Latest Blogwatch column

My Blogwatch column from the latest issue (Issue 68, August 2020) of the NZAE magazine Asymmetric Information.

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World

Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World traces Sowell’s journey from humble beginnings to the Hoover Institution, becoming one of our era’s most controversial economists, political philosophers, and prolific authors. Hosted by Jason Riley, a member of The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the one-hour program features insights from Sowell and interviews with his close friends and associates, revealing why the intensely private Thomas Sowell is considered by many to be “one of the greatest minds of the past half-century” and “the smartest person in the room.”

The Theory of the Firm: An Overview of the Economic Mainstream, Revised Edition

This is a revised edition of Walker (2017). New sections or subsections have been added on the X-inefficiency model, the division of labour and the firm - both pre and post-1970, ownership of the firm and the human capital based firm. Additions have been made to sections on entrepreneurship, the incomplete contracts approach to the firm, the discussion of Coase’s paper on the ‘The Nature of the Firm’, the discussion of industry-level analysis versus intra-firm analysis, reasons for ignoring firm, a small addition has been made to the Sreni material in section 2.1 and material on Commenda, Waqf and the Clan Corporation has also been added to section 2.1. Appendix 4 has been deleted.

Walker, Paul (2017). The Theory of the Firm: An overview of the economic mainstream, London: Routledge.

The Theory of the Firm: An ... by Paul Walker

The antitrust case against Google

From the Cato Daly Podcast comes this interview in which Geoffrey Manne of the International Center for Law and Economics evaluates the claims in the antitrust case against Google.

Grumpy Economist: the future of cities. a conversation with Harvard's Ed Glaeser

Does Zoom mean we all work from home? Will cities bounce back? Will San Francisco and New York fade and smaller cities grow? What problems are the policies causing and can cities reverse downward spirals? How to help unfortunate people who live in cities?

The Black Death

At VoxEU.org Mark Koyama is interviewed by Tim Phillips on the topic of The Black Death

Seven hundred years ago the worst pandemic in history killed almost half the population of Europe and the Middle East. Mark Koyama tells Tim Phillips about the centuries-long economic impact of the Black Death.

Questions about Neanderthals answered

From the BBC's History Extra Podcast comes this discussion about Neanderthals.

In an episode produced in collaboration with our colleagues at BBC Science Focus Magazine, archaeologist Rebecca Wragg Sykes tackles some of the big questions about Neanderthals and their relations with modern humans.