to it. Here I conclude the exchange by responding to Klein’s comment.
Classification-JEL: A13, B0, B1
Keywords: Adam Smith,invisible hand,Theory of Moral Sentiments,Wealth of Nations,metaphor,myth
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 374-388
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/12/ejw_wat_sep09_kennedy.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/347
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:374-388
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Alec Lawrence Macfie
Title: The Scottish Tradition in Economic Thought
Abstract: This is a reprint of A.L. Macfie’s 1955 essay discerning a distinctively Scottish tradition of economic thought.
Classification-JEL: B1, B3, B4
Keywords: Scottish political economy,Adam Smith,A.L. Macfie
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 389-410
Volume: 6
Issue: 3
Year: 2009
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/7/ejw_ci_sep09_macfie.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/350
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:3:p:389-410
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents May 2009
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/336/ejw_toc_may09.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/384
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: E. Frank Stephenson
Author-Name: Erin E. Wendt
Title: Occupational Licensing: Scant Treatment in Labor Texts
Abstract: We review the literature on occupational licensing and its importance as a labor market institution. We examine five labor economics texts and find that their coverage of occupational licensing is either scant or nonexistent. We speculate on why textbooks fail to treat the topic adequately.
Classification-JEL: J44, A2, A22
Keywords: Occupational licensing,labor economics,textbooks,barriers to entry
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 181-194
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/258/2009-05-stephensonwendt-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/294
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:181-194
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William L. Davis
Author-Name: Bob Figgins
Title: Do Economists Believe American Democracy Is Working?
Abstract: Fresh results of a 2006 survey of members of the American Economic Association suggest that many economists do not seem to believe that American democracy is working—that is, advancing society’s welfare. Regardless of political party affiliation, a large majority of economists appear to be skeptical of elected officials and the political process. We discuss these findings in relation to what many, including ourselves, perceive to be a problem in the economics profession, namely, an undue focus on the policy status quo. If economists do not believe that the political process works well, why is there so much focus on the status quo, and, more specifically, so little challenge to status quo interventions?
Classification-JEL: A1, H8, Z1
Keywords: Economic surveys,status quo orientation,American democracy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 195-202
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/250/2009-05-davisfiggins-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/290
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:195-202
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carlisle E. Moody
Author-Name: Thomas B. Marvell
Title: The Debate on Shall Issue Laws, Continued
Abstract: In the September 2008 issue of this journal we criticized work by Ian Ayres and John Donohue on the relation between right-to-carry gun laws and crime rates. They replied in the January 2009 issue. Here we respond to their reply.
Classification-JEL: K14
Keywords: Shall-issue,crime,handguns,concealed weapons
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 203-217
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/256/2009-05-moodymarvell-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/293
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:203-217
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ian Ayres
Author-Name: John J. Donohue III
Title: More Guns, Less Crime Fails Again: The Latest Evidence from 1977 – 2006
Abstract: In their reply to our comment on their initial paper, Moody and Marvell continue their analysis of right-to-carry (RTC) laws using panel data for the period 1977-2000. But with six additional years of data now available for analysis, we think the need for further parsing of older data is of limited value in assessing the more guns, less crime hypothesis. In this comment, we add six years of data to what Moody and Marvell previously analyzed. We show that, whether one looks at the original Lott and Mustard specification, the latest Moody and Marvell specification, or a plausible alternative specification, there is consistent evidence for the unsurprising proposition that RTC laws increase aggravated assault. We address some anomalies in these models and their resulting estimates. The Lott and Mustard model, for example, suffers from omitted-variable bias in failing to control for the impact of incarceration. In addition, the Moody and Marvell model generates odd predictions of the impact of incarceration on crime for most crime categories, and it appears to suggest (anomalously) that crack had no impact on murder. These and other problems raise questions about how well these regressions work to reveal the true effect on crime of RTC laws. For instance, would better data and models reveal that the estimated increases in murder and robbery are also statistically significant, as they are for the related violent crime of aggravated assault? Or might the estimated effect of aggravated assault be altered if we knew the full impact of changing police responses to domestic violence?
Classification-JEL: K14, K12
Keywords: Law and economics,Criminal Justice Policy,guns and crime
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 218-238
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/248/2009-05-ayresdonohue-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/289
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:218-238
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gavin Kennedy
Title: Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand: From Metaphor to Myth
Abstract: Adam Smith and the ‘invisible hand’ are nearly synonymous in modern economic thinking. Adam Smith is strongly associated with the invisible hand, understood as a general rule that people in realising their self-interests unintentionally benefit the public good. The attribution to Smith is challengeable. Adam Smith’s use of the metaphor was much more modest; it was re-invented in the 1930s and 1940s onwards to bolster mathematical treatments of capitalism (Samuelson, Friedman) and to support innovative analysis by associating the metaphor with ‘spontaneous order’ (Hayek). The effect has been to ignore insightful explanations about how markets function as a process in favour of semi-mystical beliefs in imagined outcomes, wrapped in an isolated 18th-century literary metaphor, which does not explain anything.
Classification-JEL: A13, B0, B1
Keywords: Adam Smith,invisible hand,metaphor
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 239-263
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/252/2009-05-kennedy-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/291
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:239-263
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: In Adam Smith’s Invisible Hands: Comment on Gavin Kennedy
Abstract: Professor Gavin Kennedy’s essay on the invisible hand raises several issues: (1) whether the three occurrences of the phrase in Adam Smith’s writings are reconcilable; (2) whether the phrase may properly serve as tag for an important idea in natural jurisprudence; and (3) the importance Smith attached to the phrase. In line with A.L. Macfie, I argue that the three occurrences are reconcilable, and, in line with a great many others, that the phrase may properly serve as a tag for the comparative merit of liberty. Whether Smith intended for the phrase to be used that way is uncertain, but does not matter much to its serviceability.
Classification-JEL: A13, B0, B1
Keywords: Adam Smith,invisible hand,natural liberty
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 264-279
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/254/2009-05-klein-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/292
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:264-279
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Intellectual Hazard: A Liberal Selection of Quotations
Abstract: This article contains a selection of 97 quotations concerning hazards to intellectual integrity. The quotations are grouped under 16 headings: Lock-in of ideological sensibilities by age 25; Reverence of the powerful and longing for their favor; Unminding important things; Popular sentiments and approval; Escapism; The professional academic pyramid; Groupthink; Privileges of graduation make for cartels and social pyramids; Cynicism and acquiescence; Officialdom validates base thinking; Government force and funding; Pyramids validating one another; The pretense of knowing well enough to manipulate beneficially; Temptation of a governing-set selfhood; Taboo; A cycle of irrelevance and bad judgment.
Classification-JEL: A1, A2
Keywords: Groupthink,academia,government,power,approval
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 280-312
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Year: 2009
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/260/2009-05-various-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/295
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:280-312
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents January 2009
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/332/ejw_toc_jan09.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/385
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Editorial Notes January 2009
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/344/ejw_foreward_jan09.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/399
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:1
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Arnold Kling
Author-Name: John Merrifield
Title: Goldin and Katz and Education Policy Failings in Historical Perspective
Abstract: In The Race Between Education and Technology, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz employ a powerful theoretical framework to investigate how inequality is affected by the interrelation between changes in technology and changes in job-market skills. The investigation is carried out with great vision and a combination of scholarly methods. In this review essay, we embrace the theoretical core of the book, but find a number of problems in the execution. We see a need to distinguish between attending school and acquiring the pertinent skills; we criticize the way that Goldin and Katz talk about “years of schooling” as a continuous variable, when the underlying phenomenon is that the combination of high school graduation rates and college attendance rates increased more slowly after 1970 primarily because of a slowdown in the former, a slowdown which was arithmetically driven by the fact that high school graduation rates can only go up to 100 percent. We criticize the way they break up time periods in a way that buries the productivity acceleration of 1990-2005. This increase in productivity growth suggests that in the race between education and technology the speed of the latter is more important than the slowdown of the former. We see a need to recognize the profound institutional changes that occurred during the twentieth century, for their consequences can help to explain why the populations’ skills are not “keeping up” with technology. Finally, Goldin and Katz make a reasonable argument that the wage premium for college graduates would be lower if more young people earned qualitymaintained college degrees. However, at the margin, sending additional students to college probably does little or nothing to increase the number of successful college graduates.
Classification-JEL: I28, J24, D33
Keywords: Human capital,skill-biased technological change,college wage premium,education policy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 2-20
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/244/2009-01-klingmerrifield-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/287
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:2-20
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Micha Gisser
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Author-Name: Giray Okten
Author-Name: Gary Santoni
Title: Some Anomalies Arising from Bandwagons that Impart Upward Sloping Segments to Market Demand
Abstract: In Gary Becker’s (1991) theory of bandwagon effects, a portion of market demand is positively sloped. In this, he ignores Harvey Leibenstein’s (1950) hypothesis that market demands for bandwagon goods are everywhere negatively sloped (stemming from scarcity imposed constraints). A substantial literature now invokes Becker’s bandwagon, also ignoring Leibenstein. Two anomalies attend Becker’s bandwagon demand when it slopes upward: 1) straightforward parameterizations are inconsistent with the economic requirement that quantities demanded be non-negative; 2) regardless of parameterization, the comparative statics of Becker’s demand carry unworldly implications.
Classification-JEL: D01, D40, D62
Keywords: Bandwagon effect,law of demand
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 21-34
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/246/2009-01-mcclureetal-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/288
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:21-34
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ian Ayres
Author-Name: John J. Donohue III
Title: Yet Another Refutation of the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis – With Some Help From Moody and Marvell
Abstract: Moody and Marvell’s recent article in this journal examines a regressionbased calculation in Ayres and Donohue (2003a) that indicated, based on statespecific estimates that were generated using county data from 1977-1997, that right-to-carry concealed handguns (RTC) laws were associated with higher overall crime costs. Moody and Marvell criticize that calculation for not extrapolating our trend estimates further, but since we had limited post-passage data for roughly half of our states, we were uncomfortable projecting crime trends far beyond our data. Our caution has now been validated, as the sharp crime declines of the 1990s disappeared after 2000.
Moody and Marvell now repeat our state-specific regression-based calculation using county data through the year 2000 (but with a slightly altered specification), which finds that RTC laws have increased crime costs by $3 billion (in total) for 23 of the 24 jurisdictions they evaluated (Florida is the exception). Nonetheless, they conclude that RTC laws are “generally beneficial” because they claim that the Florida RTC laws (inexplicably) reduced crime costs by $31 billion. But the one paper to focus on the impact of Florida’s RTC law – of which Marvell was a coauthor! – found that the law had no impact on crime. If Marvell’s Florida paper is correct, then the Moody and Marvell findings are reconciled with Ayres and Donohue’s Table 14 showing RTC laws increase crime costs (Ayres and Donohue 2003a).
We also show that estimating aggregate (rather than state-specific) effects of RTC laws using the same data and same specification of Moody and Marvell provides statistically significant evidence of increases in aggravated assault, and no evidence of crime decreases. Similarly, Ayres and Donohue (2003b) showed that, after we corrected some coding errors in John Lott’s data set used in Plassmann and Whitley (2003), their aggregated analysis on 1977-2000 county data also showed statistically significant evidence only of crime increases from RTC laws.
Classification-JEL: K14, K42
Keywords: Law and economics,criminal justice policy,guns and crime
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 35-59
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/236/2009-01-ayresdonohue-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/283
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:35-59
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Christina Jonung
Author-Name: Ann-Charlotte Stahlberg
Title: Does Economics Have a Gender?
Abstract: We address the issues raised by commentators on our paper in the symposium “Why few women in economics.” The commentators suggest that economics is gendered, a male subject reflecting basic differences in men’s and women’s life preferences and abilities. We find that, while less schooling in mathematics historically may be related to the relative scarcity of women in economics and the natural sciences, today women’s and men’s mathematical skills are rapidly approaching each other. Experimental economics have found gender differences in preferences in risk taking, competitiveness, and social preferences which may deter women from entering academic fields with an overwhelming majority of men. In addition, the internal academic culture may have developed to adjust to a traditional male lifestyle. Adding everything up, women economists may find their comparative advantage to lie outside the universities.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: Economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 60-72
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/240/2009-01-jonung-invest_apparatus.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/285
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:60-72
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Blair Jenkins
Title: Rent Control: Do Economists Agree?
Abstract: This paper organizes the judgments of economists regarding the impact of rent controls in the American context. The review is limited to journal articles listed by the American Economic Association’s electronic bibliography, EconLit, under the subject search “Rent Control,” and articles cited by those EconLit-listed articles. My findings cover research on many dimensions of the issue, including housing availability, maintenance and housing quality, rental rates, political and administrative costs, and redistribution. It is fair to say that the literature points to a conclusion against rent control, yet as of 2001, about 140 jurisdictions in the United States persist in some form of the intervention.
Classification-JEL: R21, R31, R38, R41, L51
Keywords: Rent control,maintenance,housing availability,price ceiling,price control,vacancy allowance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 73-112
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/238/2009-01-jenkins-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/284
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:73-112
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Desperately Seeking Smithians: Responses to the Questionnaire about Building an Identity
Abstract: The September 2008 issue of Econ Journal Watch carried an essay about building an identity for “our” economics. It attempted to motivate a questionnaire on the matter, a questionnaire that was then sent out to 408 individuals, mostly economists. Responses were received from 42 individuals, including Bryan Caplan, Peter Boettke, David Henderson, Steven Horwitz, Deirdre McCloskey, Thomas Mayer, Robert Nelson, Edward Prescott, Colin Robinson, Richard Timberlake, Robert Tollison, and Leland Yeager. This piece is a brief introduction to the compendium of responses that is provided as an appendix.
Classification-JEL: A0, A1, B0
Keywords: Identity,economist,Adam Smith,Smithian,classical liberal,free market
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 113-180
Volume: 6
Issue: 1
Year: 2009
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/242/2009-01-klein-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/286
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:6:y:2009:i:1:p:113-180
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents September 2008
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/331/ejw_toc_jan08.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/386
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Carlisle E. Moody
Author-Name: Thomas B. Marvell
Title: The Debate on Shall-Issue Laws
Abstract: “Shall-issue” laws require authorities to issue concealed-weapons permits to anyone who applies, unless the applicant has a criminal record or a history of mental illness. A large number of studies indicate that shall-issue laws reduce crime. Only one study, an influential paper in the Stanford Law Review (2003) by Ian Ayres and John J. Donohue III, implies that these laws lead to an increase in crime. We apply an improved version of the Ayres and Donohue method to a more extensive data set. Our analysis, as well as Ayres and Donohue’s when projected beyond a five-year span, indicates that shall-issue laws decrease crime and the costs of crime. Purists in statistical analysis object with some cause to some of methods employed both by Ayres and Donohue and by us. But our paper upgrades Ayres and Donohue, so, until the next study comes along, our paper should neutralize Ayres and Donohue’s “more guns, more crime” conclusion.
Classification-JEL: K14
Keywords: shall-issue,crime,handguns,concealed weapons
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 269-293
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/234/2008-09-moodymarvell-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/282
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:269-293
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Dennis Coates
Author-Name: Brad R. Humphreys
Title: Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Subsidies for Sports Franchises, Stadiums, and Mega-Events?
Abstract: This paper reviews the empirical literature assessing the effects of subsidies for professional sports franchises and facilities. The evidence reveals a great deal of consistency among economists doing research in this area. That evidence is that sports subsidies cannot be justified on the grounds of local economic development, income growth or job creation, those arguments most frequently used by subsidy advocates. The paper also relates survey evidence showing that economists in general oppose sports subsidies. In addition to reviewing the empirical literature, we describe the economic intuition that probably underlies the strong consensus among economists against sports subsidies.
Classification-JEL: L83, H2, H4
Keywords: sports,subsidies,stadiums,arenas
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 294-315
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/222/2008-09-coateshumphreys-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/276
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:294-315
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Colleagues, Where Is the Market Failure? Economists on the FDA
Abstract: This article works from a point of view that holds that there is no market-failure rationale for three primary FDA-administered interventions concerning drugs and medical devices. I critically analyze the culture, rhetoric, and judgment of economists who write on those issues. I take such literature as a case study in how statist political culture degrades academic economic discourse. A finding that helps to frame what follows is that much good economic sense survives the degradations. Many economists have expressed judgments about the FDA. In almost all cases, they have supported liberalization, often dramatic. Thus I suggest that economists reach a conclusion on the first-order question. But most of the paper is devoted to second-order considerations: Do economists agree that either economists or fundamental economic reasoning favor liberalization of the restrictions? In fact, in either variation, economists do not agree on the second-order question. I explore the second-order discourse, and suggest that taboos surround the issue, taboos that shield popular political superstitions—in particular, taboos against the critical examination of fundamentals. I explore the rhetoric of economists’ writings and the political sociology surrounding research on the policies in question.
