Frozen at Grand Central

via 2BlowHards

Pakistani Film in India

Pakistani film on Islam in a rare India screening

History of Evil

Mockumentary about Evil in western civilization from Ancient Greece to present day.

Cool and Funny Blog

laughing squid

A muder most foul

The couple's 2 1/2-year-old son Blake, who was found home alone, gave investigators their first clues to his mother's disappearance when he said, "Mommy's crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy's in the rug," and later, "Daddy's mad."

-Sentencing Set for Ex-Cop in Murder Case

Religion in America

Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University, echoed that view. “Religion is the single most important factor that drives American belief attitudes and behaviors,” said Mr. Lindsay, who had read the Pew report. “It is a powerful indicator of where America will end up on politics, culture, family life. If you want to understand America, you have to understand religion in America.”

-Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate, Report Finds

Economics can still rescue a dictator

These stem from the economic crises that a new government has to face. The urgent measures needed to deal with these could easily destabilise the government and democracy. Populist economic policies of the past couple of years have undone much of the good of the early economic reforms of the Musharraf government.

Politically, the most difficult decision is to raise prices for oil and electricity, which have been left unchanged for a couple of years or so while world prices have soared. This has created a huge fiscal hole and growing indebtedness of the government to the oil companies. Energy prices may have to be raised by as much as 30 percent or more to stop this haemorrhage. Also the precise extent and the terms of the government’s resulting indebtedness to oil companies are not clear.

It is imperative that the price hikes are undertaken by the current government before the elected administration comes into office. Also, lax macroeconomic management in the past couple of years has led to rising inflation and a shrinking of the fiscal and balance-of-payments space.

At the same time, serious infrastructural constraints, especially of power, have emerged. This implies that the need for and the details of a stabilisation programme need to be agreed between the incoming and the outgoing governments and announced before a new government assumes office.

The economic situation is reminiscent in many ways of what the civilian government faced during the decade or so after 1988. During much of this decade they were confronted with onerous macroeconomic measures and conditionalities under a series of IMF programmes initiated by the last remnants of the Zia era. At any rate, avoiding politically destabilising economic stabilisation is vital for the success of this democratic transition in Pakistan.

The options for how that might be done include setting up a committee of independent technocrats to draw up such a programme in consultation with representatives of the government and the political parties that agree to form a government at the federal level.

The committee of technocrats could include those who were heavily involved in dealing with the macroeconomic crises of the late 1980s and 1990s. Names such as Saeed Qureshi, Rafiq Akhund, Mueen Afzal, Qazi Alimullah come to mind immediately in this category. Others on this committee should be academics and economists such as Rashid Amjad, Akmal Husain, Naved Hamid and Hafiz Pasha. This committee would consult with the government, the State Bank and with technocratic politicians, especially former finance ministers of the leading parties who have also had to deal with earlier stabilisation programmes such as Sartaj Aziz, Naveed Qamar, and V A Jafarey. Assorted details of its terms-of-reference and modus operandi will need to be worked out.

This task must be done immediately and as a matter of great urgency. Time is of the essence. By taking responsibility for these difficult measures and facilitating the task of a democratic transition, President Pervez Musharraf could play a valuable role and alter his legacy.

-Economic threat to democratic transition

Four Country Economic Reviews in 10 minutes

Videos of IMF Article IV report summaries: India, Afghanistan, Nigeria and France

Who should be fired?

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Should the IMF behave like a Sovereign Wealth Fund?
IMF should not be allowed to go to the wall, just yet

The Double Standard in Crisis Resolution
Deal on IMF voting formula likely in April
IMF: Global Economy Can Handle $100 Oil Shock

Train Market of Thailand

via Don Boudreaux

America in the Middle East - a history

Michael Oren on "Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present"

Japanese atrocities in China

Sowell Interview

Thomas Sowell on Economic Facts and Fallacies

Trade History Podcast

Brook on Vermeer's Hat and the Dawn of Global Trade

Know the Market- Ready-Mixed Concrete

Concrete's natural color is gray. Its favored uses are utilitarian. Its very ubiquity causes it to blend into the background. But ready-mix concrete does have one remarkable characteristic: other than manufactured ice, perhaps no other manufacturing industry faces greater transport barriers. The transportation problem arises because ready-mix concrete both has a low value-to-weight ratio and is highly perishable—it absolutely must be discharged from the truck before it hardens. These transportation barriers mean ready-mixed concrete must be produced near its customers. For the same reason, foreign trade in ready-mixed concrete is essentially nonexistent. This article is an introduction to the basics of the market for ready-mix concrete, focusing mainly on its consumers and its producers in the United States, but with occasional comparisons to other countries when contrasts are useful.

