Interesting blog bits

1. Eric Crampton on Chutzpah. There's a reason economists make fun of French labour laws. (Actually there's a lot more about the French economy to make fun of!)
2. David Neumark on Delay the Minimum-Wage Hike. A recession is the worst time to raise the cost of low-skilled employment.
3. N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew Weinzierl ask Do you really want to tax ability? Should the income tax system include a tax credit for short taxpayers and a tax surcharge for tall ones? This column explains how the standard utilitarian framework for tax policy analysis says that individual attributes correlated with wages, such as height, should determine tax liabilities. Taller individuals should pay higher taxes. If this is objectionable, then something is wrong with the standard framework.
4. David F. Hendry and J James Reade ask How should we make economic forecasts? A vital challenge confronting economists is how to forecast, especially during a recession because livelihoods depend on those forecasts. This column discusses choosing amongst forecasts and outlines the concerns involved in averaging across models or using general-to-specific model searches.
5. At Oxonomics they ask Is Cristiano Ronaldo worth £80? May be, may be not.
6. Lynne Kiesling on Water footprint as the next big thing. You have to wonder if people will continue resisting the accurate pricing of water as this issue evolves.