Classification-JEL: A11, A14, I18
Keywords: Food and Drug Administration,FDA,drug approval,prescription requirements,liberalization,market failure,cost-benefit analysis,net-benefit calculation,a fortiori argument
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 316-348
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/230/2008-09-klein-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/280
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:316-348
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Brian Dollery
Author-Name: Joel Byrnes
Author-Name: Galia Akimova
Title: The Curtailment of Critical Commentary in Australian Economics
Abstract: Coelho, De Worken-Eley and McClure (2005) showed that, 1963 through 2004, critical commentary declined significantly in the American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Using the same method, we investigated the same question for all of the economic journals produced in Australia, and then published the results in Australian Economic Papers (Dollery, Byrnes and Akimova 2007). We found the same trend in Australia for the period 1962 to 2005. This suggests that the downward trend may apply across economics journals generally. This short note simply relates the basic finding of our Australian Economic Papers article.
Classification-JEL: A10, A11, B40
Keywords: Critical commentary,economics journals
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 349-351
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/224/2008-09-dollerybyrnesakimova-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/277
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:349-351
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Glenn E. Hoover
Title: The Present State of Economic Science
Abstract: In this essay reprinted from Social Forces 1926, Glenn E. Hoover laments the state of economic science. He suggests that because important political-economy decisions do not naturally fall to individuals with better knowledge and stronger motivation to make the decisions right, but rather are the province of citizens, opinion makers, and politicos at large, we cannot expect economic understanding and economic policy to remain on a steady path of progress, or even too maintain itself, unless due attention is given to the perennial threat of popular degradation.
Classification-JEL: A10, A11, A13
Keywords: economics,economic science
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 352-357
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/228/2008-09-hoover-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/279
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:352-357
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Toward a Public and Professional Identity for Our Economics
Abstract: Aristotle said, “Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.” Perhaps ten percent of economists in the United States have characters similar to those of Adam Smith, Edwin Cannan, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, and James Buchanan. A character is not an identity, however. An identity is a name that functions openly in the culture. Identity is a cultural enterprise of the individuals constituting the community it identifies. This essay suggests that there is a latent demand for a new identity to represent the character represented by Smith, Cannan, Hayek, Friedman, Coase, and Buchanan. I briefly characterize the character in question, discuss the benefits of building an identity for it, and suggest how to move forward. I invite further exploration by way of a questionnaire. I intend to put the questionnaire to a selection of economists and make the completed questionnaires available online.
Classification-JEL: A0, A1, B0
Keywords: identity,character,Smith,Smithian
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 358-372
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/232/2008-09-klein-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/281
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:358-372
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Fred E. Foldvary
Title: Uncovering the Costs of the Iraq War
Abstract: Fred Foldvary reviews the recent book by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. Foldvary commends the book for its assembly of both the budgeted and implicit costs of the war, and its analysis of the economic impact of the war. The review posits that the better knowledge and accounting of the war costs as provided by this work will aid in establishing a more coherent dialog on policy for dealing with this and future conflicts abroad.
Classification-JEL: H5, N4
Keywords: war,Iraq,federal deficit,governmental accounting,governmental expenditures
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 373-379
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/226/2008-09-foldvary-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/278
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:373-379
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence September 2008
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 380-381
Volume: 5
Issue: 3
Year: 2008
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/291/ejw_cor_sep08.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/376
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:3:p:380-381
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents May 2008
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/335/ejw_toc_may08.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/387
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Brendan K. Beare
Title: The Soviet Economic Decline Revisited
Abstract: In this comment I identify a simple error in William Easterly and Stanley Fischer’s econometric study of the postwar Soviet economic growth slowdown. The results of the study change substantially.
Classification-JEL: O40, N14
Keywords: Economic growth; Soviet economy; extensive growth
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 135-144
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/198/2008-05-beare-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/264
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:135-144
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William Easterly
Author-Name: Stanley Fischer
Title: Reply to Brendan Beare
Abstract: This is our reply to Brendan Beare’s comment on our paper. While we find his criticism to be both valid and helpful, a modified version of our original model still confirms that a low elasticity of substitution between capital and labor doomed the Soviet strategy of extensive growth through capital accumulation.
Classification-JEL: O40, N14
Keywords: Economic growth; Soviet economy; extensive growth
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 145-147
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/200/2008-05-easterlyfischer-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/265
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:145-147
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Douglas M. Walker
Title: The Diluted Economics of Casinos and Crime: A Rejoinder to Grinols and Mustard’s Reply
Abstract: In their reply to my comment (Walker 2008) Grinols and Mustard explained that in their original study (2006) their interest was “in the costs to the host county associated with a change in crime from whatever source” (Grinols and Mustard 2008, p. 22). In this rejoinder, I explain that the estimated costs of crime attributable to casinos will be overstated if the estimated crime effects are based on the “undiluted” crime rate used by Grinols and Mustard (2006). I also discuss why this issue is important, in the context of “social cost of casino gambling” estimates that are frequently quoted in political debate and by the media.
Classification-JEL: L83
Keywords: casinos,crime
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 148-155
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/220/2008-05-walker-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/275
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:148-155
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Earl L. Grinols
Author-Name: David B. Mustard
Title: Connecting Casinos and Crime: More Corrections of Walker
Abstract: This is a second reply to Professor Walker that corrects additional errors by him. In his present commentary, Professor Walker again provides no new data or research, articulates comments that are already resolved through a careful reading of “Casinos, Crime, and Community Costs” (Grinols and Mustard, 2006) and declines to respond to the failings that we raised about his earlier critique. The reader is encouraged to read our original paper.
Classification-JEL: L83
Keywords: casinos,crime,social costs
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 156-162
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/202/2008-05-grinolsmustard-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/266
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:156-162
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David R. Henderson
Title: Smoking in Restaurants: Rejoinder to Alamar and Glantz
Abstract: In the September 2007 critique of Alamar and Glantz, I argued that smoking in restaurants (and bars) does not constitute an externality and that Alamar and Glantz’s use of cross-sectional data to derive a price/sales ratio did not show us a meaningful picture of what happened before and after the California smoking ban. Here I show that Alamar and Glantz’ reply mainly failed to engage my main points. I end with a challenge.
Classification-JEL: C10, D62, H23, J83, K32, L51
Keywords: Smoking,smoke-free,externalities,restaurants
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 163-168
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/206/2008-05-henderson-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/268
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:163-168
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Benjamin C. Alamar
Author-Name: Stanton A. Glantz
Title: Externalities in the Workplace: A Response to a Rejoinder to a Response to a Response to a Paper
Abstract: This paper makes a second reply to David R. Henderson, and concludes the exchange regarding the economics of smoke-free ordinances for restaurants.
Classification-JEL: C10, D62, H23, J83, K32, L51
Keywords: Smoking,smoke-free,externalities,restaurants
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 169-173
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/196/2008-05-alamarglantz-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/263
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:169-173
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Christina Jonung
Author-Name: Ann-Charlotte Stahlberg
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: Despite an increasing number of women entering the economics profession during recent decades, it is still dominated by men. This paper summarizes the situation in academic economics in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and Sweden (substantial appendices detail the situation in Sweden, not previously been available in English). Women constitute about a third of the PhD graduates in each country, but their share of the economics full professors is still between 5 and 9 percent. Compared to other academic fields, economics has the greatest gender discrepancy in career attainment. We discuss various reasons for the under-representation of women, and call for continued efforts to increase the presence of women.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 174-192
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/212/2008-05-jonungstahlberg-invest_apparatus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/271
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:174-192
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ann Mari May
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: This paper contends that women tend to eschew the economics profession due to institutional barriers and that women tend to identify themselves with professions less obtuse than economics. Furthermore this paper suggests that social pressures foster perceptions that appropriate fields of thought exist for women reinforcing the idea of appropriate academic fields for women.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 193-198
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/216/2008-05-may-invest_appartus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/273
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:193-198
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: Economics will always have few women so long as Max U rules the roost.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 199-203
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/218/2008-05-mccloskey-invest_apparatus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/274
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:199-203
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Catherine Hakim
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: This paper comments on the lead symposium article, “Reaching the Top?—On Gender Balance in the Economics Profession,” by Christina Jonung and Ann-Charlotte Ståhlberg. Jonung and Stahlberg demonstrate that the economics profession recruits few women even in (or especially in) western Europe. This comment presents an alternative explanation, called preference theory, based on women’s greater propensity to prefer work-life balance, in contrast to men’s greater propensity to prefer work-centred lifestyles. Intellectual ability alone does not predict success in a career. Relevant life goals and motivation matter greatly.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 204-218
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/204/2008-05-hakim-invest_apparatus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/267
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:204-218
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: John A. Johnson
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: This paper provides reflections on the lead symposium article, “Reaching the Top? - On Gender Balance in the Economics Profession,” by Christina Jonung and Ann-Charlotte Ståhlberg.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,career advancement,RIASEC model
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 219-226
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/208/2008-05-johnson-invest_apparatus.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/269
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:219-226
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Garett Jones
Title: Symposium: Gender and Economics
Abstract: This paper comments on the lead symposium article, “Reaching the Top?—On Gender Balance in the Economics Profession,” by Christina Jonung and Ann-Charlotte Ståhlberg. Using evidence from brain scans, mental ability tests, personality tests, and DNA, I show that the representation of women in the economics profession may be largely driven by persistent differences between the sexes in the interests and abilities that make good economists. The easiest way to raise the number of women in economics may be to change economics itself so that it focuses on the actually-existing strengths of women in areas such as verbal fluidity, conscientiousness, and computation.
Classification-JEL: J16, J7, A11, A14
Keywords: economics,women,gender,gender balance,cognitive ability,IQ
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 227-239
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/210/2008-05-jones-invest_apparatus.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/270
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:227-239
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Michael L. Marlow
Title: Honestly, Who Else Would Fund Such Research? Reflections of a Non-Smoking Scholar
Abstract: Many public-health researchers are quick to raise charges of bias to explain away the few studies that reach politically incorrect conclusions. Claims of bias are often thrown at researchers who are funded by the industries targeted for aggressive intervention. This paper discusses whether it makes sense that bias is a relevant issue only when researchers have connections to private industry or find fault with government intervention. I focus on the issue of whether smoking bans harm any restaurant or bar owners. This area of research has experienced a large number of claims of bias and deception, leveled against research that does not enthusiastically support expanded intervention. This paper diagnoses the groupthink and deep biases of the structures and cultures within which pro-ban research comes into being. It also shows how intimidation is used to silence dissent and enforce taboos. It shows why it is important that we address the question: Who else would fund research that might come to politically incorrect conclusions on such issues?
Classification-JEL: I1, H0, B41, D62
Keywords: Smoking bans,government intervention,tobacco control,externalities
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 240-268
Volume: 5
Issue: 2
Year: 2008
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/214/2008-05-marlow-char_issue.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/272
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:240-268
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents January 2008
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/331/ejw_toc_jan08.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/398
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Foreword: Editor's Report January 2008
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1-3
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/343/ejw_for_jan08.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/406
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:1-3
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Douglas M. Walker
Title: Do Casinos Really Cause Crime?
Abstract: This paper discusses the recent study by Grinols and Mustard (2006), which examines the relationship between casinos and county-level crime in the U.S. The authors conclude that casinos cause a significant amount of crime. However, there are a number of problems with their analysis. The most serious problem is that their paper uses a crime rate that excludes the visiting population at risk, thereby overstating the crime rate in casino counties. Second, the crime data used are potentially inaccurate. Third, the results may suffer from a bias caused by counties self-selecting into the “casino county” category. Fourth, the dummy variables used to account for casinos do not allow the authors to isolate the crime effect caused by casinos. Finally, the authors make conclusions that are not supported by their data, analysis, and results.
Classification-JEL: L83
Keywords: casinos,crime
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 4-20
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/194/2008-01-walker-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/262
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:4-20
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Earl L. Grinols
Author-Name: David B. Mustard
Title: Correctly Critiquing Casino-Crime Causality
Abstract: Professor Walker raises five concerns about our previous research on casinos and crime, published in the Review of Economics and Statistics. All of his concerns speak of potential problems and he includes no new results to provide evidence that the potential problems are actual problems or that they are important. We address each of his criticisms by documenting how we treated them in the working and published versions of our paper, and where appropriate, we elaborate on the concerns. Because he presents no new data, no new research, and his criticisms are largely addressed in our previous work, we have no reason to alter the conclusions of our existing research.
Classification-JEL: K42
Keywords: Casinos,Crime,Causal Identification,Tourism
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 21-31
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/186/2008-01-grinolsmustard-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/258
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:21-31
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Wendell Cox
Author-Name: Peter Gordon
Author-Name: Christian L. Redfearn
Title: Highway Penetration of Central Cities: Not a Major Cause of Suburbanization
Abstract: Nathaniel Baum-Snow has investigated the impact of the introduction of the interstate highway system in the U.S. on the decline of central city populations. He finds that it is has had a significant effect on central city population decline and increased suburbanization. He suggests that had the interstate highway system not been built, the “aggregate central city population would have [grown] by about 8 percent.” We offer a number of reasons to believe that the reported correlation is spurious. That is, we believe that central city populations would have declined even in the absence of the interstate highway system. We suggest, first, that suburbanization of cities is a long-standing and almost universal process. As incomes rise, most people want the range and choice offered by automobiles. Increased auto use, in turn, causes the further dispersal of destinations which increases the demand for auto use. This is a powerful cycle that can be observed in practically all places where incomes have been rising. Looking beyond Baum-Snow’s sample, we examine European cities that also experience significant suburbanization, and we find no evidence that a highway that pierces the central city makes any difference to central-city population change. We suggest that one possible source of spurious correlation is the initial existence of undeveloped “greenfield” areas in central cities in Baum-Snow’s study. In suggesting mechanisms to explain his findings, Baum-Snow points to the monocentric city model; we offer some criticisms of the relevance of that model. We find no fault with Baum-Snow's statistical work, but it is possible to get the statistical significances right and still be wrong.
Classification-JEL: R12, R40
Keywords: Suburbanization,depopulation,central cities,highway impacts
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 32-45
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/184/2008-01-coxgordonredfearn-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/257
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:32-45
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Nathaniel Baum-Snow
Title: Reply to Cox, Gordon, and Redfearn’s Comment on “Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?”
Abstract: Wendell Cox, Peter Gordon, and Christian Redfearn have commented on a paper of mine that gives evidence of a strong and large causal relationship between highway construction and central city population declines in the United States between 1950 and 1990. Cox, Gordon, and Redfearn are skeptical that the true causal relationship could be so large and argue that my results are not consistent with evidence from a sample of European cities. In addition, they argue that my paper relies too heavily on the monocentric land-use model to generate results. In this reply, I provide further evidence that my estimates are reasonable and do not rely in any way on monocentricity. Further, I show that Cox, Gordon, and Redfearn’s analysis of European data is insufficient to conclude that a causal relationship between highway construction and population decentralization does not exist for European cities.
Classification-JEL: R12, R40
Keywords: Suburbanization,depopulation,central cities,highway impacts
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 46-50
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/176/2008-01-baumsnow-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/253
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:46-50
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Richard Jong-A-Pin
Author-Name: Jakob De Haan
Title: Growth Accelerations and Regime Changes: A Correction
Abstract: Hausmann, Pritchett, and Rodrik (2005) found that a political regime change increases the probability of an economic growth acceleration. When we tried to replicate their results we discovered that these authors were led astray by a datadescription error in the Polity IV manual. When we correct for the error and stick to the Polity IV definition of regime change, we find that regime changes do not affect the likelihood that a growth acceleration occurs. We also find some evidence that economic liberalization increases the probability of a growth acceleration (sustained or otherwise).
Classification-JEL: O17, O11
Keywords: economic growth,growth accelerations,regime changes
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 51-58
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/190/2008-01-pinhaan-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/260
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:51-58
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Paul Trampe
Title: The EITC Disincentive: A Reply to Dr. Hilary Hoynes
Abstract: In the September issue Dr. Hilary Hoynes replies to my paper “The EITC Disincentive: The Effect on Hours Worked of the Phase-out of the Earned Income Tax Credit.” She criticizes my remarks about a figure in Eissa and Hoynes 2005, my downplaying the income effect and my not including a control variable in my own investigation. I reply to the substantial criticisms.
Classification-JEL: I38, H3
Keywords: Earned Income,Marginal Tax Rate,Phase-out,Phase-in,Plateau Region,Disincentive,Workforce Participation,Assistance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 59-65
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/192/2008-01-trampe-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/261
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:59-65
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeremy Bentham
Title: Gulphs in Mankind’s Career of Prosperity: A Critique of Adam Smith on Interest Rate Restrictions
Abstract: This a selection from Jeremy Bentham’s Defence of Usury (1787), a classic critique of Adam Smith’s endorsement of legal maximum rate of interest. Bentham’s main point against the restriction is that “projectors” generate positive externalities. The extract offers economic argumentation involving social embeddedness, asymmetric interpretation, imagination, error and correction, discovery, local knowledge, learning by doing, experimentation and selection, human folly and delusion, critical discussion as a means of testing commercial interpretations and selecting judgments, distinction and demonstration of genius and courage, as opposed to profits, being a motivator of commercial success, the distinction between voluntary and coercive action, and the moral and cultural merits of liberty.
