tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post8629749616332370405..comments2024-03-29T07:18:14.271-05:00Comments on The Grumpy Economist: Growth and regulationJohn H. Cochranehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04842601651429471525noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-35338961427517547802020-10-03T07:32:43.703-05:002020-10-03T07:32:43.703-05:00Much to agree with here, but I think it is strange...Much to agree with here, but I think it is strange you don’t include inequality. Quite clearly, to me at least, this is one of the major reasons behind your points 1, 2, and 3.<br /><br />As for healthcare, this is not just a US problem. Your own example, Switzerland is a case in point. 11,5% of GDP for healthcare? <br /><br />Much of me don’t healthcare is glorified cronyism and solution of problems that either is made up, or could be better fixed by people getting out and exercising.Sigmund1https://www.blogger.com/profile/05882316675588130463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-77634648864602622292020-09-30T12:03:06.168-05:002020-09-30T12:03:06.168-05:00Two theories.
1. Regulation is an institution, a...Two theories. <br /><br />1. Regulation is an institution, a culture. It is not geared towards economists types of optimizations, but towards following various sacred rituals of the regulation mindset. <br /><br />Which lowers the assumptions behind the "why not compete etc"<br />On the churches we aren't asking it that vigorously...<br /><br />2. Conservatism and other ideas are rational in regulation, and are part of the reasoning. <br />Do we really want laws to flim flam on a whim?<br />We do not. Otherwise, endless issues would arise. And whoever get legislative power could do an uncounted number of horrors too. <br /><br />I can see laws from centuries back being kept. And even reformers avoiding too hasty and huge changes. <br /><br />There are costs to this attitude. But this is not unreasonable. <br /><br />Conservatism also calls for copying regulations. <br /><br />3. Having different regulations from others has various costs. <br />In product standard, this is obvious. Because of exports, you do not want to have multiple production lines. <br />But legislation is difficult and complicated. Using a "true and tried" law text from another country has an efficiency bonus. <br /><br />Blame issues also exist. Jazi Zilberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05905089558096276638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-52585282438355058002020-09-29T10:54:02.451-05:002020-09-29T10:54:02.451-05:00I do not agree with the demographic change. It is...I do not agree with the demographic change. It is labor productivity that can overcome the demographic issue. It is not as if we have had good labor productivity since 2004 when compared to previous periods.<br /><br />https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=wfAK<br />Vic Volpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011603728944612747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-58563355768533733962020-09-28T23:06:31.358-05:002020-09-28T23:06:31.358-05:00"(California banning all gasoline cars by 203..."(California banning all gasoline cars by 2035 for example)"<br />Last I heard China is banning sale of new fossil-fueled cars beyond 2025. So California is just playing catch-up while Fed is not playing at all. The "USA parking lot" is likely to become a reality. With K-cars perhaps. Could be a lot of fun. Remembering what Red Green (Possum Lodge) did with them.<br />A lot of good stuff is cheap and therefore does not contribute to the growth metric.<br />Measured growth is a result of ordinary folks having more spending-money. Henry Ford realised that.<br />--E5E5https://www.blogger.com/profile/09238177978445597828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-55436946641804241652020-09-28T22:48:07.347-05:002020-09-28T22:48:07.347-05:00hb September 25, 2020 at 11:43 AM .... regulation...hb September 25, 2020 at 11:43 AM .... regulation will happen as soon as an incumbent producer feels the need for protection from competitors.<br />--E5<br />E5https://www.blogger.com/profile/09238177978445597828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-27186562222892258982020-09-28T22:42:38.482-05:002020-09-28T22:42:38.482-05:00Benjamin ColeSeptember 24, 2020 at 6:44 PM ..... y...Benjamin ColeSeptember 24, 2020 at 6:44 PM ..... your observation strongly suggests that regulation is dominated by provisions protecting established corporations from upstart competition.<br />--E5E5https://www.blogger.com/profile/09238177978445597828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-48759716239389107702020-09-28T22:36:21.011-05:002020-09-28T22:36:21.011-05:00AnonymousSeptember 24, 2020 at 7:36 PM .... need y...AnonymousSeptember 24, 2020 at 7:36 PM .... need your help finding reference to the 400% tax on white bed sheets. Mr. Internet did not help.