-Markets: Ready-Mixed Concrete

An Indian perspective on sovereign wealth funds

via Ajay Shah

Thank you for smoking

Daily Economics Lessons from Daniel Hamermesh;

The Economist has an article about the worldwide health problem caused by cigarette smoking. It summarizes studies by economists showing that “raising tobacco taxes by a tenth [10%] may cause a 4% drop in consumption in rich countries …, with tax revenues rising despite lower sales.” No question—if taxes rise by 10% and sales only fall 4%, tax revenues will rise—by about 6%. But I wonder if the studies are not too optimistic about the effect on sales. In the U.S the median tax rate is $0.80. Let’s say the average price per pack is $3.20. Then a tax increase of 10% means a price increase of less than 3%, so if sales fall by 4%, the implied price elasticity of demand is 4%/3% = 1.33. Is the demand for cigarettes really that elastic? I doubt it.

Nepal Economics Blog

Chandan Sapkota's Blog

Reading List

"How Harvard Lost Russia"

Ireland's Plastic Bag Tax

Shleifer the (counter-)revolutionary

Some myths about the rise of China and India

Lies, Damned Lies, and World Poverty Statistics

Should the IMF behave like a Sovereign Wealth Fund?

From the New Deal, a Way Out of a Mess- Alan Blinder

How economics got its grove back

Modest Trade Policy Barriers, Big Trade Costs

Questions and answers about gold and credit

Think the exchange rate doesn't matter?

Comments on income inequality

Wealth, Savings and Debt

Quake Markets

Why the threat of prison is necessary to deter cartels

Does the Median Voter Model Explain Departmental Politics?

How to make poor countries rich?

Introduction to Financial Engineering: Emanuel Derman Laughs in the Dark

Our Economic Dilemma
By MARTIN FELDSTEIN

The Full-Employment Flexible-Price Macro Model

Movie recommendation

Jodhaa Akbar

Jodhaa Akbar, is a story about contemporary India and the world we live in, not about Akbar the Mughal King.

New Econ Blog

Oxonomics

IT in Government

The electronic bureaucrat
A recent survey from The Economist on technology and government.

OMB Going Paperless: the Draft FY09 Budget Released by the White House is an E-Budget

Podcasts

Susan Wachter Calls U.S. Housing Decline `Unprecedented'

Easterly Says Bill Gates Has `Blind Spot' in Poverty Aid

Harvard's Hausmann Says Stimulus Can Hurt More Than Help

Diermeier of CFA Sees Market Paying for `Cheap Capital'

Subprime: Is the U.S. Repeating Japan's Experience?

Gang Leader for a Day

THE MULTIVERSE
Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge
Fay Dowker, Reader in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College
Bernard Carr, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London

Assorted Small States

Reforming the Labor Administration in Bhutan

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

How important are the Data collected in the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey?

Sea, sun and jihad

The world's newest state

A new nation, but the old problems will linger yet

Unlearned Lessons in Kosovo

More Free Reads

Free online economics books

Emerging-Disease Hot Spots

First Map of Emerging-Disease Hot Spots
Map of zoonotic pathogens from wildlife, shown from lowest occurence (green) to highest (red)

Doing Business in Egypt

Rachid Mohamed Rachid, the minister of trade and industry of Egypt

Exxon Mobil vs Hugo Chavez

The Great Ant Scam of China

Death Penalty For Chinese Ant Farm Scammer

A Chinese business executive was sentenced to death for swindling $385 million from investors in a bogus ant-breeding scheme, a court official said Thursday.

Wang Zhendong, chairman of Yingkou Donghua Trading Group Co., had promised returns of up to 60 percent for buying kits of ants and breeding equipment from two companies he set up, the reports said.

Ants are used in some traditional Chinese medicinal remedies, which can fetch a high price. Wang sold the kits, which cost $25, for $1,300, the Xinmin Evening News and other newspapers reported.

Wang promoted his products through advertising and drew in more than 10,000 investors between 2002 and June 2005, when investigators shut down his companies, the Web site of People's Daily reported.