Classification-JEL: K2, B1, B3, D2
Keywords: usury,interest,projectors,prodigals,Adam Smith,Jeremy Bentham
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 66-77
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/178/2008-01-bentham-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/254
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:66-77
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip R. P. Coelho
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Title: The Market for Lemmas: Evidence that Complex Models Rarely Operate in Our World
Abstract: The market for models whose mathematical proofs are so lengthy and complex as to call for the delineation of intermediate steps with lemmas (Lemma 1, Lemma 2, etc.) expanded remarkably in prominent economic journals during the final four decades of the 20th century. However, Alfred Marshall, Paul Samuelson, and Donald Gordon explained that the worthiness of long chains of analytic reasoning depends critically on the stability or durability of the relations involved; in economic relations, the soundness of long chains are subject to “radioactive decay,” to use Samuelson’s phrase. Here we draw on this insight and provide evidence that: (1) there has been remarkable growth in the frequency of articles with lemmas published in some top general-interest journals; (2) a sample of 12 lemma-heavy articles in Journal of Economic Theory have resulted in very few operational statements; (3) articles that citied the lemma-heavy articles have generated few operational statements; (4) lemmas are rare among the most-cited articles that appeared in the top general interest journals; and (5) true to the point about “radioactive decay,” most-cited articles with lemmas are more likely to be on statistical/econometric analytics than economic analytics.
Classification-JEL: A11, B40, C00, C10, C59
Keywords: Mathematical Complexity,Operationalism,Evidence,Lemma
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 78-90
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/180/2008-01-coelhomcclure-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/255
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:78-90
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert S. Goldfarb
Author-Name: Jon Ratner
Title: “Theory” and “Models”: Terminology Through the Looking Glass
Abstract: Klein and Romero’s (2007, Econ Journal Watch) use of the terms “theory” and “model” seems at considerable variance from other common uses, suggesting that divergent usage by economist-authors may confront readers with substantial ambiguity. Clarity and understanding can be enhanced by sorting out the competing uses of these terms. This paper first sets forth and examines Klein-Romero’s use of “theory” and “model”. Second, it compares their usage with several quite different if not antithetical examples in the literature. Third, it provides a tentative classification scheme of model-types to capture the range of usages of this term in economics. Our thesis is that the terms “theory” and “model” are incapable of carrying the diverse characteristics different economists ascribe to them. Descriptive clarity may require more than just two terms. Our classificatory scheme tries to shed light on this possibility, at least for models.
Classification-JEL: B4
Keywords: models,model building,theory,explanation,explanandum,story telling,relevance,importance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 91-108
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/182/2008-01-coldfarbratner-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/256
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:91-108
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Harika Anna Barlett
Title: Left Out: A Critique of Paul Krugman Based on a Comprehensive Account of His New York Times Columns, 1997 through 2006
Abstract: We have made a complete review of Krugman’s New York Times columns 1997 through 2006—in all, 654 columns. The pattern of policy positions and arguments do not square with his purported concern for general prosperity and the interests of the poor. Some of the evidence lies in statements made. But the more important evidence lies in patterns of statements not made. Because Krugman assumes the role of addressing the most important things, because our account is comprehensive, and because the omissions are flagrant, we may treat omissions as evidence of Krugman’s ideological character and sensibilities. Krugman is best interpreted as a committed social democrat and Democratic partisan. Our main contention is that his social-democratic bent sometimes trumps people’s interests, notably poor people’s interests. The tension surfaces in what Krugman has written about immigration and the threat it poses to the US welfare state. But the tension is found in his writings on several topics, and, importantly, in omissions in his writings. Krugman has only rarely come out against extant government interventions, even ones that expert economists seem to agree are bad, especially for the poor. If Krugman would admit that, to some extent, he is ready to sacrifice poor people’s interests for the sake of advancing social-democratic values, then he has to admit conflict between relevant values and give up posturing to the effect that he has been a voice of unbiased research and has stood above any ideological interpretation of public affairs.
Classification-JEL: A11, A13
Keywords: Paul Krugman,ideology,intervention,liberalization,social democracy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 109-133
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/306/ejw_ci_jan08_kleinbarlett.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/403
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:109-133
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Harika Anna Barlett
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Taking Stock of Paul Krugman’s 654 _New York Times_ Columns, 1997 through 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: I-XLV
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/350/ejw_ap2_jan08_kleinbartlett.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/642
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:5:y:2008:i:1:p:I-XLV
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Sounds of Silence
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages:
Volume:
Issue:
Year: 2008
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/382/SoundsofSilenceJanuary2008.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/401
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v::y:2008:i::p:
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents September 2007
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/338/ejw_toc_sep07.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/388
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David R. Henderson
Title: Smoking in Restaurants: Who Best to Set the House Rules?
Abstract: Alamar and Glantz interpret smoking in restaurants as a market failure, and they claim that restaurants should welcome government laws that disallow smoking in all restaurants. Contrary to their claims, restaurant owners do have an incentive to eliminate smoking if doing so raises the value of their restaurants. In restaurants, smokers do not impose negative externalities on non-smokers because restaurant owners have well-defined property rights that cause them to internalize the costs and benefits of smoking. Alamar and Glantz claim to show that non-smoking ordinances increase the capital value of restaurants, but their own data do not, in fact, show that. Finally, if it were true that eliminating smoking in restaurants raises the value of restaurants, then the proper approach would be, not to coerce restaurant owners, but to inform them of that fact.
Classification-JEL: C10, D62, H23, J83, K32, L51
Keywords: Smoking,smoke-free,externalities,restaurants
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 284-291
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/164/2007-09-henderson-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/247
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:284-291
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Benjamin C. Alamar
Author-Name: Stanton A. Glantz
Title: Smoking in Restaurants: A Reply to David Henderson
Abstract: “Smoking in Restaurants: Who Best Sets the House Rules?” by David Henderson, Econ Journal Watch 4(3), is a comment on our paper “Smokefree Laws Increase Restaurant Values,” Contemporary Economic Policy 22(4). Henderson asserts that restaurant owners can internalize all of the costs related to second hand smoke. There is, however, no mechanism by which a restaurant owner can compensate a patron for any health costs related to second hand smoke, therefore it is not possible for the owner to have completely internalized the costs of the externality imposed by the smoker. Henderson also notes that because we use a ratio (the dependent variable was the Price to Sales ratio (P/S)), the positive effect we found could just as easily come from a reduction in sales as an increase in price. This statement demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the previous literature that has repeatedly found either no or positive effect on sales associated with smokefree laws.
Classification-JEL: C10, D62, H23, J83, K32, L51
Keywords: Smoking,smoke-free,externalities,restaurants
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 292-295
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/158/2007-09-alamarglantz-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/244
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:292-295
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Gary Richardson
Title: Deposit Insurance and Moral Hazard: Capital, Risk, Malfeasance, and Mismanagement
Abstract: Hooks and Robinson (2002) argue that deposit insurance in Texas during the 1920s induced banks to invest in riskier assets. Their regressions indicate that this manifestation of moral hazard may explain some of what happened, but not all. Some other mechanism, hitherto overlooked, must also have been at work. A more complete interpretation of what happened recognizes that deposit insurance induced moral hazard of many types. Depositors grew lax in monitoring the safety and soundness of banks. Bankers took advantage of the lack of supervision and advanced their own interests – via malfeasance or mismanagement – at depositors’ expense. Bankers reduced reserve holdings and operated with lower levels of capital. All of these manifestations of moral hazard are consistent with the Hooks’ and Robinson’s regressions. Data drawn from the archives of the Board of Governors highlights the role of malfeasance and mismanagement. In sum, many manifestations of moral hazard afflicted banks in Texas during the 1920s.
Classification-JEL: E58, G2, G3, N2, N22
Keywords: Deposit insurance,moral hazard,defalcation,mismanagement,bank failure
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 296-302
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/172/2007-09-richardson-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/251
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:296-302
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Linda M. Hooks
Author-Name: Kenneth J. Robinson
Title: Quantifying Moral Hazard: A Reply to Gary Richardson
Abstract: In his comment on our 2002 Journal of Economic History paper, Gary Richardson (2007) proposes that our work specifies moral hazard too narrowly. Richardson posits that fixed-rate deposit insurance leads to moral hazard which takes many forms. These include not only the usual notion of risk-taking in the asset portfolio, but also mismanagement, malfeasance, and reduced incentives for depositor monitoring. We agree with his hypothesis and offer some evidence in support of additional avenues for moral hazard to have played a role in the activities of Texas banks in the 1920s.
Classification-JEL: E58, G2, G3, N2, N22
Keywords: Deposit insurance,moral hazard,defalcation,mismanagement,bank failure
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 303-307
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/166/2007-09-hooksrobinson-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/248
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:303-307
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Paul Trampe
Title: The EITC Disincentive: The Effects on Hours Worked from the Phase-out of the Earned Income Tax Credit
Abstract: This paper examines the effect on hours worked of the income-based phase-out of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It discusses earlier literature on the subject. While the effects on labor force participation of EITC have been thoroughly studied, producing a consensus that the program encourages participation particularly among single women with children, the effect on hours has taken a back seat in most studies. Those who have studied the issue have generally found no effect. A number of those studies, however, were based on a population defined too broadly to indicate anything meaningful for the EITC population, while others seemed to overlook facets of their own data. I include a multiple regression using Current Population Survey Data cases in which family income corresponds to the phase-out range of EITC. Only in the phase-out range – as beneficiaries lose part of their benefits as a percentage of income above the threshold amount – would we expect a negative effect on hours worked. My results show a small negative effect on hours worked for the population in the phase-out range.
Classification-JEL: I38, H3
Keywords: Earned Income,Marginal Tax Rate,Phase-out,Phase-in,Plateau region,Disincentive,Workforce Participation,Assistance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 308-320
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/174/2007-09-trampe-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/252
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:308-320
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Hilary Hoynes
Title: The EITC Disincentive: A Reply to Paul Trampe
Abstract: In this reply to Paul Trampe’s comment, “The EITC Disincentive: The Effects on Hours Worked from the Phase-Out of the Earned Income Tax Credit,” Econ Journal Watch 4(3): 308-320, I discuss several omissions, errors in interpretation, and problems with his empirical analysis.
Classification-JEL: I38, H3
Keywords: Earned Income,Marginal Tax Rate,Phase-out,Phase-in,Plateau region,Disincentive,Workforce Participation,Assistance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 321-325
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/168/2007-09-hoynes-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/249
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:321-325
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: B. D. McCullough
Title: Got Replicability? The _Journal of Money, Credit and Banking_ Archive
Abstract: In a paper published in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, McGeary, Harrison, and I showed that the JMCB’s data+code archive of generally did not support the replication of the journal’s published results. We recommended several procedures for ensuring that the archived data and code would reproduce the published results. The JMCB Editors recently adopted a few new procedures, ignoring most of the recommendations. This paper checks to see whether the new procedures are working. They are not.
Classification-JEL: B4, C8
Keywords: code,data,replication,reproducible research
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 326-337
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/170/2007-09-mccullough-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/250
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:326-337
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Arthur M. Diamond, Jr.
Title: Thriving at Amazon: How Schumpeter Lives in Books Today
Abstract: Amazon.com’s “Search Inside the Book” feature provides a new and exciting tool for bibliometric research. Over the last few years, a growing number of books listed on Amazon. com reference Schumpeter in some way. As of May 3, 2007, Amazon listed 8,086 books that in some way refer to Schumpeter. Of these, I currently have names and titles of 3,719 books in the Schumpeter Amazon database. Of these, I have done content-analysis for 1,176 books that make reference to Schumpeter. The main result is that a significant number of the references to Schumpeter are related to creative destruction. The percent of Schumpeter-references where the reference is related to creative destruction is significantly higher for books on business than books on economics. I believe this is a case where market demand reflects intellectual value, even if academic economics has not done much to incorporate Schumpeter’s central ideas
Classification-JEL: A11, B25, O30
Keywords: Schumpeter,creative destruction,bibliometrics,technology,growth,productivity
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 338-344
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/160/2007-09-diamond-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/245
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:338-344
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Editors
Title: Economists Against Smoot-Hawley
Abstract: In 1930, 1028 economists of diverse stripes joined in protest of impending trade restrictions. Here we reproduce Paul Douglas’s memoir, Frank W. Fetter’s account (originally published in the American Economic Review), and the petition and list of signatories as printed in the Congressional Record, 1930.
Classification-JEL: F10, F13
Keywords: Trade,tariffs,protection,Smoot-Hawley
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 345-358
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/162/2007-09-editorsfetter-char_issue.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/246
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:345-358
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence September 2007
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 359-360
Volume: 4
Issue: 3
Year: 2007
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/305/ejw_cor_sep07.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/377
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:3:p:359-360
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents May 2007
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/334/ejw_toc_may07.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/389
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Editors
Title: Symposium Introduction: Trailblazers Too Lightly Mentioned?
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 168
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/346/SymposiumIntroductionMay2007.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/363
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:168
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Charles B. Blankart
Author-Name: Gerrit B. Koester
Title: The Economic Analysis of Constitutions: Fatalism Versus Vitalism
Abstract: We review the claim that the field of political economy has witnessed a quantum leap with Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini´s The Economic Effects of Constitutions. We find that the approach of Persson and Tabellini suffers from the neglect of previous research, notably in public choice tradition, a lack of a meaningful point of reference, and the disregard of individual liberty as a guiding principle. Their approach has only limited
value for formulating, exploring, and judging institutional reforms, particularly reforms outside narrow bounds around the status quo of the liberal democracies.
Classification-JEL: H0, H1
Keywords: Positive political economy,constitutional political economy,constitutional choice,general economic theory,public choice
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 169-183
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/145/2007-05-blankartkoester-sympos.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/237
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:169-183
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: John W. Dawson
Title: The Empirical Institutions-Growth Literature: Is Something Amiss at the Top?
Abstract: The initial publication of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index prompted an explosion of empirical research on the institutions-growth relationship. To date, little of this research has appeared in the top economics journals. Subsequently, a number of empirical growth studies using alternative sources of data on institutions have appeared in top journals. This paper explores the two tracks of empirical research on the institutions-growth relationship—one track that recognizes all the relevant literature, and one that seems wanting in that respect.
Classification-JEL: O47, P5
Keywords: Institutions,economic freedom,economic growth
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 184-196
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/149/2007-05-dawson-sympos.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/239
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:184-196
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ian Vasquez
Title: Peter Bauer: Blazing the Trail of Development
Abstract: Peter Bauer was a pioneer in development economics and his contributions to the field have been vindicated by the collapse of central planning. Through most of his career, however, Bauer was marginalized by the economics profession. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, economists frequently neglect Bauer’s work. Two survey articles on trade and development by Anne Krueger are presented as examples of that neglect. Bauer’s emphasis on choice, his interdisciplinary methodology, and his criticism of excessive reliance on formal analysis may help explain the neglect of Bauer even among those who arrive at the same insights and general policy prescriptions.
Classification-JEL: O1, O2, O4, B31
Keywords: Economic development,trade,growth,economic history
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 197-212
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/290/ejw_sym_may07_vasquez.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/243
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:197-212
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Pedro P. Romero
Title: Model Building versus Theorizing: The Paucity of Theory in the _Journal of Economic Theory_
Abstract: Drawing on the work of people with strong mainstream reputations, we distinguish model and theory. We argue that a model may qualify as theory only if it purports to answer three questions: Theory of what?, Why should we care?, What merit in your explanation? We examine the 66 regular articles appearing in the 2004 issues of Journal of Economic Theory—“the leading journal in economic theory” —and apply the three requirements. We make the assessment accountable by formulating six subtests and recording our scores in a detailed spreadsheet linked as an appendix; anyone may spot-check the spreadsheet to see if an article was scored unfairly. We find that 27 articles fail the first test (Theory of what?) and 58 articles fail at least one of the three requirements. Thus, 88 percent of the articles do not qualify as theory. (The “pass” rates would be even lower if one were to exclude the special issue, and if one were to include the short notes.) We contend that the journal’s claim to scientific status is doubtful, as well as the very title of the journal. A truer title would be, Journal of Economic Model Building. More generally, we challenge calling model building “theory.”
Classification-JEL: B4, C7
Keywords: models,model building,theory,explanation,explanandum,story telling,relevance,importance
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 241-271
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/151/2007-05-kleinromero-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/240
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:241-271
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Henrik Lindberg
Title: The Role of Economists in Liberalizing Swedish Agriculture
Abstract: I examine the process that led to major reforms in agriculture in Sweden, culminating in 1990. Economists were largely responsible for putting the issue on the agenda. Using a public choice perspective, they reformulated the debate. Who benefited, who paid, and what were the true costs? The reformulation illuminated an “iron triangle”—farmers and their interest organizations, politicians, and the bureaucracy. When the new policy coalition gained the initiative, connections and support from the Ministry of Finance were critical, and led to a new will reaching the Prime Minister and finally into the bureaucracy itself, the Ministry of Agriculture. Economists and others overcame the iron triangle. Enlightened discourse played no small role in overcoming resistance.
