More Reviews of Smith Biography

Last week I pointed to a review of Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life. Here is another collection of reviews, courtesy of Marginal Revolution. I'm adding the book to my carousel at left. So if you think you're interested in the book and would like to help support this blog, I encourage you to either click there or on the title above.

Follow-up on Haiti

One of my ongoing themes this year appears to be Haiti. (I won't bother you with a bunch of links. It's easier if you just put Haiti in the search at the upper left corner of the blog.)

Here is a follow-up courtesy of the folks from Planet Money at National Public Radio. It seems that entrepreneurial spirit can accomplish wonderful things - even overcoming bureaucratic barriers of all kinds.

Incentives Matter

Finally, here is something from the Incentives Matter Department. It seems that prices affect behavior. (Who would have guessed?) First, prices can lead to more crime. (HT to Division of Labour)

And second, according to this piece from Planet Money, prices can improve treatment of passengers. Who would have thought that prices can be such powerful messengers?

Globalization and Growth

Today's edition of The Wall Street Journal has an article (subscriber content at this writing) that really links growth to globalization. Here's the video that accompanies the article.



You might want to put the title of the article in your browser to see if you can find an ungated version of the whole story somewhere. But the video explains the salient points. And when you teach macro, this can provide a good insight.

As I've pointed out to my students, looking a net trade can be deceiving. One gets a much clearer sense of the importance of trade to the U.S. economy if you look at the absolute value (add the value of imports and exports).

A Child's Assessment of Opportunity Cost

Okay, it's from Calvin's perspective...but still.

Myths about Exports

Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek had a very useful post a couple days ago. It was a letter he sent to The Washington Post regarding a recent article. The article itself is interesting and useful. If you want to help your students understand exports and be able to counter various myths about exports, it's just the thing.

But as Boudreaux points out, it has a misconception - a myth if you will - of its own and he is as eloquent as ever in explaining it. And in the process reminded me of the dual nature of Gross Domestic Product. I look forward to your comments.

History of Economics

I know I come at this topic from a position of bias, but I think Dr. Bruce Caldwell of Duke University makes some excellent points in this article (HT Division of Labour).

Over the years, I've said many of these things to people who ask why I'm interested in the History of Economic Thought, but I don't recall stringing all of these together and certainly not as eloquently as Dr. Caldwell has.

In a related item, here's a review in The New Statesmen of a new biography of Adam Smith that looks promising. Titled Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, it takes a broad look at the man who became the father of modern economics.

Is it worthwhile to learn about the great economists? I think so. I've gained much insight from reading biographies and the master works of thinkers such as Smith, Keynes, and Schumpeter - certainly more than I would have gained by reading only biographies or only the master works.

Do you integrate the economists and their ideas into your class or do you "stick to the facts"? I look forward to your comments.