Prosecutors told the court in northeast China that one investor committed suicide after realizing he had been duped, and only $1.28 million of the swindled money had been recovered by the time the case was filed with the court last June, Xinhua News Agency

Free Reads

Money, Banking and Financial Markets
Stephen G Cecchetti

Chapter 5 Understanding Risk
Chapter 15 Central Banks in the World Today
Chapter 16 The Structure of Central Banks: The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank

Updates and Supplements

Related;
Behind the Scenes on September 11: How the Federal Reserve Made Sure that Cash Machines and Credit Cards Kept Working

The Inflation Update: January 2008

Bloomberg's New York and secrets of its success

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told World Bank Group employees in Washington Thursday that "the free, global movement of labor, capital, and ideas" was essential to his city's growth over the past 30 years and its comeback from 9/11, and an object lesson for cities everywhere.

Bloomberg praised the impact of immigrants on his city, where 3 million residents - 37 percent of the population - are foreign-born.

"Their ambition, hard work, and entrepreneurial drive continue to bring dynamic new life to our economy and a fresh new spirit to our city," Bloomberg said. "New Yorkers understand that. Even after 9/11, when it would have been understandable for us to become fearful about the rest of the world, we have continued to welcome immigrants at a history-making pace. And they have more than repaid us."

He said that other cities can reach toward New York's success by adopting what he called its four values: "harnessing the forces of immigration and globalization; tapping the power of innovation, instituting rigorous and accountable governance; and having the independence to take on entrenched interests when they stand in the way of progress."

New York, he said, is using innovative conditional cash credits (CCT) to help some of its poorest citizens climb out of poverty. CCTs, first introduced in Latin America with World Bank support, have become a global phenomenon. Under CCT's, the poor get direct cash if they meet certain education and health benchmarks.

The mayor said New York, along with more than 700 American cities, was taking an innovative approach to slow climate change by pledging to meet the carbon-reduction standards of the Kyoto protocol - in contrast to the U.S. government, which is the only major developed nation not to sign the document.

"Increasingly we're working in concert with one another, and adopting one another's best practices in areas ranging from 'greening' our streets to cleaning our air," Bloomberg said about New York's collaboration with other cities on climate change.

-Bloomberg Ties Globalization to New York City’s Success

Related- Bloomberg's Talk;

“Finally, let me turn to the fourth value I want to stress: political independence. In reforming our schools, in reinventing our social services, in area after area, we’ve been willing to touch the so-called ‘third rail’ issues that others have avoided. The reason, quite simply, is that the political independence of our Administration has allowed us to take on vested interests, and let the chips fall where they may.

“I’ve found that when you do this, the voters – even if they don’t agree with you on everything – will respect you, because they know that you’re making decisions based on the merits, not based on polls or partisanship or political calculus.

“A good example of how we’ve been independent – and one with global implications – concerns the largest single cause of preventable death worldwide: Tobacco. Over the past six years, New York City has been very pro-active against smoking – often in the face of stiff and vocal opposition.

“We’ve raised cigarette taxes, mounted aggressive public information campaigns, increased smoking cessation programs, and outlawed smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars. And if you want a character-building experience, I suggest doing that, and then marching in a St. Patrick’s Day parade that goes past the city’s pubs. You’d be surprised how many one-fingered waves you get!

“But let me tell you, this is an area where political independence – a willingness to fight the vested interests – has really paid off. We’ve cut smoking among adult New Yorkers by 20% during the past six years and reduced teen smoking by 52%. That translates into a quarter-million fewer smokers, untold millions, short- and long-term, in saved dollars in health care costs, and even more importantly, saved lives.

“Now we need to write the same kind of success story worldwide. And to do that, your help is needed in supporting the city and national leaders who are willing to show political independence in the face of the powerful vested interests promoting tobacco use. As you may know, developing countries already account for 70% of cigarette consumption. And tobacco companies are stepping up their marketing in the developing world.

“As The Economist put it recently, ‘The tobacco industry is getting the world’s poor hooked before governments can respond.’ Unless we do respond, the result will be a public health calamity: One billion pre-mature deaths – from cancer, stroke, and heart disease – in this century, many of them in the cities where you work.