Classification-JEL: Q18, Q58
Keywords: Agriculture,policy reform,Sweden,policy coalition,idea,carriers,Public Choice,economists,iron triangle,liberalization
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 213-229
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/153/2007-05-lindberg-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/241
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:213-229
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel Sutter
Author-Name: Rex Pjesky
Title: Where Would Adam Smith Publish Today? The Near Absence of Math-free Research in Top Journals
Abstract: Using papers published in 2003 and 2004, we measure the extent of math-free research in top economics journals. Of more than 1200 papers published in ten top journals, six percent met a weak criterion of math-free, three percent an intermediate criterion, and only 1.5 percent a strong criterion. General interest journals published more math-free papers than field journals. If Adam Smith were alive today, to survive he would in all likelihood need to learn math. His extensive mastery of literature, history, ethics, and rhetoric would ill-serve his career.
Classification-JEL: B41, C0
Keywords: Economic methodology,technical research,model building,regression analysis
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 230-240
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/155/2007-05-sutterpjesky-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/242
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:230-240
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel J. D'Amico
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: The Internet and the Structure of Discourse: The Websites of Economists at Harvard and George Mason
Abstract: We investigate the websites of economists at Harvard University and George Mason University. We draw a contrast between the two departments by using Robert Nelson’s distinction between the “scholastic” and the “pietistic” approaches to knowledge and discourse. Scholasticism is hierarchical in structure and tends to produce work that is inaccessible to lay readers. Pietism is “flat” in structure and strives to communicate directly with lay readers. The Internet enables economic discourse in the “pietistic” vein, notably direct communication with the “laity” and other forms of public discourse. From the economists’ material found online, we count and compare publications of various types and the online availability of listed works. The data help to characterize Harvard as relatively scholastic and GMU as relatively pietistic. Our intention is not to criticize Harvard for being too scholastic, nor to celebrate George Mason (our home institution) for being pietistic. Our motivations are simply to advance some ideas about how the Internet might affect economic discourse and to suggest that the extent and forms of web utilization serve as a kind of metric on the scholastic-pietistic continuum.
Classification-JEL: A2
Keywords: Internet,Websites,Economics,Faculty,Harvard University,George Mason University
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 272-283
Volume: 4
Issue: 2
Year: 2007
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/147/2007-05-damicoklein-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/238
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:2:p:272-283
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents January 2007
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/330/ejw_toc_jan07.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/390
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: In Memorium: Milton Friedman
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 2
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/347/FriedmanMemoriamJanuary2007.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/364
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:2
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Christopher J. Coyne
Author-Name: Steve Davies
Title: Empire: Public Goods and Bads
Abstract: Theodore Roosevelt used the US military to create what he called “civilized societies.” A growing literature focuses on the economic benefits of empires, benefits sometimes referred to as “global public goods”. Some authors, such as Mitchener and Weidenmier (2005) and Ferguson and Schularick (2006), neglect the associated public bads. This paper highlights the potential public bads. We formulate the leading public bads. We explore the public bads in the context explored by Mitchener and Weidenmier, namely, the Roosevelt Corollary and Latin America. Our discussion also moves to the broader plane, suggesting that the Roosevelt Corollary set a precedent for subsequent US military interventions around the world. We use the ratings of political institutions issued by the well-known Polity IV index to further support a skeptical view of imperial public good provision.
Classification-JEL: N40, N46, P11
Keywords: empire,imperialism,global public goods,global public bads,Roosevelt Corollary
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 3-45
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/134/2007-01-coynedavies-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/231
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:3-45
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeffreys Rogers Hummel
Title: Death and Taxes, Including Inflation: the Public versus Economists
Abstract: Inflation worries the general public much more than it does the economics profession, and economists remain perplexed as to exactly why. The costs that concern economists are inflation’s deadweight loss. But that is only a part of the losses that concern the public, because inflation simultaneously transfers some of people’s income into the hands of government. The fact that the seigniorage tax may pay for programs they favor is a separate issue. Moreover, unlike income and other taxes, which people in democratic countries may think they have some control over through voting, seigniorage appears utterly arbitrary. In fact, people can be aware of the fall in their real cash balances without realizing at all that government gains. Admittedly the magnitude of this tax is low in developed countries like the United States, even when inflation hits double digits. But that hardly justifies indifference to dollars that inflation takes from the public and gives to the government. The public may still overestimate the costs of inflation after including their losses through the seigniorage transfer. Yet macroeconomists are guilty of overlooking the public’s dislike for this implicit tax.
Classification-JEL: E31, E42, E52, E60, H21, H60
Keywords: inflation,deadweight loss,deficit,money,national debt,seigniorage,taxation,velocity
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 46-59
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/139/2007-01-hummel-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/234
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:46-59
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lee C. Spector
Author-Name: T. Norman Van Cott
Title: Textbooks and Pure Fiscal Policy: The Neglect of Monetary Basics
Abstract: Pure fiscal actions—fiscal actions that leave the money supply unchanged—cannot alter aggregate demand without concomitant support from the monetary sector. At the initial level of output, either the demand for money or the quantity of money demanded must change appropriately. Alternatively, since money demand and money velocity are two sides of the same coin (no pun intended), the velocity of money at the initial level of output must change exogenously or endogenously. Otherwise, aggregate demand is unchanged. This unassailable monetary proposition is consistently ignored in current macro-monetary textbook literature. These authors argue that the monetary sector moderates the expansionary/contractionary thrust of pure fiscal actions, whereas arguments grounded in monetary basics would claim that the monetary sector is the source of whatever expansion/contraction occurs. One must go back upwards of thirty years to find textbook authors correctly incorporating monetary basics in their analysis of pure fiscal actions.
Classification-JEL: A22, E4, E62
Keywords: Pure fiscal policy,monetary basics,IS-LM
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 60-70
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/143/2007-01-spectorcott-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/236
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:60-70
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Julio H. Cole
Author-Name: Robert A. Lawson
Title: Handling Economic Freedom in Growth Regressions: Suggestions for Clarification
Abstract: A RECENT EXCHANGE BETWEEN LAWSON (2006) AND DE HAAN and Sturm (2006) highlights an important methodological issue in empirical studies of the connection between economic freedom (EF) and economic growth.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 71-78
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/133/2007-01-colelawson-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/230
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:71-78
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jakob De Haan
Author-Name: Jan-Egbert Sturm
Title: Handling Economic Freedom in Growth Regressions: A Reply to Cole and Lawson
Abstract: COLE AND LAWSON (2007) STATE THAT “EQUATION (1) IS Lawson’s preferred specification, while de Haan et al. favor Equation (4).” That is not an appropriate summary of our position, however. We do not have a preference for Equation (4). In our papers on the relationship between economic freedom and economic performance we have always estimated Equations (3) and (4), using the Extreme Bounds Analysis to test whether (the level or the change in) the Fraser index is robustly related to economic growth. Our results are that the level of economic freedom is not robustly related to growth, in contrast to the change of the economic freedom. In our reply (De Haan and Sturm 2006) to Lawson (2006), we explain that the main reason that we do not consider Equation (1) a proper specification is that Equation (1) is equivalent to Equation (2). All sides in the debate seem to agree that Equation (2) is definitely not a good model as there is a serious problem of endogeneity of one of the right-hand side variables (i.e. EF1).
Classification-JEL: n/a
Keywords: n/a
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 79-82
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/138/2007-01-haansturm-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/233
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:79-82
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Matthew Gunter
Title: Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Household and Municipal Recycling?
Abstract: Do economists reach a conclusion on household and municipal recycling? I explore the policy judgments of published economists on recycling and find that there is no broad consensus. The mainstream recycling literature is dominated by a guided-market approach; taxes and subsidies are advocated to correct for market failures. There are two less popular but still significant approaches: a minimal government laissez faire approach and a command and control regulatory approach. Laissez faire economists advocate little or no government intervention in recycling and waste management markets. Command and control economists usually advocate mandatory recycling and regulation. The paper concludes with a brief critique of the interventionist policies.
Classification-JEL: Q53, Q58, B41
Keywords: Recycling,solid waste,economists,methodology of economics,property rights
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 83-111
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/136/2007-01-gunter-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/232
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:83-111
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Edwin Cannan
Title: The Practical Utility of Economic Science
Abstract: In this presidential address published in 1902, Edwin Cannan affirms political economy as a vital cultural project. The central lessons to be imparted to society at large concern the principles upon which millions cooperate in creating wealth. He touches on international trade, housing, urban form, labor, distribution, justice, and national jealousy.
Classification-JEL: A0, A1, A2, B0
Keywords: political economy,economics,cooperation,wealth
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 112-124
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/131/2007-01-cannan-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/229
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:112-124
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Stewart Dompe
Title: Reasons for Supporting the Minimum Wage: Asking Signatories of the “Raise the Minimum Wage” Statement
Abstract: In October 2006, the Economic Policy Institute released a “Raise the Minimum Wage” statement signed by more than 650 individuals. Using an open-ended, non-anonymous questionnaire, we asked the signatories to explain their thinking on the issue. The questionnaire asked about the specific mechanisms at work, possible downsides, and whether the minimum wage violates liberty. Ninety-five participated. This article reports the responses. It also summarizes findings from minimum-wage surveys since 1976.
Classification-JEL: J0, J3
Keywords: minimum wage,disemployment,non-wage job attributes,questionnaire,survey,liberty,monopsony
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 125-167
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Year: 2007
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/141/2007-01-kleindompe-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/235
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:4:y:2007:i:1:p:125-167
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents September 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/337/ejw_toc_sep06.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/391
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert A. Lawson
Title: On Testing the Connection between Economic Freedom and Growth
Abstract: Jakob De Haan, Susanna Lundström, and Jan-Egbert Sturm have written a valuable survey of the literature that uses the Gwartney and Lawson economic freedom (EFW) index. Their discussion of the index’s theoretical underpinnings and methodological ins and outs itself should be useful to scholars interested in the field. While DLS accurately describe the mechanics of the construction of the EFW index and the econometric literature that has found a link between economic freedom and economic growth, I find myself in disagreement with some of their commentary. This reply in part will address these issues.
Classification-JEL: H0, O17, O47, P0
Keywords: Economic Freedom; Economic Growth; Liberalization
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 398-406
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/128/2006-09-lawson-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/227
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:398-406
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jakob De Haan
Author-Name: Jan-Egbert Sturm
Title: How to Handle Economic Freedom: Reply to Lawson
Abstract: IN HIS COMMENT ON THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM SURVEY ARTICLE we wrote with Susanna Lundström (De Haan et al. 2006), Lawson (2006) criticizes five elements of our article: 1.Our use of the term “zealots.” 2.Our remarks on the role of government in the construction of the economic freedom index. 3.Our discussion of the composition of the economic freedom index. 4.Our criticism of empirical growth models that include both the level and the change in economic freedom. 5.Our endorsement of a modeling approach wherein researchers run many specifications
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 407-411
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/123/2006-09-haansturm-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/224
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:407-411
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Andrew Kashdan
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Assume the Positional: Comment on Robert Frank
Abstract: We examine Robert Frank’s arguments for taxation to mitigate positional externalities. The scarcity that characterizes positional goods is real, but various mechanisms reduce the potential waste, and Frank overstates the case for a governmental solution. The plausibility of Frank’s arguments for extensive market failure requires various assumptions, including the usefulness of happiness comparisons over time, the widespread existence of winner-take-all markets, the failure of voluntary evolution to internalize externalities, and that both “leisure” and governmental activities are significantly less positional than the full-range of activities Frank proposes to tax. Each assumption is shaky. Frank’s policy solutions overlook standard public choice arguments against government expansion and shrug off the Smithian burden of proof incumbent on those proposing coercion.
Classification-JEL: D31, D61, D62, D63
Keywords: Positional goods,positional arms race,leisure,taxation,happiness
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 412-434
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/124/2006-09-kashdanklein-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/225
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:412-434
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert H. Frank
Title: Taking Libertarian Concerns Seriously: Reply to Kashdan and Klein
Abstract: I WANT TO BEGIN BY OFFERING MY SINCERE THANKS TO Andrew Kashdan and Daniel Klein for their spirited critique of my work. They have read me carefully and raised many important questions. But before responding to them in detail, I want to say something about what they perceive as my shortage of “libertarian sensibilities about politics, government, and society.”
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 435-451
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/121/2006-09-frank-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/222
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:435-451
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Andreas Bergh
Title: Work Incentives and Employment are the Wrong Explanation of Sweden’s Success
Abstract: IN HIS RESPONSE TO MY COMMENT (BERGH 2006), LINDERT insinuates repeatedly that my criticisms of his book are little more than ideological bias. In this response, I will try even harder to recur to the facts. Still my conclusion is that Lindert is wrong about work incentives and employment in Sweden. To explain the so called free-lunch puzzle, we probably need to look closer at institutional quality and economic freedom.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 452-460
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/118/2006-09-bergh-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/220
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:452-460
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Peter H. Lindert
Title: Second Reply to Bergh
Abstract: I AM PLEASED THAT IN HIS SECOND COMMENT ANDREAS BERGH (2006b) has decided to “try even harder to recur to the facts,” and agrees that on the key econometric front our “actual disagreement is very small” (pp. 452, 453). He also now reveals that he is “in fact rather friendly to the welfare state.” We seem to have achieved some convergence.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 461-465
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/130/2006-09-lindert-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/228
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:461-465
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Michael J. Clark
Title: A Little More Liberty: What the _JEL_ Omits in Its Account of What the Economic Report of the President Omits
Abstract: The classical liberal character of economics emerged in the eighteenth century, notably with Adam Smith’s view that politics is prone to an under-appreciation the relative virtues of natural liberty. Smith centered political economy on the presumption of liberty. The Journal of Economic Literature published a review of The Economic Report of the President. Five authors writing separately raised numerous omissions in The Economic Report of the President. The authors do not suggest as worthy reform a single ERP-omitted potential liberalization. The review shows little trace of the Smithian character.
Classification-JEL: A11, H11
Keywords: Economic Report of the President,Journal of Economic Literature,public policy,omission,status quo,presumption of liberty
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 466-483
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/126/2006-09-kleinclark-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/226
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:466-483
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Farley Grubb
Title: Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Money: A Reply to Michener and Wright—Yet Again
Abstract: MICHENER AND WRIGHT (2006C) REPEAT THEIR AD HOMINEM attack on me—repeat in that they offer little that is new or original. They simply rearrange and re-cloth their prior material and present it again.1 Much of their rearrangement consists of rhetorical games—clever attempts to mislead the reader without being de jure dishonest. As in my past replies (Grubb 2005, 2006a), I will present new research—crafted here to reveal
Michener and Wright’s attacks yet again for what they really are.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 484-510
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/122/2006-09-grubb-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/223
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:484-510
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Benny Carlson
Author-Name: Lars Jonung
Title: Knut Wicksell, Gustav Cassel, Eli Heckscher, Bertil Ohlin and Gunnar Myrdal on the Role of the Economist in Public Debate
Abstract: In Swedish public debate, economists have been more influential than any other category of social scientists. We examine the views of five great Swedish economists on the role of the university economist in the public arena. What did they say about scholarly objectivity and value judgements, about political commitment and educating the people? The five economists are Knut Wicksell, Gustav Cassel, Eli Heckscher, Bertil Ohlin and Gunnar Myrdal. Representing two generations and a broad political spectrum, they were immensely productive. They founded Sweden’s tradition of media-tuned university economists strongly involved in the current social issues. More recently, however, academic economists in Sweden have shifted away from that ideal. The future of the old heritage hangs in doubt.
Classification-JEL: B10, B20, B30 and B31
Keywords: Knut Wicksell,Gustav Cassel,Eli Heckscher,Bertil Ohlin,Gunnar Myrdal,public debate,role of economists,Sweden
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 511-550
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/119/2006-09-carlsonjonung-char-issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/221
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:511-550
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ted Balaker
Author-Name: Cecilia Joung Kim
Title: Do Economists Reach a Conclusion On Rail Transit?
Abstract: In the United States, the public debate over urban rail projects is complicated by the lack of agreement on goals. Supporters offer a wide variety of justifications to build and expand rail transit. If one focuses on the judgments of economists, the list of justifications shrinks considerably, but we are still left with a bundle of goals. Compared to other justifications, economists appear to be somewhat optimistic about rail transit’s impact on local economic development, but less optimistic about rail’s ability to achieve environmental improvement and serve the transit-dependent poor. Economists seem quite pessimistic about rail’s ability to achieve key transportation goals like reducing congestion. Economists often attribute rail’s political success to rent-seeking and romantic political factors. Of those economists who offer a big-picture view, there appears to be wide, though not unanimous, agreement that rail’s costs exceed its benefits. And it seems that almost all economists who write about rail agree that various demographic features, such as suburbanization, the declining influence of central business districts, and increasing wealth will make it increasingly difficult to design successful rail systems.
Classification-JEL: R4, D73, B0
Keywords: rail transit,transportation,economists
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 551-602
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/116/2006-09-balakerkim-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/219
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:551-602
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Meir Kohn
Title: Correspondence September 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 603-604
Volume: 3
Issue: 3
Year: 2006
Month: September
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/304/ejw_cor_sep06.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/378
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:603-604
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents May 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/333/ejw_toc_may06.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/392
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Andreas Bergh
Title: Is the Swedish Welfare State A Free Lunch?
