Interesting blog bits

1. Chris Dillow writes on "Economics" & Rationality
   

   "One of the great irritations of our age is the tendency for non-economists to tell us what's wrong with economics."
   
   It would be, I think, difficult to find an economist who disagrees with Chris on that.

2. Gavin Kennedy on Larry Arnhart Reviews Matt Ridley

   I agree with much of Larry Arnhart’s criticism of some of Matt Ridley’s ideas, but I also have reservations about some of Larry’s presentation of the “stateless” versus market-states extremes. States evolved both bottom up and top down; both are susceptible to future changes

3. Don Boudreau notes that The Problem Is Precisely that Majoritarian Voting Is a Deeply Problem-Filled Means of Making Decisions

   A sadly overlooked alternative to a democratic state governing / controlling / restricting / regulating / subsidizing / commanding activity X is for the market to govern X.

4. Stephen MacLean gives A cheer for constitutional monarchy's restraint on government

   As the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations wind down, it may be well to reflect on an aspect of public choice theory which supports constitutional monarchy — principally its rôle as a brake upon self-aggrandising politicians.

5. David Henderson asks Is Labor Law More Oppressive for Workers than for Employers?

   The main effect of the federal government's labor laws is to give monopoly power to groups of workers. So abolishing federal labor law would be more liberating for employers than for the unions.

6. Greg Mankiw on Barro on the Slow Recovery

   Robert says incentives are the key

7. John Cochrane on Crony Capitalism

   Luigi Zingales has a nice Wall Street Journal oped today, decrying how crony capitalism has ruined Italy and is on its way to doing so in the US

8. Steven Horwitz asks Do Free Markets Require Rational Actors? Learning and correction of error are what count.

   Two plane rides the other day afforded the opportunity to read Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational. Published in 2008, Ariely’s book is a popular treatment of the growing field of “behavioral economics.” This field combines economics and psychology (and sometimes neuroscience) to try to figure out whether people always behave the way the rational-actor model of economics says they will, and if not, why not. Behavioral economists use experimental methods to see how people will react to various choice situations and determine whether they pick the maximizing choice, as the standard economic model says they should.