“In response, my foundation supported a recent World Health Organization study of tobacco habits and policies in 179 different countries. If we want countries to change their policies, we first had to know scope of the problem. That’s just the first step in what is going to be a long struggle, fought on many fronts. But as New York City has shown: This is a winnable fight – one that the world’s other cities and nations now must also join. Again, I ask you to join me in this effort.

“Globalization, innovation, accountable governance, independent leadership: Each of you in your work in cities around the world has the opportunity to foster these values. The 21st century will see an increasingly urban world – on every continent on our globe. Now it’s up to all of us to ensure that the residents of the world’s cities enjoy a safer, healthier, and more secure future.

“Every generation, in its own way, faces the challenge of enlarging the realm of human happiness and opening up new vistas of human possibility.

“When we talk about ‘building better cities’ in our world, that’s truly what’s at stake. We have the knowledge, we have the resources, and I believe we all have the will!

Watch the talk- via World Bank or Mayor's Office

A Primer on US Budget

America's Priorities: How the U.S. Government Raises and Spends $3,000,000,000,000 (Trillion) Per Year by Charles Konigsberg

Related;
Washington Budget Report

Konigsberg Says Long-Term Plan Needed for U.S. Budget (podcast)

New Blogs from World Bank

People, Spaces and Deliberation

East Asian and Pacific on The Rise

Terminator's Drastic Cuts

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California's Budget

Related;
The Red Ink State

Let's start with the culture of overspending in Sacramento. State outlays have nearly tripled to $142 billion this year from $51 billion in the early 1990s. After the technology bubble burst in 2001, the state's deficit swelled to $20 billion. Voters recalled Gray Davis from the Governor's mansion in favor of Mr. Schwarzenegger, who promised to "cut up the state's credit card." In Arnold's first year, the budget was held in check, but the state still issued $9 billion in "revenue bonds" rather than shrink the size of government....

Even with the new deficit estimates, the Governor and legislature are promoting a new government health-care plan at a cost, coincidentally, of $14 billion. The state Assembly recently passed the plan. State Senate President Don Perata, a Democrat, advises that to launch this new health-care entitlement now would be both "impractical and impolitic." He's right, but the politicians are floating a $2 a pack increase in the state's cigarette tax to pay for it. So a shrinking number of smokers would be tapped to finance a growing number of citizens dependent on the state for health insurance.

One reason for the budget deterioration is falling home prices. The housing bubble sent the median home price to $500,000 last year in California. At the height of this real-estate euphoria, fewer than one in 20 residents could afford to buy the average home in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. Now the state is enduring the inevitable correction, with prices tumbling by double digits in some markets. Homeowners are demanding a revision of their property tax assessments, which is only adding to the revenue drought.

California is also losing many of its most productive workers. Over the past decade nearly 1.5 million more Americans fled California than arrived; 275,000 left last year alone, according to Census Bureau data. An influx of foreign immigrants has maintained the state's overall population, but those departing include upwardly mobile middle-class families moving to lower-tax states with more affordable housing.

Movie Recommendation

Be Kind Rewind

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Thai chewing gum commercials

Been traveling a bit this week. Have a great weekend.

Jason Rose vs The Economist magazine

Financial magazine The Economist has failed in its attempt to gain control of the internet address theeconomist.com.

The address was not transferred to it because the owner claimed that he had never heard of the magazine when he registered the name.

The site simply carries a picture of Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and a note calling him "the economist of the century".

The Economist took a case under the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)'s dispute resolution service. Under WIPO rules a domain name can only be transferred if the name is identical or confusingly similar to a trade or service mark owned by the body trying to gain control of the address; if the person holding the address has no rights in it, and if the address was registered and used in bad faith.

Anyone hoping to gain control of a domain must prove all three of these elements in order to be handed the address. The Economist failed to show that the address owner Jason Rose registered the domain name in bad faith.

Rose claimed that he had never heard of The Economist in 1996. The Economist disputed this, claiming it would be almost impossible for someone interested in current affairs and economics not to know the magazine, but WIPO panelist Sir Ian Barker, a QC, said that he had to be believed.

Barker said that the claim was hard to believe, but that the WIPO system was not designed for ruling on such questions of fact.

"The panel cannot find bad faith registration proved on the balance of probabilities," he wrote in his judgment. "Despite the panel’s misgivings about the credibility of his claim, this proceeding under the policy is not the proper forum for testing its validity more than 11 years after the domain name was registered."