Abstract: In his book _Growing Public_ (Cambridge University Press), Peter H. Lindert argues that the welfare state is a “free lunch”, i.e. has no negative effect on growth, and he uses Sweden to explain this finding, which he calls the free lunch puzzle. In this comment, I claim that Lindert misrepresents Sweden when it comes to work incentives for the poor, employment of women, and employment of the elderly, and that he does not pay sufficient attention to the many reforms undertaken in Sweden since the late 1980s. I conclude by suggesting that the surprising resilience of the Swedish welfare state can be explained by increasing economic freedom.
Classification-JEL: H53, I38
Keywords: Sweden,USA,the welfare state,female employment,work incentives,economic freedom
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 210-235
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/288/ejw_com_may06_bergh.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/329
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:210-235
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Peter H. Lindert
Title: The Welfare State Is the Wrong Target: A Reply to Bergh
Abstract: I AM DELIGHTED TO HAVE THIS CHANCE TO EXPAND ON THE links between social spending and economic growth. Andreas Bergh (2006) raises both small and large concerns that deserve further exploration. Let us go first to the largest issues of scope and methods, then to his specific criticisms of parts of my Growing Public book (hereafter GP) relating to Sweden’s policies toward the poor, toward women’s work, and toward retirement. The final section of this reply invites him and others to re-focus their search for flaws in large government, since the welfare state, as actually practiced, has not become a major flaw. On the contrary, the social transfers that have always defined the welfare state are indeed a “free lunch” in the sense that they have delivered more equality and longer life expectancy at an essentially zero cost in terms of GDP. Rather, it is other forms of legal and governmental interference with markets that are more likely to be anti-growth.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 236-250
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/110/2006-05-lindert-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/214
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:236-250
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ronald W. Michener
Author-Name: Robert E. Wright
Title: Farley Grubb’s Noisy Evasions on Colonial Money: A Rejoinder
Abstract: GRUBB’S RECENT PAPERS (2003, 2004, 2006B) ARE AIMED AT nothing less than rewriting important chapters of early American history. Our goal in both our AER and EJW comments was a negative one, to dissuade readers from accepting Grubb’s views and data. We are humbled by the complexity of the early American monetary system and the meagerness of the available evidence. We nowhere make the blanket claims that Grubb attributes to us, namely, that specie was plentiful, that exchange rates were immutable, or that cross-colony circulation of bills of credit was ubiquitous. Instead, we offer evidence that at some times and places specie was more abundant than Grubb claims, that most colonial exchange rates oscillated within broad specie points, and that bills of credit often circulated in adjacent colonies. And again, we make such claims with one point only in mind, to alert scholars that Grubb’s interpretation is highly suspect.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 251-274
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/113/2006-05-michenerwright-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/216
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:251-274
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert Whaples
Title: The Costs of Critical Commentary in Economics Journals
Abstract: THE BENEFITS OF CRITICAL COMMENTARY ARE MANIFEST. Indeed, all of human understanding depends upon it. Coelho, De Worken-Eley, and McClure (2005) document that critical commentary declined as a share of the pages published in five highly-ranked economics journals between 1963 and 2004. They argue that this decline constitutes a negative trend, chastising journal editors for this mistake, while enumerating several benefits that arise from commentary—especially the discovery and advertisement of errors and limitations, but also allowing readers and researchers to achieve a broader and deeper comprehension, constraining editors’ self-serving behavior, and piquing readers’ interest. They argue that “an editorial posture that eschews critical commentary subjugates the spirit of scientific inquiry,” and suggest that editors’ ignorance of the benefits are at the root the problem (360).
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 275-282
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/115/2006-05-whaples-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/218
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:275-282
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip R. P. Coelho
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Title: Why Has Critical Commentary Been Curtailed at Top Economics Journals? A Reply to Robert Whaples
Abstract: IN OUR ARTICLE WITH FREDERICK DE WORKEN-ELEY III IN THE April 2005 issue of this Journal, we documented the decline in critical commentary (i.e., comments, replies, rejoinders) that occurred between 1963 and 2004 in the top general interest journals in economics. Explaining the decline was not our focus, although we lamented the decline because it makes the journals less valuable as forums for discussion.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 283-291
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/109/2006-05-coelhomcclure-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/213
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:283-291
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robin Lindsey
Title: Do Economists Reach A Conclusion on Road Pricing? The Intellectual History of an Idea
Abstract: My search of the economic literature did not find a soul who favours traffic jams. Moreover, I find strong consensus among economists on how to reduce traffic jams. Especially in light of modern electronic toll collection, they believe in pricing highway capacity as a scarce resource. Beyond that primary insight, however, there is much disagreement. Economists disagree over how to set tolls, how to cover common costs, what to do with any excess revenues, whether and how “losers” from tolling previously free roads should be compensated, and whether to privatize highways. These disagreements fill a lot of pages, while the main point of agreement is largely taken for granted. Practically all economists who write on the matter agree that where there is significant congestion on highways, the price should not be zero.
Classification-JEL: B29, D62, H21, R41, R48
Keywords: Road pricing,tolls,toll collection,toll roads,turnpikes,highways,marginal-cost pricing,traffic congestion,Pigouvian taxes,economists
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 292-379
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/111/2006-05-lindsey-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/215
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:292-379
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip Booth
Title: A List of the 364 Economists Who Objected to Thatcher’s Macro Policy
Abstract: In the previous issue of this journal, Geoffrey Wood wrote of the important 1981 event when 364 economists signed a petition against Thatcher’s macroeconomic policy. Here I offer an appendix listing the signatories. The list includes not only the most eminent economists at the time, but also many people who play a major role in public life today—including the Governor of the Bank of England and one other member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Indeed, perhaps surprisingly, the signatories include a number of economists who are now Institute of Economic Affairs authors or members of the IEA Academic Advisory Council.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 380-392
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/108/2006-05-booth-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/212
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:380-392
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Richard H. Timberlake
Title: Reply to Hortlund’s “Defense of the Real Bills Doctrine"
Abstract: IN A CRITIQUE OF MY PAPER ON “GOLD STANDARDS AND THE Real Bills Doctrine in U.S. Monetary Policy” that appeared in Econ Journal Watch (August 2005), Per Hortlund has raised several interesting issues about the Real Bills Doctrine (RBD). As Hortlund observes, my article had two major themes, first, the innocence of the gold standard for the monetary infelicities that caused the Great Contraction of 1929-1933, and, second, the culpability of the RBD for the debacle. Hortlund accepts my defense of the gold standard. However, he finds some arguments to support a case for the RBD, and he raises an important issue concerning the substance of the RBD and its implementation as policy during 1929-1933, part of which I thoroughly accept.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 393-397
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Year: 2006
Month: May
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/114/2006-05-timberlake-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/217
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:2:p:393-397
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents January 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/329/ejw_toc_jan06.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/393
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Foreword: Editor's Report January 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1-3
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/420/ForewordJanuary2006.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/400
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:1-3
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ronald W. Michener
Author-Name: Robert E. Wright
Title: Miscounting Money of Colonial America
Abstract: Farley Grubb has developed an ambitious new money-stock time series for colonial Pennsylvania that uses the ingenious method of examining newspaper advertisements promising rewards (e.g., for help in catching runaway slaves) to estimate monies in circulation (Grubb 2004). Grubb asserts that promises of reward payments in “pounds” refer to bills of credit. We contest his interpretation, arguing that “pounds” denotes merely a unit of account. Similarly, ads promising “dollars” cannot be taken to refer to silver coins. Grubb mistakes the mention of a unit of account for the specification of a medium of exchange. We also show that Grubb’s methods are riddled with misinterpretations and inconsistencies, some of which arise from rather serious errors in basic scholarship. For example, Grubb denies that bills of credit readily passed current across the Middle Colonies, although it is a well-established fact. To concede it, however, would upset both his colony-level money supply estimates and his argument that the Constitutional ban on state-issued paper money had nothing to do with seigniorage. Grubb’s time series differs significantly from spot estimates of the money supply arrived at using methods that Grubb himself champions elsewhere, as well as estimates based on archival data.
Classification-JEL: N110, N210, N410, E590
Keywords: money supply,specie,paper money,bills of credit,Pennsylvania,Maryland,Delaware,New Jersey,New York,colonial American history
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 4-44
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/101/2006-01-michenerwright-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/208
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:4-44
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Farley Grubb
Title: Theory, Evidence, and Belief— The Colonial Money Puzzle Revisited: Reply to Michener and Wright
Abstract: Econ Journal Watch contacted me for the first time about this exchange just one month before this appears. I had about two weeks to write this reply such that it would appear along with the Michener and Wright comment published here, rather than in the subsequent issue. Because I believe for readers’ sake that authors should reply and should follow hard on the heels of their attackers, I have had to work in sudden haste. I apologize in advance for the reply’s rough and unpolished hue.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 45-72
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/95/2006-01-grubb-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/204
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:45-72
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Per Hortlund
Title: In Defense of the Real Bills Doctrine
Abstract: For over seventy years, the question of what caused the Great Depression in the United States (1929–1933) has been one of the most debated economic issues. Since Friedman and Schwartz (1963), the cause has prominently been attributed to monetary mismanagement by the Fed, which let the money stock contract and thus failed to act as a lender of last resort. Recently, some authors have seen this contraction as a necessary consequence of the gold standard, which “fettered” the Fed’s hands making it unable to respond to increased currency demands (Bernanke 1993, Eichengreen 1992 and 2002, Temin 1989 and 1994, Wheelock 1992). In the previous issue of Econ Journal Watch, Richard Timberlake takes issue with this view. In my judgment, Timberlake successfully argues against “golden fetters” and exonerates the gold standard. But there is a secondary aspect of Timberlakes’s article. Timberlake blames the Great Contraction on the Fed’s adherence to the so-called Real Bills Doctrine.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 73-87
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/96/2006-01-hortlund-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/205
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:73-87
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David Altig
Title: Damned If You Do: Comment on Schuler’s Argentina Analysis
Abstract: IN THE PREVIOUS ISSUE OF ECON JOURNAL WATCH, KURT Schuler (2005) surveys the truly painful travails of the Argentine people around the turn of the millennium, and the expert commentary from U.S. economists. Schuler sees messy footprints.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 88-94
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/93/2006-01-altig-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/202
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:88-94
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Brad Setser
Title: Argentina’s problems went far beyond the absence of a strict currency board: Comment on Schuler
Abstract: KURT SCHULER ARGUES MOST ECONOMISTS (MYSELF INCLUDED) failed to get the facts right. Schuler writes, “economists whose work in other areas I admire failed to do the research necessary for understanding Argentina’s situation accurately. As a result their analysis was faulty” (Schuler 2005, 235). This mischaracterization of Argentina’s economic situation led them to prescribe inappropriate policies, not the least recommending that Argentina end its tight link to the dollar.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 95-104
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/287/ejw_itsq_jan06_setser.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/328
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:95-104
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kurt Schuler
Title: Reply to David Altig and Brad Setser
Abstract: DAVID ALTIG AND BRAD SETSER ASK HOW IMPORTANT IT IS WHAT we call Argentina’s monetary system of April 1991-January 2002. I consider it crucial because clear, consistent terminology helps us understand how the system worked and to what extent it resembled other systems to which we may wish to compare it. Unclear, inconsistent terminology hinders our understanding. It can result in bad advice that hurts many people. Economists contributed to Argentina’s severe economic troubles of 2001-2002 by misunderstanding the monetary system and foreclosing consideration of policies that a more accurate diagnosis would have left open.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 105-108
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/105/2006-01-schuler-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/210
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:105-108
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Adrian T. Moore
Author-Name: Ted Balaker
Title: Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Taxi Deregulation?
Abstract: Taxicabs are an important part of the urban transportation system, and in most communities are heavily regulated. In the past 25 years many cities have deregulated taxi markets. A substantial literature has emerged examining the merits of deregulation. Here we provide a tour of the main points of contention in the scholarly research on the desirability of taxi deregulation. We find that most economic studies of taxi deregulation find it to be on net beneficial. We mined the literature for economists’ judgments on taxi deregulation. The support for taxi deregulation is preponderant, but not overwhelmingly so. We suggest that the literature favorable to deregulation is richer and broader than the unfavorable literature, which disproportionately is model-building. There is wide consensus that taxi deregulation has been less impressive than advocates had hoped. A very important matter of interpretation is whether the disappointment was due to the over-estimation of what deregulation could deliver, or to deregulation not having been thoroughgoing. Another interpretative issue is whether restrictions on service originating at airports ought to be deemed intervention or contract within the nexus of property relations. Finally, there are also unresolved questions about whether the effects of deregulation have been fully accounted for.
Classification-JEL: R48, L5, B0
Keywords: Taxi markets,transportation,regulation,deregulation,liberalization,economists
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 109-132
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/103/2006-01-moorebalaker-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/209
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:109-132
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William J. Baumol
Title: Textbook Entrepreneurship: Comment on Johansson
Abstract: I can only applaud Dan Johansson's excellent and highly illuminating article (Johansson 2004). I have already and repeatedly joined other voices in noting the virtual expulsion of the entrepreneur from the contemporary mainstream literature of economics. I have also joined the call for the restoration of the entrepreneurs’ place in theory, given the fact that no one seems to deny their importance for the workings of the free-market economy in general and for its growth and innovation in particular. Johansson’s systematic review of the postgraduate textbook literature underscores these concerns.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 133-136
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/94/2006-01-baumol-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/203
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:133-136
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Geoffrey Wood
Title: 364 Economists on Economic Policy
Abstract: In 1981, 364 economists signed a letter to the London Times, objecting to the Thatcher Government’s anti-inflation policy. This article considers both the policy and the objections. The policy was basically a monetarist one, grounded on the view that inflation could be controlled only by controlling money. It is argued that theory as well as the evidence available at the time supported that approach. In contrast, while the alternatives proposed were vague, they seemed to be inconsistent with the facts. Further, in defiance of the predictions of the letter, inflation came down and the British economy did not stay in recession.
Classification-JEL: E31
Keywords: monetary policy,fiscal policy,inflation
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 137-147
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/106/2006-01-wood-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/211
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:137-147
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William A. McEachern
Title: AEA Ideology: Campaign Contributions of American Economic Association Members, Committee Members, Officers, Editors, Referees, Authors, and Acknowledgees
Abstract: This paper investigates the 2004-election-cycle campaign contributions of the leadership of the American Economic Association. By cross-checking a name with an occupation, employer, and address, I develop a contribution profile for a sample of 2,000 AEA members, then use this profile as a benchmark to examine contributions of editors, referees, authors, and acknowledgees of the 2003 and 2004 issues of the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature, and Journal of Economic Perspectives. Association members were 5 times more likely to give to Democrats than to Republicans. American Economic Review authors appearing in regular issues were about 9 times more likely. Authors in the discretionary AEA publications were 38 times more likely. I find that in those publications where the editors have more discretion in choosing authors, author contributions look more like those of the editors and less like those of the members. For the various forms of leadership—officers, committee members, and editors—I generally find ratios more lopsided than among the regular membership. Remarkably few contributed to Republican campaigns. Such ratios challenge the American Economic Association’s claim that “widely different issues are given a hearing in its annual meetings and through its publication,” and its suggestion that the Association represents “people of all shades of economic opinion.”
Classification-JEL: A1, B4
Keywords: American Economic Association,Democrat,Republican,campaign contribution,contributor ratio,editors,authors,referees,acknowledgees,committee members,officers,American Economic Review,Journal of Economic Literature,Journal of Economic Perspectives
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 148-179
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/99/2006-01-mceachern-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/207
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:148-179
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Sense and Sensibilities: Myrdal’s Plea for Self-Disclosure and Some Disclosures on AEA Members
Abstract: Gunnar Myrdal urged economists to disclose their ideological sensibilities, to mitigate asymmetric-information problems in scientific discourse and to reduce the hazard of bias. Myrdal’s plea informs us of the importance of frank discussion of ideological sensibilities, including investigations of the ideological character of people involved in the American Economic Association. This paper reviews the results of several such investigations, including new results on rates of AEA membership by voter category.
