E.C. Mendenhall
- Member since 01/07/08
Ideas by E.C.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 1:28am on January 9, 2008
Re: Re: Is American capitalism inherently wasteful?
"How different, philosophically, is American capitalism from French capitalism? It's much less than people imagine." --Paul Krugman, 'Re: Is American Capitalism inherently wasteful?' Is this because French and American capitalism both operate on similar fundamental capitalist principles, or because they've both strayed so far from them?
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 12:25am on January 9, 2008
Re: What changed your mind about climate change?
The Stern Review, commissioned by the British Treasury in 2006, which concluded that investing 1% of global GDP could prevent warming, and that failure to do so could result in the loss of 20% of world GDP in the future. There are valid criticisms of the report, and climate change is a difficult moral question, but the research itself is quite troubling.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 12:16am on January 9, 2008
Re: Re: Is climate change a human rights issue?
Climate change itself may not be a human rights issue -- though evidence seems to indicate that rich nations have created most of the problem, and poor ones will bear the brunt of the costs -- but the way wealthy countries choose to respond to global warming is certainly a rights issue. Dire poverty and its symptoms -- disease, war, famine -- kill many more humans globally, today, than climate change potentially will in the future. In terms of saving human lives, we could do much more good by alleviating poverty now, especially with positive-sum solutions like free trade and immigration, than we could by making massive sacrifices today in order to forestall global warming and reap little potential benefit tomorrow. Further, once poor nations develop, there's evidence that they start taking care of the environment, too. Forcing anyone -- but especially the poor -- to reduce emissions is a nasty practice that puts uneven values on the lives of rich and poor humans around the world.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 11:45pm on January 8, 2008
Re: Re: How do we manage intellectual property online?
Of course software patents and other bad digital property rights schemes stifle creativity -- there's simply no incentive to innovate when it's easier to extort. The bigger problem is that the law hasn't kept up with new kinds of property and most property rights laws, like patents and copyrights, were designed for the physical world and meant to apply to things like mechanical parts and books. They simply don't translate to new, different types of digital property, and consumers and innovators are left with weird, backwards rules. Fortunately, I don't think the system needs to be completely overhauled. Voluntary schemes like Creative Commons are excellent solutions to some of the problems -- and they don't require new laws or government intervention at all.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 11:34pm on January 7, 2008
Re: Is ethanol overhyped?
Absolutely. Ethanol may be the dumbest idea in recent history, putting a green guise on pricey handouts. The "Energy Independence and Security Act," passed by Congress this year, will push US ethanol production to 36bn gallons by 2020, and cost taxpayers $7bn. Thanks to the smorgasbord of subsidies doled out in the bill, the federal government is likely to purchase a third of the US corn crop this year. This misguided hunger is already perverting food markets worldwide. World grain prices have skyrocketed this year, largely because we're growing corn for our gas tanks, instead of to feed to people. Peasants in Mexico rioted earlier this year over the price of tortillas. The IFPRI estimates that ethanol could reduce calorie intake in Africa by 8% by 2020. Worst of all, ethanol has encouraged farmers to plant more corn and less hops on the margin, so beer prices are poised to shoot up, and microbreweries are going under left and right. More hunger, less beer -- sounds dumb to me.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 6:56pm on January 7, 2008
Are we living in the future?
As I type, there's a robot vacuuming my living room floor. Last week, a computer took my picture and sent me a speeding ticket. Wikipedia, great font of all easy-access knowledge, is on my freakin' cell phone. And of course, I can communicate with people all over the world effortlessly, with tools like bigthink. I don't see any flying cars, but might we already be living in the future? And is technology -- and the way humanity uses it -- headed in the right direction?
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 6:27pm on January 7, 2008
Re: ¿Do you think the border wall between Mexico and USA is a solution?
Depends on the problem you want to solve. If you're only interested in stopping entrants, a massive wall works pretty well. I've visited, and it's formidably tall and quite solid. If the problem is inequality between Mexican and US citizens, and the fact that jobs and workers flow to where they are valued most, open immigration is a far more effective and humane policy. Today, we have neither. Patchwork walls and uneven enforcement here in Arizona merely force migrants to travel across dangerous terrain, like the Sonoran desert or the Mule mountains. Poor policy takes a terrible human toll - at least 230 migrants this year. It creates an informal market for professional smugglers, often associated with organized crime. Worst, it hasn't kept economic principles from working. With huge demand for cheap labor, and scores of workers seeking to improve their lives, immigration is going strong. Open borders are reasonable and humane. The poor deserve a chance to improve their lot.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 3:37pm on January 7, 2008
Re: William Easterly on Africa
"I don't think the West is going to achieve the end of poverty in Africa, like Jeff Sachs does. I think Africans are going to achieve the end of poverty in a homegrown way." Professor Easterly is absolutely right. Economic principles work in Africa just as well as they do everywhere else in the world. After decades of failed development policy, the West just needs to stop meddling and quietly encourage the institutions vital to a proper economy -- things like property rights, rule of law, and limited government. But if arrogant foreigners continue to charge into the third world with a feel-good "big push," at our side, we'll only continue to harm some of the most miserable people in the world.
E.C. Mendenhall posted a Blog at 3:22pm on January 7, 2008
Re: William Easterly on Africa
"I don't think the West is going to achieve the end of poverty in Africa, like Jeff Sachs does. I think Africans are going to achieve the end of poverty in a homegrown way." Professor Easterly is absolutely. Economic principles work in Africa just as well as they do everywhere else in the world. The West just needs to stop meddling and quietly encourage the institutions vital to a proper economy -- things like property rights, rule of law, and limited government. But if we continue to charge into the third world with a feel-good "big push," at our side, we'll only continue to harm some of the most miserable people in the world.
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