"The only way that Mr Rose’s assertions can be tested is in litigation where a judge would have proper opportunity of assessing the quality of this evidence. A proceeding under the policy is not the proper forum for determining such a belated issue of fact," he said.

-Claimed ignorance foils Economist domain case

Under-appreciated Econ Blogs

My Favorite Econ Blog for February
Twenty-Cent Paradigms

Gadgets for Lonely Girls

20 toys for girls that don't look like, er, toys for girls

Meet the Economist- Ben Olken

A profile of Ben Olken;

Olken wonders whether economic devel­opment and the path to democratization are shaped more by broad historical forces or by the actions of specific leaders—be they demo­cratically elected prime ministers or thuggish authoritarians. With the assistance of his fre­quent research partner Ben Jones, an economist at Northwestern, Olken has challenged broadly held assumptions by publishing a pair of papers asking how heads of state affect economic out­comes and democracy.

In “Hit or Miss? The Effect of Assassinations on Institutions and War,” Olken and Jones looked at the effects of political assassination, using a strict empirical methodology that takes into account economic conditions at the time of the killing and what Olken calls a “novel data set” of assas­sination attempts, successful and unsuccessful, between 1875 and 2004.

Olken and Jones discovered that a country was “more likely to see democratization follow­ing the assassination of an autocratic leader,” but found no substantial “effect following assassinations—or assassination attempts—on democratic leaders.” They concluded that “on average, successful assassinations of autocrats produce sustained moves toward democracy.” The researchers also found that assassinations have no effect on the inauguration of wars, a result that “suggests that World War I might have begun regardless of whether or not the attempt on the life of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 had succeeded or failed.”

In “Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth since World War II,” Olken and Jones explored whether “individual political leaders make a difference in economic growth.” This is tricky business for the researcher because, as Olken explains, a country’s economic situa­tion can affect the election of a leader: when the economic outlook is good, for instance, presi­dents are more likely to be reelected. So Olken and Jones looked at 57 leaders who died in office from accidents or natural causes and “found big changes in growth when autocratic leaders die in office—both positive and negative,” but no sub­stantial change when democratic leaders died in office. “The results suggest,” they write, “that individual leaders can play crucial roles in shap­ing the growth of nations,” provided they are ruling with minimal or nonexistent checks and balances to their power (think Augusto Pinochet or Robert Mugabe).

A significant portion of Olken’s field research is conducted in Indonesia, a country for which he has much affection: he has previously lived there, speaks the language, and understands the country’s social mores.

So when he decided to test the validity of the much-debated “bowling alone” theory—Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam’s argument that television, among other “individualizing” cultural phenomena, has had a negative effect on the social fabric of the West—he found himself in Indonesia, a country not affected by many of the cultural externalities that compromise Putnam’s American-based study.

According to Olken’s research, in Indonesia, where TV coverage isn’t yet universal, one finds that “better signal reception, which is associ­ated with more time spent watching television and listening to radio, is associated with sub­stantially lower levels of participation in social activities and with lower self-reported measures of trust.” This, he notes, has had a deleterious effect on political and social par­ticipation: “The main results suggest that each additional channel of television reception is associated with 7 percent fewer social groups existing in the village, and with each adult in the village attending 12 per­cent fewer group meetings.” That would seem to confirm Putnam’s thesis. But the results were nuanced. Olken noted that “despite the impact on social capital, improved [TV] reception does not appear to affect village governance, at least as measured by discussions in village-level meetings.”

In his paper “The Simple Economics of Extortion,” co-written with Patrick Barron of the World Bank, Olken again traveled to Indonesia to study “if the way in which we think about pric­ing for firms also applies to corrupt officials.” In other words, do the crooked respond to market forces in the way a corporation would? To test this, Olken and Barron looked at the number of roadside checkpoints—which act, essentially, as illegal toll booths where the motorist is required to pay a bribe—in Aceh, a region on the north­western tip of Sumatra long engaged in a guerilla war with separatist rebels.

Related Video;
Field Experiments to Investigate Institutional Designs and Impact

American Schools Trail Behind

Report: American Schools Trail Behind World In Aptitude Of Child Soldiers
A shocking new study finds U.S. children lag far behind their international peers in subjects like rifle assembly and mine defusing.

Is this acceptable humor?

