Interesting blog bits

1. Gavin Kennedy writes on A Must Read New Book on Friedrich Hayek
   

   The publisher describes Eamonn Butler’s “Friedrich Hayek” as “a breath of intellectual fresh air”. I concur, for Butler is refreshingly easy to read. He is a brilliant communicator and needs to be to compress Hayek’s many volumes of his lifetime’s writings into 146 pages and hold his readers’ attention. Scholars familiar with Hayek’s works and general readers exposed to them for the first time will find much here worthy of their attention.

2. Eric Crampton on Flynn effects

   Professor Flynn is trying to help you improve your mind. My review of his latest book should be in today's Christchurch Press. They gave me 450 words; I took 480.

3. James Zuccollo asks Have election turnouts been falling?

   After appallingly poor turnouts in recent local elections in the UK The Guardian has a post implying that election turnouts have been falling over time.

4. Matt Nolan on Careful with the CGT “silver bullet”

   In New Zealand people are looking for a lot of ways to solve many perceived problems with a quick policy solution. One that is being suggested is a capital gains tax.

5. Tim Harford on Growth or bust
   

   If there were more corporate collapses, the economy would be a healthier place.

6. Eric Crampton on Advertising, brands, and prices
   

   Advertising both persuades and informs. Informative advertising makes markets more competitive, reducing prices faced by consumers; persuasive advertising that reinforces brand loyalty segments markets and increases prices paid by consumers.

7. Peter Cresswell on Hard Labour is coming for you

   Want to know what dangerous fantasies inhabit Labour activists’ minds? Wonder no longer, as all the dopy policy remits activists have dreamed up for consideration at this weekend’s Hard Labour conference have now been published online.

8. Peter Cresswell on Deep Green

   Since I’ve just posted below just some of the dopiness promoted by Hard Labour activists, I thought it only fair to update my on-going study of their coalition partners favourite word: “ban.”

9. Greg Mankiw asks Should we repeal anti-gouging laws?

   He gives some readings on this question.

10. Jennifer Hunt on The impact of immigration on the educational attainment of natives

    Are poorly-educated immigrants’ kids dragging native classmates down? Or do schoolchildren push themselves when new, smarter immigrants join their class? This column argues that although child immigrants may sometimes bring down native minorities, on the whole, poorly educated natives upgrade their education in response to new immigrants in the classroom.

11. Tim Harford on How Adam Smith could help the Church
12. Gavin Kennedy on Adam Smith's Authentic Views On Church and State

    Tim Harford (of ”Undercover Economist” fame) writes in the Financial Times (16 November): “How Adam Smith could help the Church” “Laurence Iannaccone, an economist who has specialised in the economics of religion, developed an idea he drew from the writings of Adam Smith: that more competitive religious marketplaces lead to more dynamic churches.”

13. Eric Crampton on Cheap plonk
    

    It's not crazy to argue for the combination of a lower alcohol excise tax and a minimum per-unit price for alcohol if harm-causing drinkers disproportionately choose the cheapest plonk while moderate drinkers choose more expensive drinks.