Interesting blog bits

1. Matt Nolan writes In defence of inflation targeting in NZ

   Why the RBNZ is a scapegoat for the failure of government

2. Steven Horwitz writes Ezra Klein Mistakes the Arsonist for a Firefighter

   In Friday’s Washington Post, Ezra Klein raises a number of criticisms of the gold standard using as his hook the call for a new Gold Commission that appears in a draft of the new Republican Party platform. Putting aside the question of party politics and what a new Commission might do, Klein’s arguments against the gold standard are not as strong as he thinks. I want to respond to three of them here, and in reverse order of importance.

3. John Cochrane on Gordon on Growth

   Bob Gordon is making a big splash with a new paper, Is US Growth Over?

4. Francisco Ceballos, Tatiana Didier and Sergio Schmukler on Different facets of financial globalisation

   A lot has been said about the pros and cons of financial globalisation. But what exactly is ‘financial globalisation’? This column argues that we can’t be clear about the pros and cons of financial globalisation unless we are clear on what it actually is.

5. Chris Dillow writes on Bad Incentives in Politics

   Why do politicians not solve social problems? One reason, of course, is that such problems are intractable. But there's another reason - politicians sometimes lack the incentive to do so because politicians need to keep their enemies alive just as parasites need to keep their hosts alive.

6. Russ Roberts on Competition

   In this conversation with Roger Noll, we talked about how much more purposive and less relaxed sports are for kids these days. There are travel teams. Coaching is much more intense and serious. Training and conditioning is much more intense and serious. All of it starts young. Roger and I chalked this up to the increased amount of money coursing through the sports pipeline. That money makes professional sports more competitive which in turn makes the stakes higher for college sports (which has its own cash pipeline) which in turn make high school and middle school more intense.

7. Donald J. Boudreaux on Inconceivable Complexity

   Nevertheless, too many people, including politicians, continue to believe that because they can observe a handful of bulky facts about the economy, they can thereby know enough to intervene into that economy in ways that will improve its operation. That belief, though, is hubris. It’s very much like believing that you’ll fly if you simply strap on a pair of wings and commence to flapping madly.