Rodrik's students are lucky

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for sending my resume to ... 2 years ago.... I love my job mainly because I get to do what I studied at the MPAID and most importantly do these things with the perspective that you've provided me via PED101. It's amazing how many development practitioners have such a siloed view of what they do. I can't explain to you how much your class and the program as a whole has grounded my perspective on development.

I can't tell you how often I've actually used your PED101 presentations for work purposes... [E]specially where you've got transitions from humanitarian aid to development needs, you need a holistic perspective like this and MPAID provides that perspective. In particular, it provides students with the tools they need to (a) question the advice of individuals who try to sell a "one-size fits all" approach to development e.g. structural adjustment loans or anti-corruption fixes and (b) equips students with the training now most needed (and in high demand) by government ministries - ability to provide sound policy advice to developing countries regardless of the most 'sexy' approaches e.g. globalization, trade liberalization, etc. which might not be appropriate in every context.

-Customer satisfaction

Philosophers advising government and other podcasts

Philosophers advising government
This week two examples of philosophers providing ideas and advice to governments. One has been successful, the other less so. The Australian philosopher Philip Pettit has the ear of the current Spanish president, but what has he achieved? We also look at the role Machiavelli tried to play advising rulers in fifteenth century Florence.

Trouble in Paradise - Kenya Today

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror

Taming War: Culture and Technology for Peace

Where is the Middle Class?
Princeton Professor of Economics Paul Krugman talks about how the New Deal society has been dismantled in America, and the reasons for it. He brings it back to a revival of Southern issues about race being used by the 'Movement Conservatives' to undo various social policies during the present administration.

US military outposts
The United States has military bases around the world. Yet the social impact of these bases on local cultures is rarely discussed.

Democracy in Iran

“The story of the Iranian revolution is similar to the story of other revolutions,” he said. “It was a restoration of people’s rights and liberties — people rose against the tyrannical regime of the shah.”

“The day after the revolution, Khomeini was facing the question: What is an Islamic republic?” Mr. Yazdi recalled. “I was in favor of a constitution and elections. They were against it. Khomeini was oscillating, but gradually he turned to the conservative side.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Yazdi remains an optimist. He says he sees more traditional thinkers taking an increasingly pragmatic view. He says that Iranian society is maturing, moving through a difficult stage on its way to constitutional democracy. Economic hardships now, he says he believes, are the sign many traditionalists need to accept changes.

“Iran is learning democracy,” he said, “because democracy is a learning process. Nobody will learn in a classroom. Democracy is not a commodity to be imported. America doesn’t carry democracy in its soldiers’ rucksacks. Democracy should come from within, through our own challenges and experiences.”

“Trial and error,” he said, of the people running the state now. “They have to do it by themselves, just to learn what they are doing doesn’t work. There is no other way.”

-An Iranian Revolutionary, Dismayed but Unbowed

Democracy is 'akin to selling different brands of soap'

A good reminder from Tyler Cowen-It's an Election, not a Revolution;

The reality is that democracy is a very blunt instrument, and in today’s environment we are choosing between ways of muddling through. We may hear that the election is about different visions for America’s future, but the pitches may be more akin to selling different brands of soap.

We hear so many superficial messages precisely because most American voters have neither the knowledge nor the commitment to evaluate the pronouncements of politicians on economic issues. It is no accident that the most influential political science book of the last year has been “The Myth of the Rational Voter,” by Bryan Caplan. The book shows that many voters are ill-informed or even irrational; many economic issues are complex, and each voter knows that he or she will not determine the final outcome.

Rather than being cynics, we should be realists. Democracy is reasonably good at some things: pushing scoundrels out of office, checking their worst excesses by requiring openness, and simply giving large numbers of people the feeling of having a voice. Democracy is not nearly as good at others: holding politicians accountable for their economic promises or translating the preferences of intellectuals into public policy.

THAT might sound pessimistic, but it’s not. Many Americans will be living longer, finding new sources of learning and recreation, creating more rewarding jobs, striking up new loves and friendships, and, yes, earning more money. Just don’t expect most of these gains to come out of the voting booth or, for that matter, Washington.

And if you’re still worrying about how to vote, I have two pieces of advice. First, spend your time studying foreign policy, where the president has more direct power, and the choice of a candidate makes a much bigger difference. Second, stop worrying and get back to work.

“Thank you, U.S.A.”