Classification-JEL: A11, A13, A14
Keywords: Gunnar Myrdal,ideological sensibilities,disclosure,American Economic Association,voter registration
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 180-205
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/97/2006-01-klein-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/206
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:180-205
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence January 2006
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 206-209
Volume: 3
Issue: 1
Year: 2006
Month: January
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/303/ejw_cor_jan06.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/379
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:3:y:2006:i:1:p:206-209
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents August 2005
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/327/ejw_toc_aug05.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/394
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bryan Caplan
Title: Rejoinder to Wittman: True Myths
Abstract: WITTMAN HAS WRITTEN A CHARACTERISTICALLY ENGAGING response to my critique. While he emphasizes his continued disagreement with me, I am struck by the important concessions he makes. In particular, he has virtually abandoned the rational expectations assumption that drives his trademark results. This retreat has a high price, because his new watered-down standards of rationality are consistent with vast democratic inefficiency. Apparently, democratic failure is not a myth after all.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 165-185
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/81/2005-08-caplan-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/195
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:165-185
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Donald Wittman
Title: Second Reply to Caplan: The Power and the Glory of the Median Voter
Abstract: IT IS ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO HAVE THE LAST WORD. I WILL NOT make a point-by-point counter-argument to Brian Caplan’s Rejoinder (2005b) because doing so would exhaust my patience, as well as the readers’ (but probably not Caplan’s). Instead, I will present some general arguments that can be employed in answering a variety of questions. In my response I will: explain why there is a demand for democratic failure theories; predict which voters will appear to act irrationally; explain why evidence of voter irrationality does not imply that government policy is irrational; show why Caplan’s argument that voters are rationally irrational when they vote does not conform with the facts; and suggest empirical tests that might be employed to gain greater insight into voter behavior.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 186-195
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/92/2005-08-wittman-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/201
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:186-195
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Richard H. Timberlake
Title: Gold Standards and the Real Bills Doctrine in U.S. Monetary Policy
Abstract: This paper provides a reassessment and a restatement of the essential properties of gold standards. Second, it emphasizes the role of the Real Bills Doctrine in Federal Reserve policy as the primary cause of the Great Contraction of 1929-1933. It takes issue with recent articles and books that have assigned major fault to “the” gold standard for the disastrous decline of employment, prices, production, income, and welfare that characterized the Great Contraction and the ensuing Great Depression. The Real Bills Doctrine was the guiding principle for passage of The Federal Reserve Act. It proposed that the creation of money would be geared automatically to the output of real goods and services if banks and the central bank adhered to a policy of providing credit only on short-term, self-liquidating loans for legitimate business purposes. The gold standard was to continue as the fundamental determinant of the economy’s stock of money, but real bills principles would take care of seasonal and cyclical variations in the demand for money. The new system, however, never operated under a true gold standard. U.S. gold stocks burgeoned after World War I, allowing the quantity-theoretic policies of the New York Fed under Benjamin Strong to fashion a stable price level policy for the monetary system until an authentic gold standard could be become operational. After Strong’s death in 1928, real bills advocates on the Fed Board and in some Fed Banks controlled Fed policies. Their avowed purpose was to oversee no monetary expansion until the real economy provided the proper impetus for monetary rejuvenation. In recent decades studies analyzing the Great Contraction have overlooked, first, the fundamental properties of a true gold standard, second, the quantity of gold stocks available for credit expansion by Federal Reserve policies in the early 1930s, third, the statutory power of the Federal Reserve Board to nullify for an indefinite period the gold reserve requirements facing the Federal Reserve Banks, and, fourth, the dominating influence that the Real Bills Doctrine had over both monetary beliefs and monetary policy in that era. This paper attempts to correct these omissions, and to demonstrate that the Real Bills Doctrine, not “the” gold standard, was the intellectual and operational basis for the disastrous Fed policy of 1929-1933.
Classification-JEL: E-58 and N-22
Keywords: gold standard,Real Bills Doctrine,monetary policy,Great,Depression
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 196-233
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/88/2005-08-timberlake-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/199
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:196-233
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kurt Schuler
Title: Ignorance and Influence: U.S. Economists on Argentina’s Depression of 1998-2002
Abstract: Economists in the United States wrote reams of commentary on Argentina’s recession-turned-depression of 1998-2002. Most ignored basic facts that were readily available. As a result, they committed important errors, including mistaking Argentina’s central banking system for a currency board and claiming that Argentina’s exports were uncompetitive when in fact Argentina’s share of world exports was growing. The faulty analysis of U.S. and other economists provided justifications for decisions by the Argentine government in early 2002 to devalue the Argentine peso and forcibly convert U.S. dollar assets and liabilities into pesos. Argentina’s depression deepened and exports failed to revive quickly.
Classification-JEL: A11, E58
Keywords: Argentina,convertibility,currency board,economists
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 234-278
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/86/2005-08-schuler-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/198
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:234-278
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ignacio Briones
Author-Name: Hugh Rockoff
Title: Do Economists Reach a Conclusion on Free-Banking Episodes?
Abstract: How should banks be regulated? Must governments tightly regulate banks to prevent financial panics, or is little or no regulation best? Can private banks be trusted to issue paper money or must this activity be a government monopoly? Theory can help answer these questions, but increasingly in recent years economists have turned to the natural experiments of history to find out how well free banking systems, or more accurately lightly regulated banking systems, have worked in practice. We now have numerous studies of lightly regulated banking in Scotland, the United States, Canada, and many other countries. As usual, research has produced new questions and heated controversies. The resulting ruckus tends to obscure the areas in which research has produced a consensus. Here we try to separate the areas where there is a consensus from areas where research is still in its early stages.
Classification-JEL: E42, E51, E58, G21, G28, G29, N20
Keywords: free banking,convertibility,bank regulation,lender of last resort,banking stability,historical experiences
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 279-324
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/79/2005-08-brionesrockoff-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/194
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:279-324
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Lawrence H. White
Title: The Federal Reserve System’s Influence on Research in Monetary Economics
Abstract: The Federal Reserve System is a major sponsor of monetary economics research by American economists. I provide some measures of the size of the Fed’s research program (both inputs and published outputs) and consider how the Fed’s sponsorship may directly and indirectly influence the character of academic research in monetary economics. In particular, I raise the issue of status quo bias in the Fed-sponsored research.
Classification-JEL: A14, E42
Keywords: monetary economics,central bank
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 325-354
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/90/2005-08-white-invest_apparatus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/200
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:325-354
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip R. P. Coelho
Author-Name: Frederick De Worken-Eley III
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Title: Decline in Critical Commentary, 1963-2004
Abstract: Over the past four decades, top economics journals have virtually eliminated critical commentary (comments, replies, rejoinders, and the like). This article shows the data and discusses these steep declines in critical commentary. To the extent that critical commentary is beneficial to scientific inquiry, editorial opposition to critical commentary is detrimental to the advancement of economic knowledge.
Classification-JEL: A10, A11, B40
Keywords: Critical commentary,scientific inquiry,debate,editorial policy,prejudice,error,reliability,animosity,vanity
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 355-361
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/82/2005-08-coelhoeleymcclure-econ_practice.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/196
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:355-361
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: David R. Henderson
Title: The Role of Economists in Ending the Draft
Abstract: Economists laid much of the intellectual foundation for ending military conscription in the United States. Walter Oi and others laid out a solid analytic case against the draft, pointing out that the cost of a drafted military exceeded the cost of an all-volunteer force but that this cost fell heavily on the shoulders of draftees and draft-induced volunteers. Economists, including Milton Friedman, James C. Miller III, and W. Allen Wallis, made this case to the public. Economists were heavily involved in writing the staff reports for the President’s Commission on the All-Volunteer Force. When the draft rears its ugly head, economists are freedom’s first line of defense.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords: draft,conscription,mercenary
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 362-376
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/84/2005-08-henderson-char_issue.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/197
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:362-376
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence August 2005
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 377-381
Volume: 2
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/302/ejw_cor_aug05.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/380
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:2:p:377-381
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Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents April 2005
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/325/ejw_toc_apr05.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/395
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bryan Caplan
Title: From Friedman to Wittman: The Transformation of Chicago Political Economy
Abstract: Donald Wittman's "Why Democracies Produce Efficient Results," argues that the "markets work, democracy fails" outlook typical of many economists rests on bad economics. After summarizing Wittman's main arguments, I maintain that Wittman too hastily accepts the assumption of voter rationality. There is an extensive body of empirical evidence showing that systematically biased beliefs about politically-relevant topics—especially economics—are widespread. Chicago political economy would have developed in a more productive direction if it had treated rational expectations as an empirical hypothesis, and modeled irrationality as a normal good.
Classification-JEL: D70, H11, A11
Keywords: democratic failure,irrationality,systematic bias,rational,irrationality
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1-21
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/63/2005-04-caplan-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/182
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:1-21
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Author-Name: Donald Wittman
Title: Reply to Caplan: On the Methodology of Testing for Voter Irrationality
Abstract: A COMMON COMPLAINT BY AUTHORS IS THAT THEIR REVIEWERS have misinterpreted what the author has said. This is not my complaint here, because Bryan Caplan has explained my position better than I have. And I certainly cannot complain when Caplan sees my views as being more opposed to Lenin’s views than Milton Friedman’s are. Furthermore, I agree with two of Caplan’s major points: (1) that people are more likely to be irrational or uninformed (I add the latter because it is often hard to distinguish the two) when the cost of being so is slight; and (2) that more empirical work on voter rationality is needed (as an aside, I would like to add that Caplan has made important steps in this direction).
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 22-31
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/77/2005-04-wittman-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/192
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:22-31
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip R. P. Coelho
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Title: Rejoinder to Pesendorfer
Abstract: THERE ARE SERIOUS FLAWS IN WOLFGANG PESENDORFER’S (2004) Reply to our Comment on his article “Design Innovations and Fashion Cycles” (1995). Here we address several flaws in Pesendorfer’s Reply and expand our Comment’s critique of his 1995 model.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 32-41
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/65/2005-04-coelhokleinmccure-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/183
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:32-41
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Wolfgang Pesendorfer
Title: Second Reply to Coelho, Klein, and McClure
Abstract: IN THEIR REJOINDER, COELHO, KLEIN, AND MCCLURE (CKM) mistake colorful descriptions of fashion for an explanation of fashion, confuse signaling with the chest-thumping of individuals who have nothing to signal, and attack innocent simplifying assumption without asking whether changing those assumptions would make a difference to the results.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 42-46
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/76/2005-04-pesendorfer-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/191
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:42-46
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge: Introduction
Abstract: THE TOPIC OF THE SYMPOSIUM IS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN information and knowledge. Economists who work on information and knowledge were invited to write a brief reflection on whether there is a distinction between information and knowledge, and, if so, what the distinction is and what its significance in economics is.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 47-55
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/283/ejw_sym_apr05.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/326
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:47-55
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Brian J. Loasby
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: LET ME BEGIN WITH TWO EPISODES TAKEN FROM A FASCINATING account of British scientific intelligence in the war of 1939-45, Most Secret War by R. V. Jones. In early April 1940 a British reconnaissance aircraft took photographs of Bremen harbor which showed it full of shipping. Unfortunately the information conveyed by these photographs was effectively zero, since it was the very first successful reconnaissance of the area since the outbreak of war, and so there was no knowledge about Bremen in wartime to interpret it. A few days later, the British acquired the knowledge that made these photographs very informative—but too late: the Germans invaded Norway, and the congregation of shipping in Bremen was not a normal phenomenon but a major part of the invasion fleet.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 56-65
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/74/2005-04-loasby-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/189
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:56-65
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Thomas Mayer
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: ECONOMISTS USUALLY TREAT THE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION possessed by agents in a dichotomous and one dimensional way: either agents know something or they don't. That they may surmise rather than know, feel uncertain and be reluctant to resolve this uncertainty by using certainty equivalents and a coefficient of risk aversion is sometimes discussed, but more often swept under the rug. But perhaps that is where it belongs. In cases where such a procedure allows us to resolve the questions we wish to answers (and the questions that others wish us to answer) it should be treated as a useful simplifying rather than as a simplistic procedure. And even in some cases where a one-dimensional treatment of knowledge or information does not generate satisfactory answers, it may still be the appropriate treatment because concern with the multifaceted nature of information and knowledge may just complicate the analysis without substantially improving the quality of the answer. But in some other cases, such as situations of asymmetric information, greater attention to "depth" of information may have a high pay-off. The only way to find out is to try and see. Methodological discussions can provide a useful complement but not an adequate substitute for such an empirical approach.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 66-69
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/75/2005-04-mayer-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/190
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:66-69
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Bruce Caldwell
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: “IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND information?” is the question that participants in this symposium were asked to address. I come to the question as an historian of economic thought who has studied the Austrian tradition, and in particular the contributions of F.A. Hayek, who is remembered among information theorists for his early writings on “the knowledge problem.” An analysis of his work may be helpful in grappling with the question of this symposium. In an earlier paper I looked at differing interpretations of the socialist calculation debate and the current prospects for market socialism, and linked to issues of information and knowledge (Caldwell 1997). My remarks here draw in part on that paper.
Classification-JEL: 70-74
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1
Volume:
Issue: 2
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/62/2005-04-caldwell-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/181
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v::y:2005:i:2:p:1
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Israel M. Kirzner
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE, as these words are commonly used, is fairly clear and quite important. We wish to point out, however, that the importance of this distinction becomes very substantially greater when we understand it as pointing to a different distinction—that between two levels of knowledge itself. The purpose of this note is to develop this insight and remark on whether modern economics accommodates these matters.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 75-81
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/70/2005-04-kirzner-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/186
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:75-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Leland B. Yeager
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: THIS NOTE MAY SEEM, ODDLY, TO DISCUSS A DISTINCTION JUDGED not worth discussing. I am responding, however, to the invitation to take part in a symposium on the topic. The symposium-prompting materials suggest a defect found in much of the literature. It is useful to classify types of error—and, I’ll add, unsatisfactory styles of argument—so that each may be readily recognized when encountered. I wonder, though, whether the error under discussion here is best described as confusion between the meanings of two words.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 82-87
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/78/2005-04-yeager-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/193
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:82-87
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert J. Aumann
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: THE FIRST SYMPOSIUM QUESTION IS, “IS THERE AN IMPORTANT distinction between information and knowledge?” Of course, it depends on what is meant by these terms. An advantage (disadvantage?) of formal reasoning is that there, that kind of question does not arise. You must first define your terms, and then it’s usually easy to tell whether there is or is not an important distinction. Some people might say that even informally, the question has no substance until you’ve said what you mean
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 88-96
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/60/2005-04-aumann-sympos.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/179
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:88-96
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Ken Binmore
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge
Abstract: The English language dimly recognizes that knowing something is not the same as believing it sure to be true. Ptolemy believed it sure that the sun revolved around the earth, but we would not say that he knew the sun revolved around the earth. Philosophers commonly claim that the difference lies in the fact that knowledge should be regarded as justified true belief, but such an attempt at a definition has had little influence in rational choice theory, presumably because the question of what should count as a justifying argument is left hanging in the air.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 97-104
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/61/2005-04-binmore-sympos.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/180
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:97-104
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Fred E. Foldvary
Title: Geo-Rent: A Plea to Public Economists
Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of what is termed “geo-rent,” what the plot-devoid-of-improvements would rent for in an auction. Most of the public finance literature and current thought has disvalued and misunderstood the actual and potential role of land and its rent for public revenue. The qualities of land value that make it a superior source of revenue - having little or no deadweight loss, and capitalizing civic infrastructure and services—are recognized but compartmentalized, ignored in the broader policy discussions. That the “producer surplus” is in reality mostly land rent is little recognized. The “Henry George Theorem” that rent can optimally equal the cost of public goods is not applied to policy issues. Public finance theorists and economists generally presume that land rent is an insignificant portion of national income, whereas studies have estimated that a substantial portion of government revenue could be obtained from geo-rent. The shunting aside and disparagement of public revenue from geo-rent has distorted economic analysis and contributes to iatrogenic economy-hampering fiscal policy. The paper proposes a broader and more integrated public economics which recognizes the fundamental role of land in economies and fully incorporates the analysis of public revenue from land rent.
Classification-JEL: A11, A14, H
Keywords: Henry George,land,private communities,public economics,public finance,rent,taxation
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 106-132
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/66/2005-04-foldvary-tyranny-statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/184
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:106-132
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: The Ph.D. Circle in Academic Economics
Abstract: Adam Smith doubted an invisible hand in academia, saying that academia was prone to clubbish foolishness. From economics-department webpages, I collected data on Ph.D. origination of economics faculty. Using a ranking of 200 economics departments world-wide, I find that at the top departments 80-90 percent of faculty got their PhD at a top-35 department. The set of top-35 departments draws 76 percent of faculty from itself. The top-35 dominate the entire profession. Economics is more a monocentric cultural pyramid than a polycentric market.
Classification-JEL: A11, A13, A14
Keywords: Ph.D. origination,self-validation,academia,scholasticism,Adam Smith
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 133-148
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/72/2005-04-klein-invest_apparatus.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/188
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:133-148
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Warren C. Gibson
Title: The Mathematical Romance: An Engineer's View of Mathematical Economics
Abstract: Mathematical economics is compared and contrasted with mathematical engineering. Engineers use mathematics where it is practical and cost-effective, sometimes cutting corners, and leaving theorems and derivations to professional mathematicians. In contrast, papers by mathematical economists are often loaded with theorems and lemmas, with only the slightest suggestion that human affairs are involved. I conclude that some economists have fallen for the romance of mathematics, as engineers occasionally do, and that considerable time and talent has been wasted in the process.
