Happy Thanksgiving! Instead of rehashing the same old things we are thankful for, let’s change it up by asking, What are you LEAST thankful for these days? I will go first: Ticketmaster, the TSA, mask mandates, and red light cameras.
Fifty-nine years ago (22 November 1963), President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Ten months later (September 1964), the Warren Commission concluded that President Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald and that the assassin had acted entirely alone.
Do you believe the official lone gunman theory, or was there a conspiracy? What if there were a truth market in which people could place bets on this question? (For what it’s worth, I propose just such a solution here and here, and I will address some possible problems with my proposed truth market during the Thanksgiving break.)
According to this report in The Guardian (U.K.), the morality police in Qatar are confiscating rainbow-coloured hats worn by fans attending FIFA World Cup matches.
Pictured above are just a small sample of the many PSA messages I was bombarded with at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport while I was waiting to board my return flight home. Not pictured are the incessant and even more annoying airport-wide intercom announcements on human trafficking and other evils. Welcome to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Fort Lauderdale! Paternalism is alive and well at the FLL airport.
(SEA stands for the Southern Economics Association.) This was the most insane conference I have ever attended. To the point, the conference program was printed in a tiny 10-point font (see, for example, page 137 of the program pictured below) and ran to 200-plus pages, and the morning panels began at 7:45 in the morning, with over 30 concurrent panels to choose from in each session! My main complaint, however, is that the economists of SEA refuse to apply market principles to their own conference. They charge a flat fee to attend the massive three-day conference (like a socialist version of Disneyland) instead of offering a la carte pricing, where one pays for the number of panels one actually attends (like a capitalist state fair, where one must pay for each ride). Memo to the SEA: do better!
I will be leading a panel on “New Perspectives on Adam Smith” at the annual meeting of the Southern Economic Association later today. Thus far, my favorite talk has been Henry Thompson’s on “The Organization of Extortion”, which explores the law and economics of criminal protection rackets. Alas, Professor Thompson’s extortion paper is not yet posted to SSRN, so in the meantime, here is his previous work on “Cosa Nostra Courts“.
I am reblogging my previous post (see below) as I have been busy preparing a month-by-month outline and TED-talk-like presentation of Adam Smith’s 1766 sojourn in Paris. Among other things, I have also added two new sections to part one of my work on Adam Smith in Paris. One of the new sections is devoted to Adam Smith’s travel companions in Paris: Duke Henry (Henry Scott), the 3rd Duke of Buccleuch (whose 1760 portrait is also posted below), and his younger brother Hew Campbell Scott. The other new section surveys Smith’s reputation among the philosophes of Paris. I will post excerpts from both new sections soon …
(With apologies to SNL stars Michael Che and Colin Jost.) I will be attending the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association (SEA) this weekend, where I will be moderating a panel on “New Perspectives on Adam Smith” (see the full SEA schedule here). I was also invited to present my work on Adam Smith’s ten-month visit to Paris in 1766. I have made significant additions and revisions to part one of my “Adam Smith in Paris” manuscript, beginning with the title. It is now titled: “Through the Eyes of Horace Walpole: Adam Smith in Paris (February to April, 1766).” I will survey the other substantive changes I have made to my work in my next few posts.
(With apologies to SNL stars Michael Che and Colin Jost.) I will be attending the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association (SEA) this weekend, where I will be moderating a panel on “New Perspectives on Adam Smith” (see the full SEA schedule here). I was also invited to present my work on Adam Smith’s ten-month visit to Paris in 1766. I have made significant additions and revisions to part one of my “Adam Smith in Paris” manuscript, beginning with the title. It is now titled: “Through the Eyes of Horace Walpole: Adam Smith in Paris (February to April, 1766).” I will survey the other substantive changes I have made to my work in my next few posts.
As a follow-up to my previous post, I am posting a few additional links (in chronological order) regarding Keynesian beauty contests:
Welcome to the online home of the IASS
Hopefully It’s Interesting.
In Conversation with Legal and Moral Philosophers
PhD, Jagiellonian University
Books, papers, and other jurisprudential things
Ramblings of a retiree in France
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
Natalia's space
hoping we know we're living the dream
Lover of math. Bad at drawing.
We hike, bike, and discover Central Florida and beyond
Making it big in business after age 40
Reasoning about reasoning, mathematically.
I don't mean to sound critical, but I am; so that's how it comes across
remember the good old days...
"Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences." - Sylvia Plath
a personal view of the theory of computation
Logic at Columbia University
Just like the Thesis Whisperer - but with more money
the sky is no longer the limit
Technology, Culture, and Ethics
Just like the horse whisperer - but with more pages
Poetry, Other Words, and Cats