In declaring independence, Kosovo’s prime minister, Hashim Thaci, a former leader of the guerrilla force that just over 10 years ago began an armed rebellion against Serbian domination, struck a note of reconciliation. Addressing Parliament in both Albanian and Serbian, he pledged to protect the rights of Kosovo’s Serbian minority.

“I feel the heartbeat of our ancestors,” he said. “We, the leaders of our people, democratically elected, through this declaration proclaim Kosovo an independent and sovereign state.”

Kosovo, a desperately poor, predominantly Muslim landlocked territory of two million, has been a United Nations protectorate since 1999, policed by 16,000 NATO troops. Its unemployment rate is about 60 percent and average monthly wage is $250.

Electricity is so undependable that lights go out in the capital several times a day. Corruption is rife and human trafficking threatens to entrench a lawless state on Europe’s doorstep.

Ethnic Albanians from as far away as the United States poured into Pristina over the weekend, braving freezing temperatures and heavy snow to dance in frenzied jubilation. Beating drums, waving Albanian flags and throwing firecrackers, they chanted: “Independence! Independence! We are free at last!”

A 100-foot-long birthday cake was installed on Pristina’s main boulevard.

In an outpouring of adulation for the United States, the architect of NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Serbian forces under President Slobodan Milosevic, revelers unfurled giant American flags, carried posters of former President Bill Clinton and chanted, “Thank you, U.S.A.” and “God bless America.”

-Kosovo Declares Its Independence From Serbia

Arvind Panagariya speaking on "India: The Emerging Giant"

A discussion at SIPA, Columbia

Related;
From inconvenient truths to the audacity of hope

Need a motivation to become vegetarian

The Long, Cruel Road to The Slaughterhouse

US orders massive recall of beef

I Love You, but You Love Meat

No-holds-barred carnivores, for example, may share the view of Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in his book “Kitchen Confidential” that “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”

Returning the compliment, many vegetarians say they cannot date anyone who eats meat. Vegans, who avoid eating not just animals but animal-derived products, take it further, shivering at the thought of kissing someone who has even sipped honey-sweetened tea.

Assorted

The Economics of Love

Will the FTC Allow Microsoft to Buy Yahoo?

What's a Fiscal Authority to Do?

The Economics of Consumer Finance

Prospects for the U.S. Economy in 2008

Recent Trends in Economic Volatility

What you see is what you get

Rethinking free trade?

Bankers, like gangs, just get carried away

Metabolic Syndrome Is Tied to Diet Soda

Sexual Signaling

APEE Essay Contest Winners Announced

Grammatically incorrect campaign slogans

What is a recession and who decides we have/had one?

Why math is important

Was It Only a Game?

Removing the N from Neglected Tropical Diseases

Fiscal distress ahead

Linear regression is not dead, and please don't call it OLS

The Demise of GDP Is Premature

Revealed Preferences

Bidding for Classes

Arcane Market Is Next to Face Big Credit Test

Smoking a major global killer

More on sexual frustration & the supply of religious fanatics

143 Million Pounds of Beef Recalled

How Good Was 2007 for Newspaper Web Sites?

Is Inflation Targeting Suitable for the United States?

Is Inflation Targeting Suitable for the United States?( podcast)
Featuring;

Moderator: William A. Niskanen,Chairman, Cato Institute
Bennett T. McCallum
H. J. Heinz Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
Lawrence H. White
F. A. Hayek Professor of Economic History, University of Missouri–St. Louis
Robert Hetzel
Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

From Cato Institute 24th Annual Monetary Conference

Choices for Pakistanis - a dictator or corrupt politicians

The Politicians
Interviews with Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif,Shaukat Aziz, Imran Khan



The Voters


The Lesson from Others

Rather than being cynics, we should be realists. Democracy is reasonably good at some things: pushing scoundrels out of office, checking their worst excesses by requiring openness, and simply giving large numbers of people the feeling of having a voice. Democracy is not nearly as good at others: holding politicians accountable for their economic promises or translating the preferences of intellectuals into public policy.

- Tyler Cowen, (talking about US democracy)

Related;
That Election Thing

Great Debate - Economy

Pakistan's attorney general predicted massive rigging

A Crucial Vote in Pakistan

Biden Warns Pakistan on Elections

'Cycle wallahs' win the hearts of city's poor in contest of shifting loyalties

In Pakistan, Islam Needs Democracy

Doubts on Security as Pakistani Vote Nears