Classification-JEL: A14, B4, C0, C60, C62, C69
Keywords: mathematical economics,mathematical modeling,engineering
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 149-158
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/68/2005-04-gibson-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/185
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:149-158
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Tyler Cowen
Author-Name: Timur Kuran
Title: Salute to Schelling: Keeping It Human
Abstract: THOMAS SCHELLING HAS BEEN ONE OF THE, AND IN MANY CASES the, pioneer in developing the following ideas: coordination concepts, focal points, convention, commitments (including promises and threats) as strategic tactics, the idea that strategic strength may lie in weaknesses and limitations, brinkmanship as the strategic manipulation of risk, speech as a strategic device, tipping points and critical mass, path-dependence and lock-in of suboptimal conventions, self-fulfilling prophecy, repeated interaction and reputation as a basis for cooperation, the multiple self, and self-commitment as a strategic tactic in the contest for self-control.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 159-164
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2005
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/71/2005-04-kleincowenkuran-watchpad.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/187
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2005:i:1:p:159-164
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents December 2004
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/328/ejw_toc_dec04.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/396
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Peter Minowitz
Title: Adam Smith’s Invisible Hands
Abstract: William Grampp’s JPE article on Adam Smith is creative and provocative. It errs, however, by disparaging the invisible hand’s importance as a symbol of various economic processes that help societies prosper in ways that individuals neither intend nor comprehend. Four specific problems stand out. First, Grampp unsoundly tries to limit the relevance of the invisible hand within the Wealth of Nations to situations in which a merchant increases domestic capital and strengthens national defense. Second, Grampp presents an oversimplified account of WN’s treatment of international relations. Third he conspicuously misinterprets the trickle-down process of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, where Smith argues that an invisible hand promotes the welfare of the poor despite the greed of the rich. Fourth, by failing to plumb the connection between these two invisible hands—and by dismissing the relevance of a third invisible hand, which Smith elsewhere invokes to illustrate the superstitious outlook that pervades “primitive” societies—Grampp overlooks the complex interrelationships between Smith’s two books. Whereas WN presents the invisible hand in an atheistic context, the TMS version seems to be the hand of God; this religious contrast mirrors TMS’s more optimistic perspective on the poor and its more ambivalent evaluation of “riches and power.”
Grampp is wise to stress the inconsistencies, puzzles, and exaggerations that Smith bequeathed to his readers. But some of Grampp’s criticisms are glib, and he deserves blame for trivializing the invisible hand. The three invisible hands, I argue, not only illuminate the rhetorical strategies that helped Smith influence institutions and public policies; they also signal his commitment to promoting curiosity and inquiry.
Classification-JEL: A12, A13, A31, B12, B31, Z12
Keywords: Adam Smith,invisible hand,Wealth of Nations,Theory of Moral Sentiments
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 381-412
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/268/ejw_com_dec04_minowitz.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/318
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:381-412
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: James Forder
Title: "Credibility" in Context: Do Central Bankers and Economists Interpret the Term Differently?
Abstract: The idea that the 'credibility' of monetary policy is important receives almost universal assent. But the word can mean very different things in different contexts. In particular, the meaning that it has been given by the work of Robert Barro and David Gordon is a very special one. It should not be presumed that in ordinary discussion of 'credibility' theirs is always the meaning people have in mind. Consequently, Alan Blinder's survey on attitudes to 'credibility', which failed to specify what he meant by the term, might be most misleading, and if unwarranted inferences are not to be drawn a most careful interpretation of it is required.
Classification-JEL: B40, E52, E58
Keywords: credibility,central bank independence
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 413-426
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/270/ejw_com_dec04_forder.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/319
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:413-426
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Fabio Rojas
Title: Identity and Politics in School Reform Research
Abstract: Akerlof and Kranton (2002) model the effects of student identity on achievement. They argue that students have identities that determine the effort expended on learning. Academic achievement within a school depends on the match between student identities and academic and disciplinary standards. This commentary critiques Akerlof and Kranton’s model because they assume that schools always seek to maximize student learning, which leads to misleading conclusions about school reform in general.
Classification-JEL: I2, I20l, I28, I21, I29
Keywords: education,education policy,economics of education
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 427-436
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/272/ejw_com_dec04_rojas.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/320
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:427-436
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Philip R. P. Coelho
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: James E. McClure
Title: Fashion Cycles in Economics
Abstract: We criticize an American Economic Review article that presents itself as a theory of design innovation and fashion cycles. Scrutinizing the model and surrounding prose, we suggest that the article does not make clear what it is that it purports to explain, and that the story of the model fails minimal requirements of factual relevance and intuitiveness. Our broader message is that many “theory” papers are best regarded as mere model-building, a genre of creative writing masquerading as science.
Classification-JEL: B40, B41, B49
Keywords: Fashion cycle,design,relevance,theory
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 437-454
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/274/ejw_com_dec04_coelhokleinmccure.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/321
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:437-454
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Wolfgang Pesendorfer
Title: Response to “Fashion Cycles in Economics”
Abstract: The paper argues that fashion demand is cyclical because of the signaling role of fashion. Agents use fashion goods to signal their type—e.g., their wealth—and to screen the type of other agents. A fashion good is an effective signal as long as its price is high and only high types have an incentive to buy it. Over time producers will lower the price of the fashion good to sell the good to lower types. This leads to a degradation of the signaling value of the fashion. Eventually, there is room for a “new fashion”, i.e., another fashion item sold at a high price that separates high from low types
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 455-464
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/277/ejw_com_dec04_pesendorfer.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/322
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:455-464
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jih Y. Chang
Author-Name: Rati Ram
Title: Rate of Economic Growth, Level of Development, and Income Inequality: Rejoinder to the Reply by Edwards and McGuirk
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 235-243
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/384/ChangRamRejoinderDecember2004.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/404
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:235-243
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Robert H. Nelson
Title: Scholasticism versus Pietism: The Battle for the Soul of Economics
Abstract: Two very different approaches to understanding the world are the “scholastic” and “pietistic” approaches. The two approaches differ both in structure and in the topics addressed. The scholastic approach involves a priestly hierarchy that authenticates knowledge, an emphasis on a specialized language and application of expert skills, and a denial of any large role for laymen in the discovery process. The pietistic approach encourages a direct connection between truth and the ordinary person. It exhibits spontaneous competition in ideas from any and all sources, the common use of ordinary language to develop arguments, and a large role for non-specialists in the discovery and production of knowledge. Historically, scholastic approaches, while achieving great heights at times, have also tended towards an excessive attention to minor detail, sterile abstractions, and generally the confusion of form with substance – hence, the negative connotations of “scholastic.” Thus we find that the structural differences and topical differences between scholasticism and pietism must be understood together. Drawing on the writings of Milton Friedman, Edmund Malinvaud, and other leading economists concerned about the current state of the profession, this article argues that contemporary economics has become a classic example of a scholastic discipline in decline. Economics should seek to revive itself by turning in a pietistic direction, as earlier Pietists sought to revive established Protestant churches that had lapsed from their commitments to the pursuit of divine truth.
Classification-JEL: A0, B2, B4
Keywords: economic method,scholastic,pietistic,sterility,centennial issue of Economic Journal
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 473-497
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/279/ejw_ci_dec04_nelson.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/324
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:473-497
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Randal G. Holcombe
Title: The National Research Council Ranking of Research Universities: Its Impact on Research in Economics
Abstract: Administrators at many universities are using the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) measures of departmental performance to assess the performance of their economics departments. The NRC methodology measures faculty publications, citations, and grants in specific ways, which gives departments an incentive to enhance their performance as measured by the NRC metrics. This affects departmental hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions, and gives faculty an incentive to do the type of research that can produce more publications, citations, and grants as measured by the NRC. The NRC criteria count only a subset of publications, citations, and grants, so using that metric rewards research that the NRC counts over research that produces publications, citations, and grants that the NRC does not count. This favors mainstream work over more heterodox approaches to economics, favors expensive research programs that can be federally funded, and tends to make research departments more homogeneous.
Classification-JEL: A11, A13, A14, B41
Keywords: National Research Council,faculty evaluation,economic research,academic publications,research grants,departmental rankin
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 498-514
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/281/ejw_ia_dec04_holcombe.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/325
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:498-514
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Dan Johansson
Title: Economics without Entrepreneurship or Institutions: A Vocabulary Analysis of Graduate Textbooks
Abstract: A teacher’s words reflect the theory and methods he uses. Words reveal theoretical structures, the problems identified as relevant, and how those problems should be analyzed. I investigate whether entrepreneurship-rich and institutions-rich theories are represented in Ph.D. programs in economics. I analyze textbooks for the presence of terms that fall naturally into two sets. One set deals with the knowledge and discovery: entrepreneur, innovation, invention, tacit knowledge, and bounded rationality. The other deals with social rules: institutions, property rights, and economic freedom. When the words appear I examine the meaning. I examine the textbooks used in required courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics and industrial organization in all Ph.D. programs in economics in Sweden. The investigation is not specific to Sweden, however, because Ph.D. programs in Sweden are virtually identical to programs in the United States. The same textbooks are used, and nearly all of the textbooks examined are written by economists in the United States. I find that (i) all programs are in the tradition of “mainstream” economics; (ii) by and large, the eight expressions scarcely appear in the textbooks; and (iii) when they do appear, their meaning is diluted or distorted, compared to their meaning in theories where the idea is more central. In my judgment, the results constitute powerful evidence that today’s doctoral programs do not train young economists to identify and analyze important economic issues in a relevant way.
Classification-JEL: A11, A23, B2
Keywords: bounded rationality,economic freedom,entrepreneur,innovation,institution,invention,property rights,tacit knowledge,textbooks,PhD programs,education
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 515-538
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/58/2004-12-johansson-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/178
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:515-538
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence December 2004
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 539-545
Volume: 1
Issue: 3
Year: 2004
Month: December
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/292/ejw_cor_dec04.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/381
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:3:p:539-545
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents August 2004
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/326/ejw_toc_aug04.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/397
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Peter Gordon
Author-Name: Lanlan Wang
Title: Does Economic Performance Correlate with Big Government?
Abstract: Development is a systematic and evolutionary process, which is not limited to the improvement of economic performance per se. Institutions that support economic freedom and governments that may or may not support development and freedom probably evolve together. A recent study by La Porta et al (1999) examines these relationships and finds, among other things, that there is a positive link between big government and economic development. We reexamine these links with international cross-sectional data for five periods and find that economic freedom and development do reinforce each other but that the size and scope of government does not play a strong role.
Classification-JEL: P14, P16, P17
Keywords: Economic development,property rights,political and institutional change
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 192-221
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/45/2004-08-gordonwang-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/170
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:192-221
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeffrey Edwards
Author-Name: Anya McGuirk
Title: Kuznets Curveball: Missing the Regional Strike Zone
Abstract: This paper addresses the specification of the econometric models used in the paper “Level of Development, Rate of Economic Growth, and Income Inequality” by Jih Y. Chang and Rati Ram (2000). We find that when accounting for regional heterogeneity, the Kuznets hypothesis no longer holds, and low growth countries no longer have a higher degree of income dispersion over all levels of income than high growth countries.
Classification-JEL: O15, C12, C13
Keywords: Kuznets Hypothesis,Statistical Adequacy,Empirical Specification,Hypothesis Testing
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 222-234
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/418/EdwardsMcGuirkCommentAugust2004.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/169
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:222-234
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jeff Edwards
Author-Name: Anya McGuirk
Title: Reply to Chang and Ram: Statistical Adequacy and the Reliability of Inference
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 244-259
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/278/ejw_com_aug04_changram.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/405
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:244-259
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Statist Quo Bias
Abstract: At first blush, Thaler and Sunstein seem to be proposing that voluntarily helping people to overcome or cope with their rash, ignorant, impulsive selves be called “libertarian paternalism.” Such semantics would only cause confusion and introduce new terminology for things already well served by ordinary language. Upon closer reading, however, we find that they maintain an unconventional distinction between coercive and non-coercive (or voluntary) action, while never making clear how they distinguish coercive from non-coercive action. I suggest that “libertarian paternalism” is really a depredation upon the very distinction between coercive and voluntary action.
Classification-JEL: A13, D63, D91
Keywords: paternalism,libertarianism,dignity,coercion,liberty,freedom
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 260-271
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/47/2004-08-klein1-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/171
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:260-271
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Cass R. Sunstein
Title: Response to Klein
Abstract: LIBERTARIAN PATERNALISTS INSIST ON FREEDOM OF CHOICE; they do not want to foreclose options (Sunstein and Thaler 2003). At the same time, they believe that, in many contexts, planners cannot help influencing choosers, even if they aspire to neutrality. If influences are inevitable, shouldn't planning be undertaken with some awareness of its effects? Libertarian paternalists believe that the answer is clearly yes—and that planners in the private and public sectors should explore approaches that lead people toward welfare-increasing outcomes while also leaving them free to choose.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 272-273
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/53/2004-08-sunstein-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/175
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:272-273
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Reply to Sunstein
Abstract: The cogent idea of liberty or freedom—the idea as understood by everyone in the tradition of Locke, Hume, Smith, the American Founders, the Abolitionists, and so on—is that each is free to do with his property (including his person) and to enter into agreements as he sees fit, provided he does not tread on others’ property (including contracted rights). Social Security taxes and consumer protection laws (with concomitant enforcement) tread on property and freedom of contract, and hence on freedom; they are coercive. If anyone other than the government tried it, everyone would cry bloody murder. Imagine if your neighbor threatened his own violence against you for employing someone at a wage rate he deemed to be too low. Everyone would recognize it as coercion. In contrast, the rules at the Weight Watchers club do not tread on anyone’s property; they are not coercive. Libertarianism is the political persuasion that government coercion should be vastly reduced.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 274-276
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/49/2004-08-klein2-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/172
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:274-276
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Michael Kremer
Title: Rejoinder to De Alessi
Abstract: world. Our argument is that in the real world prices of storable goods like ivory are influenced by expectations of the future. De Alessi presents no evidence that this is incorrect, rather he simply asserts that the paper is not about the real world.
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 277-278
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/52/2004-08-kremer-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/174
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:277-278
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Shirley Svorny
Title: Licensing Doctors: Do Economists Agree?
Abstract: Despite the wide reach of medical licensing in health care production through its impact on the nature and cost of care, it has been all but ignored in debates over health care reform. This paper pulls together statements made by economists whose expertise is in the area of health economics or, more specifically, medical licensure and discipline. Economists who have examined the market for physician services in the United States generally view state licensing as a means by which to enforce cartel-like restrictions on entry that benefit physicians at the expense of consumers. Medical licensing is seen as a constraint on the efficient combination of inputs, a drag on innovations in health care and medical education, and a significant barrier to effective, cost efficient health care.
Classification-JEL: I180, J440, I110
Keywords: Physician Licensing,Medical Licensure,Regulation,Medical Licensing
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 279-305
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/54/2004-08-svorny-reach_concl.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/176
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:279-305
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Susan Anderson
Author-Name: Peter Boettke
Title: The Development Set: The Character of the _Journal of Development Economics_ 2002
Abstract: We survey the six issues of the Journal of Development Economics that were published in 2002 in an effort to test the proposition that the field of development economics has been transformed by the institutional choice perspective in economics and political economy, and by the accumulating evidence on the failed policies of development assistance. These radical departures from business as usual research in development economics are evident in scholarly books, popular books, and public policy discussions. As we document, however, neither the theoretical perspective of institutional economics nor the empirical record of failed policy have had that significant of an impact on the field of development economics as reflected in the Journal of Development Economics. We find that the research agendas of scholars in the field mirror the research mandates of the leading international agencies and that the mode of argumentation attempts to mimic the professional biases in the economics profession toward formalism, and both of these forces conspire to limit the creativity and engagement with real problems of public policy by the "Development Set."
Classification-JEL: O20, A11
Keywords: development economics,economic systems,methodology of economics,and sociology of economics
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 306-318
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/35/2004-08-andersonboettke-tyranny_statquo.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/165
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:306-318
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Therese DiCola
Title: Institutional Ties of _Journal of Development Economics_ Authors and Editors
Abstract: Sociologists of science such as Richard Whitley explain that official institutions may have a profound influence on the character and organization of science. We examine the ties of authors and editorial officers of the Journal of Development Economics (2002) to the World Bank, the IMF, and so on. “Ties” includes past or current employment, consultancy, grant, publication and presentation. Regarding the 124 authorships, we find that 75 percent have ties to the “Big 8” official development institutions, and 84 percent to official development institutions more broadly defined. Of the 26 editorial officers, we find that all have ties to the Big 8, all but one with ties of employment, consultancy, or grant. This article contains a link to the data (with individual identities redacted).
Classification-JEL: A14, O19
Keywords: Economic development,character,purpose,development institutions,Journal of Economic Development.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 319-330
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/50/2004-08-kleindicola-invest_apparatus.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/173
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:319-330
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Stephen T. Ziliak
Author-Name: Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
Title: Size Matters: The Standard Error of Regressions in the American Economic Review
Abstract: Significance testing as used has no theoretical justification. Our article in the Journal of Economic Literature (1996) showed that of the 182 full-length papers published in the 1980s in the American Economic Review 70% did not distinguish economic from statistical significance. Since 1996 many colleagues have told us that practice has improved. We interpret their response as an empirical claim, a judgment about a fact. Our colleagues, unhappily, are mistaken: significance testing is getting worse. We find here that in the next decade, the 1990s, of the 137 papers using a test of statistical significance in the AER fully 82% mistook a merely statistically significant finding for an economically significant finding. A super majority (81%) believed that looking at the sign of a coefficient sufficed for science, ignoring size. The mistake is causing economic damage: losses of jobs and justice, and indeed of human lives (especially in, to mention another field enchanted with statistical significance as against substantive significance, medical science). The confusion between fit and importance is causing false hypotheses to be accepted and true hypotheses to be rejected. We propose a publication standard for the future: “Tell me the oomph of your coefficient; and do not confuse it with merely statistical significance.”
