Interesting blog bits

1. Don Boudreaux on Gordon Tullock. I like Tullock, he once threatened to have Eric killed! And has has a great attitude towards driving.
2. Defective Equilibrium on Coercion. What does it mean to be coerced?
3. Brad Taylor responds to the above post here.
4. Eric Crampton gives a Survey of economists on the financial crisis. To me it doesn't look good.
5. Oxonomics discusses A Return to Industrial Policy in the UK. Again this doesn't look good.
6. Alberto Alesina and Paola Giuliano discuss Preferences for redistribution: The crisis, reduced inequality, and soak-the-rich populism. Will Americans turn into “inequality intolerant” Europeans? Such a radical shift is unlikely, but this column argues that this crisis may be a turning point towards more government intervention and redistribution in the US. More and more Americans believe that hard work is insufficient to climb the income ladder and are expressing anger against “unfairly” accumulated wealth. Politicians should prefer wise policies but may be tempted by populist outbursts. More stuff that doesn't look good.
7. Not PC on Apostrophes to the gallant apostrophe. The apostrophe is an essential part of English grammar but errors in apostrophe usage abound.
8. Freakonomics on Japan's Weird Unemployment Solution. The solution? Get the unemployed out of the country by offering citizenship buyouts. Now that is weird!