The EPoV

The Economic Point of View

[Khoa Vu @KhoaVuUmn]

People complain about FIFA rigging the games then come back to writing about why we should do industrial policy.

[The EPoV @PREconomics]

Following the discourse over the past ~ year, it seems clear there must now be a group who...

1. Believes imports reduce GDP
2. That's a good thing, ackshually

What do we call these? "Postliberal free traders"?

[The EPoV @PREconomics]

Basic price theory demonstrates that such laws violate the 10th commandment.

[George Sayour @GeorgeSayour]

The 10th Commandment can't be Legislated!

There's a fundamental misunderstanding of what legislating the Moral Law actual limits/promotes/orders. Its not heart nor thought level

Predatory Lending & Consumer Protection laws r actually Civil application of the 10th Com..

[Deirdre Nansen McCloskey @DeirdreMcClosk]

An economist is often asked at a cocktail party what to read to learn some economics.

It’s easy to answer the question about chemistry or ancient Greek or any settled science. If you ask an astronomer what to read to learn some astronomy, she’ll have no problem.

But there’s a problem with economics, even first-year economics. Economics isn’t settled.

My latest column for @folha

[Marian L Tupy @Marian_L_Tupy]

There are only 2 ways to allocate capital:

1. The market
2. Politicians

If you believe that a former senator from Ohio knows how much to spend on data centers v. automakers v. mining and so on, option 2 is for you.

I don't. Therefore, it's not for me.

[The EPoV @PREconomics]

Economist's task is never done.

[KTVU @KTVU]

A decline in car break-ins across Oakland is being welcomed as a public safety win, but it is also contributing to a downturn for some local auto glass repair businesses. https://t.co/14r7UeCpS1

[Phil Magness @PhilWMagness]

Authors who, when cited as the main authority for a claim in the economic realm, induce an automatic eyeroll because you just know that whatever follows is going to be factually wrong and/or bonkers:

David Graeber
Karl Polanyi
Pierro Sraffa
Michael Pettis
Ha-Joon Chang
Mariana Mazzucato
Stephanie Kelton
Yanis Varoufakis
Robert Reich
Wendy Brown
Naomi Klein
Oren Cass
Anyone affiliated with the New History of Capitalism movement
Anyone affiliated with the Postliberal movement

[Dominic Pino @DominicJPino]

And here's how the gaps between US real GDP per capita and other countries have changed between 1990 and 2024:

vs. 🇮🇹: +$1,722 -> +$22,376
vs. 🇩🇪: +$2,005 -> +$12,662
vs. 🇨🇦: +$3,903 -> +$18,800
vs. 🇫🇷: +$5,723 -> +$21,027
vs. 🇦🇺: +$8,173 -> +$15,410
vs. 🇯🇵: +$9,106 -> +$29,394
vs. 🇬🇧: +$10,071 -> +$22,974
vs. 🇷🇺: +$14,735 -> +$33,787
vs. 🇲🇽: +$27,209 -> +$53,459
vs. 🇧🇷: +$33,745 -> +$55,844
vs. 🇨🇳: +$42,712 -> +$51,646

🇺🇸 was richer than all of them to start and is even richer now.

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

The US since 1990:
• Real GDP per capita: +68%
• Real median wages (PCE): +34%
• Infant mortality: -42%
• Life expectancy: +4 years
• Nonfarm employment: +46% (50M jobs)
• Median household wealth: +128%
• Industrial capacity: +76%

[Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc]

You either die a disruptor, or live long enough to see yourself become an incumbent

[The EPoV @PREconomics]

@itaisher @ben_golub @JamesBroughel Possibly ask Armen Alchian or George Stigler who published similar arguments?

[The EPoV @PREconomics]

@ben_golub @PunishedAriele Not sure I'd dismiss as "ignorant" a view defended also by: Armen Alchian, George Stigler, Steven Cheung, Harold Demsetz, etc...

[Brian Albrecht @BrianCAlbrecht]

Bare minimum for holding a conversation: Smith, Ricardo, Marshall, Walras, Menger, Wicksteed, Hayek, Friedman, Stigler, Coase, Becker, Tullock, Alchian, Demsetz, Lucas, Shleifer, Williamson, Ostroy

[Matt Darling 🌐🏗️ @besttrousers]

A real problem is that a lot of people think that Bad Things (crime) must cause Other Bad Things (high rent).

But sometimes Bad Things do not cause Other Bad Things. In this case, "high crime" *decreases* housing costs because people are less willing to live in high crime areas.

[Daniel Di Martino @DanielDiMartino]

This is one of the many elementary errors that show me Mr Antoni is unqualified for the labor market data collection and analysis role he was nominated to.

People will discuss credentials but what matters is whether you know what you're talking about.

[Alexandre Padilla @dr_alexpadilla]

Most university core curricula require coursework in English, Mathematics, Science, & History—but omit Economics. As a consequence, students often complete their degrees w/o a foundational understanding of economic principles, particularly those related to markets, incentives, & trade-offs. Meanwhile, narratives favoring centralized planning & government intervention are frequently presented without critical engagement, & the historical failures of such systems are often reframed as deviations from “true socialism.” This intellectual imbalance helps explain the persistence of inefficient policies that, despite good intentions, frequently harm the populations they are designed to support. @PhilWMagness @PeterBoettke

[Vance Ginn @VanceGinn]

@HawleyMO Of course Sen. Josh Hawley wants to raise the federal minimum wage. He’s part of the NatCon nonsense that ignores or even rejects economics at the peril of others, especially the people they intend to help. Sad. End socialist government-mandated minimum wages!

[Robin Hanson @robinhanson]

Related: “let’s expand the concept of ‘human rights’ to include a right to our thing”

[Robin Hanson @robinhanson]

“Why won’t the world spend even 1% of world product on our thing?”
Says 10K groups with different things