Classification-JEL: A11, C12, C52
Keywords: statistical significance; economic significance; R.A. Fisher; role of economics
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 331-358
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/56/2004-08-ziliakmccloskey-econ_practice.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/177
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:331-358
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: William L. Davis
Title: Preference Falsification in the Economics Profession
Abstract: In the economics profession there is a tension between the scholastic orientation and the public discourse orientation. The former affirms certain academic conventions among economists such as mathematical model building and statistical significance. The latter emphasizes communicating with lay people by addressing issues as they are understood in policy discourse. The results of a recent survey of economists indicate that most privately believe that the orientation is too scholastic. This paper explores the possibility that a large portion of the economics profession practices what Timur Kuran calls preference falsification—that is, individuals express or exhibit public preferences that are at odds with, or at least do not reflect, their private preferences. The survey results suggest that many economists at least weakly falsify their preferences about much of the profession’s conventions while actually having preferences to the contrary.
Classification-JEL: A11, A14, B41
Keywords: Role of Economics,Role of Economists,Market for Economists,Sociology of Economics
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 359-368
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/40/2004-08-davis-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/168
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:359-368
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jih Y. Chang
Author-Name: Rati Ram
Title: Response to Edwards and McGuirk: Income Level, Economic Growth, and Inequality: Flawed Methodology and Inaccurate Inference
Abstract: THE COMMENT BY EDWARDS AND MCGUIRK (2004) HAS numerous significant flaws. These include: (1) an incomplete understanding of the paper by Chang and Ram (2000), (2) lack of familiarity with development data sets and the vast literature on cross-country studies of inequality and growth, and (3) an inadequate grasp of the basics of econometric model specification and the elementary principles of generating predicted values from regression estimates. We first briefly note a few aspects that might not be considered major, and then explain the fatal flaw that renders its main conclusion inaccurate.
Classification-JEL: n/a
Keywords: n/a
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 235-243
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/278/ejw_com_aug04_changram.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/323
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:235-243
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Anne D. Boschini
Author-Name: Matthew J. Lindquist
Author-Name: Jan Pettersson
Author-Name: Jesper Roine
Title: Learning to Lose a Leg: Casualties of PhD Economics Training in Stockholm
Abstract: The Swedish Economist Assar Lindbeck has recently expressed concern that PhD programs are not educating enough “two-legged” economists. We surveyed all PhD students enrolled at Stockholm University and the Stockholm School of Economics—strong European graduate programs that have adopted the US-style curriculum. The survey response rate was 73 percent, so we place great confidence in the admittedly limited information that the survey does provide: Students enter with a relatively broad academic background, an interest in the social sciences, and a desire to serve the community. They do not enter graduate school with a primary interest in statistics or mathematical work. They find that incentives within the program do not encourage participation in the policy debate. To the extent that new PhDs are “one-legged” economists, it is not because they entered graduate school that way. Our results are remarkably similar to the results of the 1985 survey conducted by David Colander and Arjo Klamer. We consider the possibility that in each case the process that generates expectations of those entering had not caught up to the changes, resulting in palpable dissatisfaction among the currently enrolled students.
Classification-JEL: A11; A23
Keywords: Economics education,Ph.D. programs in Economics
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 369-379
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/37/2004-08-boschinilindquistetc-char_issue.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/166
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:369-379
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Correspondence August 2004
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 380
Volume: 1
Issue: 2
Year: 2004
Month: August
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/293/ejw_cor_aug04.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/382
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:2:p:380
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name:
Title: Table of Contents April 2004
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
Keywords:
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: iii-iv
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/348/toc+04-2004.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/365
File-Format: text/html
Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:iii-iv
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Jane S. Shaw
Title: Overlooking the Obvious in Africa
Abstract: Collier and Gunning review approximately forty factors that have been offered as possible explanations for poor growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors conclude that “domestic policies largely unrelated to trade” may be the major factors holding back growth now. This comment, “Overlooking the Obvious in Africa,” contends that Collier and Gunning appear reluctant to identify the importance of institutional factors – especially economic freedom – in slowing economic growth in Africa. And, despite their listing many possible explanations, they curtly dismiss one important one – the role that foreign aid may be playing in perpetuating poor policies. Thus, the paper accepts all manner of lame theories while ignoring those that have stood the test of time. As a result, it offers little guidance on a critical development issue.
Classification-JEL: O10, O13, O38
Keywords: Africa,development economics,economic freedom,foreign aid.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 1-10
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/28/2004-04-shaw-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/160
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:1-10
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Alexander Tabarrok
Title: How to Get Real About Organs
Abstract: Greater payment induces greater supply. The reasons offered by Byrne and Thompson to doubt this proposition in the field of organ donation are unconvincing. Financial compensation for those who sign their organ donor cards would save lives.
Classification-JEL: I11, I18
Keywords: shortage,medicine,law,transplant organs,financial compensation
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 11-18
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/30/2004-04-tabarrok1-com.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/161
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:11-18
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Author-Name: Margaret M. Byrne
Author-Name: Peter Thompson
Title: Response to Tabarrok
Abstract: EVERY GRADUATE OF PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS LEARNS THAT supply curves slope upwards. But most of them quickly forget the assumptions that make this so. Some may recall that a perfectly competitive market of identical firms yields a horizontal long-run supply curve. Others may recall that monopolists don’t have one at all. Relatively few will recall the obvious, but usually implicit, assumption that payment for goods and services supplied are actually made to those who create the supply. In Byrne and Thompson (2001), we made this trivial idea the cornerstone of an analysis of financial incentives for cadaveric organ donation.
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Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 19-25
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/18/2004-04-byrnethompson-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/154
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:19-25
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Alexander Tabarrok
Title: Reply to Byrne and Thompson
Abstract: IN THEIR RESPONSE, AS IN THEIR PAPER, BYRNE AND THOMPSON elide the implausible assumptions that drive their model. Consider their statement: “Only a fraction of the population need view organ donation as costly for our results to hold.” Since I agree that survey evidence “unambiguously shows” that some people do not want to be organ donors it would seem they have proven their case. Yet, they have omitted the most important aspects of their model. For their perverse supply result to occur, not only must some people who truly find the prospect of organ donation distasteful nevertheless sign their organ donor cards in response to a monetary incentive, but, also, a significant portion of families must, in an attempt to discern the donor’s “true” intentions, decide not to allow organ harvesting, reversing the express intent indicated on the card. Because of their love for the potential donor, the families will try to have their cake and eat it too—that is, receive the reward for signing the organ donor card and also receive the reward of not donating the organs.
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Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 26-28
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/32/2004-04-tabarrok2-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/163
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:26-28
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Edwin D. Maberly
Author-Name: Raylene M. Pierce
Title: Stock Market Efficiency Withstands another Challenge: Solving the “Sell in May/Buy after Halloween” Puzzle
Abstract: Examining the years 1970 to 1998, Bouman and Jacobsen (2002) document unusually high monthly returns during the November-April periods for both United States (U.S.) and foreign stock markets and label this phenomenon the Halloween effect. Their research suggests that the Halloween effect represents an exploitable anomaly and has negative implications for claims of stock market efficiency. Re-examining Bouman and Jacobsen’s empirical results for the U.S. reveals that their results are driven by two outliers, the “Crash” of October 1987 and the collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in August 1998. After inserting a dummy variable to account for the impact of the two identified outliers, the Halloween effect becomes statistically insignificant. This anomaly is not economically exploitable for U.S. equity markets. We extend the research to the S&P 500 futures contract and find no evidence of an exploitable Halloween effect over the period April 1982-April 2003.
Classification-JEL: G14, G11
Keywords: efficient markets,trading rules,outliers,anomalies
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 29-46
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/24/2004-04-maberlypierce-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/158
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:29-46
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Michael De Alessi
Title: An Ivory-Tower Take on the Ivory Trade
Abstract: Kremer and Morcom focus on how the price of ivory affects the incentive to poach elephants and how government policies can be developed to address this problem. Despite an ostensible emphasis on policy, however, the ‘state of the world’ that is assumed throughout the paper is so far removed from the real world of elephant conservation that the authors’ policy recommendations ring hollow. The exclusive focus on state intervention, as opposed to private action, is the ultimate failure of the Kremer-Morcom approach. The private approach, ignored by Kremer and Morcom, offers the greatest hope for elephant conservation—an approach that depends not in devaluing the animals under an open-access regime, but in making them more valuable under differing types of private ownership regimes.
Classification-JEL: Q20, Q28
Keywords: elephants,property rights,wildlife management,poaching,endangered species,ivory,extinction pressure,CITES,Endangered Species Act,Africa,storable goods
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 47-54
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/15/2004-04-alessi1-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/152
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:47-54
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Michael Kremer
Title: Response to De Alessi
Abstract: IN “ELEPHANTS” CHARLES MORCOM AND I ARGUE THAT THE economics of open-access, storable natural resources, such as ivory, differ fundamentally from those of nonstorable, open-access resources, such as fish (Kremer and Morcom 2000). In general, overharvesting of open-access resources reduces long-run yield or, in extreme cases, leads to extinction. Overharvesting, therefore, makes the future price high. We argue that if the good can be stored, the expectation of high prices in the future can lead to high prices in the short run, as speculators buy up the resource. This stimulates increased harvesting, or poaching, in the short-run. Thus, for storable, open-access resources, expectations of high harvesting rates can be self-fulfilling and there may be multiple rational expectations equilibria: for example, one in which the species is driven to extinction and one in which it survives.
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Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 55-57
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/23/2004-04-kremer-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/157
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:55-57
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Michael De Alessi
Title: Reply to Kremer
Abstract: MICHAEL KREMER RAISES SOME REASONABLE POINTS IN HIS response, but fails to address my main critique, which is that despite offering a development of the Clark extinction model, Kremer and Morcom’s analysis tells us little or nothing about the real world. Fair enough for an intellectual exercise, but the specific policy prescriptions of the article would only exacerbate the problem for endangered species worldwide. This kind of disconnect underscores the gap between the positive influence that economics could have on important issues such as the conservation of natural resources, and the abstractions that seem to have gripped the profession and torn it away from pragmatic analysis.
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Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 58-60
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/17/2004-04-alessi2-com.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/153
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:58-60
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Rick Geddes
Title: Postal Reform
Abstract: This essay examines the published views of vital economists regarding postal reform. I define a vital economist as one who has produced scholarly research on this issue, and who has expressed an opinion about the direction reform should take. The ten vital economists surveyed here express surprisingly similar opinions on the proper direction for postal reform. The vast majority advocate some combination of privatization and elimination or relaxation of the delivery monopoly. Those opinions are in stark contrast to the published views of economists who have not carefully examined this issue.
Classification-JEL: L87, L88, H42
Keywords: postal reform,monopoly,privatization,universal service,liberalization,property rights
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 61-81
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/19/2004-04-geddes-reach_concl.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/155
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:61-81
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mark Thornton
Title: Drug Policy
Abstract: Economists have been newsworthy critics of the policy of drug prohibition. This paper seeks to determine if these instances of criticism represent a consensus of professional opinion. A random survey of professional economists suggests that the majority supports reform of drug policy in the direction of decriminalization. A survey of professional economists who have published on the subject of drug prohibition and expressed a policy judgment indicates an even greater consensus which is critical of prohibition and supportive of policy reforms in the direction of decriminalization, and to a lesser extent, legalization.
Classification-JEL: K42
Keywords: prohibition,crime,addiction,public policy
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 82-105
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/33/2004-04-thornton-reach_concl.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/164
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:82-105
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: E. C. Pasour, Jr
Title: Agricultural Economists and the State
Abstract: Agricultural economists, going back to the Roosevelt New Deal era, have a long legacy of supporting government intervention in the farm sector. Although policy economists have increased criticism of farm programs since World War II—particularly price support programs—there remains a substantial amount of support for government intervention in U.S. agriculture. The role of the USDA in funding policy research in agriculture tends to influence both the views of policy economists and the extent to which they express judgment in favor of liberalization of farm policies. Government farm programs provide work opportunities so that USDA-funded policy analysts have an incentive not to question the economic legitimacy of programs analyzed. State and local farm commodity interests also exert pressure on policy analysts who propose policy liberalization. In short, many policy economists today are critical of farm commodity programs but a vocal minority defends them. Even free-market agricultural policy economists, touting “positive science,” often fail to express judgment when analyzing farm commodity programs. Moreover, in analyzing “market failure” as a basis for conservation and other non-commodity farm programs, agricultural policy economists frequently implicitly support intervention by ignoring problems of “government failure.”
Classification-JEL: Q10, Q18, A11, H11
Keywords: agricultural policy,policy economists,policy analysis,economic liberalization,research funding,government intervention.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 106-133
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/26/2004-04-pasour-tyranny_statquo.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/159
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:106-133
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Kenneth Arrow
Title: Symposium on Information and Knowledge: Arrow Correspondence
Abstract:
Classification-JEL:
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Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages:
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/286/ejw_sym_apr05_arrow.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/641
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:2:y:2004:i:1:p:
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Eric Chiang
Title: The Social Science Citation Index: A Black Box—with an Ideological Bias?
Abstract: In figuring eminence in the social sciences, the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) is of great importance. Yet the SSCI selection process is a black box. Scrutiny of the SSCI journal list reveals that the stated SSCI journal selection criteria are vague and applied inconsistently. The Nation, The New Republic, and many other periodicals that fail to meet most conditions said to be a criterion for inclusion are nonetheless included in the SSCI. I investigate whether the process and resultant list are, not merely inconsistent, but ideologically biased. Although it is impossible to determine with great confidence whether there is an ideological bias, I present a variety of evidence of bias in favor of journals of a social democratic orientation and against journals of a classical liberal orientation.
Classification-JEL: A14, Z00
Keywords: Social Science Citation Index,citation count,bias,ideological orientation
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 134-165
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/263/ejw_ia_apr04_kleinchiang1.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/316
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:134-165
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Author-Name: Eric Chiang
Title: Citation Counts and SSCI in Personnel Decisions: A Survey of Economics Departments
Abstract: This paper reports the results of a survey of economics department chairs regarding the importance of citation counts in personnel decisions. The 30 responses vary, some reporting virtually no importance of citation counts, but 15 respondents report that citation counts usually or always come up in promotion cases. Fourteen respondents report that the weight given to citation counts increased over the past decade, while one reports that it declined. Fourteen expect it to increase further in the future, while only one expects it to decline. The survey also inquires about the importance of a journal’s inclusion in the Social Science Citation Index in deciding whether a publication is deemed “peer reviewed.” The results indicate that at many universities SSCI inclusion is important.
Classification-JEL: A14, Z00
Keywords: Social Science Citation Index,SSCI,citation count,hiring,promotion,personnel decisions,peer-review,academic economics,economics profession.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 166-174
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/262/ejw_ia_apr04_kleinchiang2.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/315
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:166-174
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Per Skedinger
Author-Name: Dan Johansson
Title: In Sweden, Anti-Globalizationists Dominate Public Discourse, Econ Profs Do Little
Abstract: In recent years, globalization and its consequences have become hotly debated issues. In Europe, non-governmental organizations like Attac have argued that free trade and free capital movements favor large corporations and rich countries, while poor countries are treated unfairly. These ideas have gained wide-spread attention in the media. But globalization is also a large research area in economics, so there is a golden opportunity for economists to disseminate their knowledge to the interested public. In this article, we investigate to what extent Swedish professors, with publications in the relevant fields of research, actually take part in the public discourse on globalization. We find that the professors are virtually absent in the debate and we discuss possible causes and consequences of this inactivity.
Classification-JEL: A11, A14, F02
Keywords: role of economists,globalization
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 175-184
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/284/SkedingerandJohanssonEconInPracticeApril2004.pdf
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File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/327
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:175-184
Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Daniel B. Klein
Title: Ken Kam and Market Efficiency
Abstract: An entrepreneur named Ken Kam has transcended the conventional interpretations of how to go about picking mutual-fund stock pickers. Compared to the S&P500, his mutual fund has been delivering significantly better returns with a significantly better "beta." His discovery is not aptly described as merely new information, and thus illustrates the point that knowledge ought not be flattened down to mere information. Does Ken Kam's mutual fund falsify the so-called market efficiency hypothesis? If not, why not? And if not, what would?
Classification-JEL: A1, G14
Keywords: asymmetric interpretation,entrepreneurship,knowledge,information,market efficiency hypothesis,mutual fund.
Journal: Econ Journal Watch
Pages: 185-191
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Year: 2004
Month: April
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/file_download/266/ejw_wat_apr04_klein.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-URL: http://econjwatch.org/317
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Handle: RePEc:ejw:journl:v:1:y:2004:i:1:p:185-191