<br />--E5<br />E5https://www.blogger.com/profile/09238177978445597828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-41082072656451199712020-09-28T20:55:17.937-05:002020-09-28T20:55:17.937-05:00Reform, or regulatory fashion (often badged "...Reform, or regulatory fashion (often badged "reform")comes with elements of both elite adoption and reinforcement from the centre. Example? The electricity market design developed in NE USA, the adoption of which was funded in the Phillipines and Vietnam, to name just a couple, regardless of the spatial features of those markets that rendered significant elements of the "reform" burdensome on local industry participants and consumers, but which freed the road to World Bank and ADB loans for future electricity investments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-78637829983361174262020-09-28T20:29:16.295-05:002020-09-28T20:29:16.295-05:00Anonymous, in England we call this Nimbyism. Not ...Anonymous, in England we call this Nimbyism. Not in My Back Yard. <br />And its a major and increasing problem that western nations are ageing, and old people with wealth but no skin in the game with regard to work (others work, they just collect pensions) act ina avery ocnservative adn selfish manner. They hurt business growth by forcing regulation that stunts business growth so they can retire happily. davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08152539031290157680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-62536073637313948282020-09-28T20:26:19.314-05:002020-09-28T20:26:19.314-05:00YOu also need to factor in demographic change - an...YOu also need to factor in demographic change - an ageing population means fewer workers per non productive persons thus higher taxes or borrowings. But also the insidious effect of the more conservative older people on innovation and change.<br /><br />davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08152539031290157680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-44115495002341878872020-09-28T20:24:23.647-05:002020-09-28T20:24:23.647-05:00Problem with nuclear power is that its capacity fo...Problem with nuclear power is that its capacity for destruction is way ahead of anything else. Thus if you count risk against benefit its not a clear case. if you add in the long term costs of power station closure and disposal of waste the costs spiral. Them add in the chilling effect on the public of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.... davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08152539031290157680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-24182093854150064272020-09-28T20:21:56.025-05:002020-09-28T20:21:56.025-05:00many things wring with yor anlaysis.
medical: if...many things wring with yor anlaysis.<br /><br />medical: if you reformed tort law as it applies to medical malpractice you could reduce medical costs by around 20-30 % at least, and that simply eliminates the insurance cost. As well, it would reduce the over prescription of drugs and test done to cover the doctor's and hospital's asses rather than for actual medial need. Medical practitioners are typically higher paid than their European counterparts. I don't know how effective the US medical markets are but I suspect improvements in competition management woud reduce costs too. <br /><br />All your other points are mostly very recent, but the problems of falling productivity, excessive returns to capital and stagnant real wages goes back decades. <br /><br />Your response to yourself though deeply saddening is anecdote and the behaviours as old as the hills. Many companies use twitter for customer communication, the internet still has huge productivity gains to delver, as does computing technology generally. <br /><br />New technologies on the horizon mostly reside in bio-tech but there is still a long way to go in exploiting other technology. <br /><br />One point you do not make is the ageing of western society. This leads to small 'c' conservatism in any areas, a drain on resources and impediments to supply side changes that the old don't much like. The Economist made this point recently that the changes we need economically are in many cases changes they don't want, But seniors still want pensions and support. <br /><br />Another major issue is crony capitalism and the failure of the markets.<br /><br />regards<br /> <br /><br />davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08152539031290157680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-85545851516716253242020-09-28T19:26:46.693-05:002020-09-28T19:26:46.693-05:00The Internet offers the best return of any dimensi...The Internet offers the best return of any dimension of capital deployment. Partly that the nature of the thing - scalable, expandable, incrementally more capable and cheaper per unit.. but also left alone by the Jackbooted until recently. All these points are offered in opposition to the physical world and regulation. Energy in particular - although, on the Third Hand, let us all recognize the hard-to-believe progress in energy efficiency that HAS occurred. Thinking humans, left any freedom, will employ those big juicy brains of theirs.Fitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09041853209874378264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-71587497303043140352020-09-28T15:13:54.755-05:002020-09-28T15:13:54.755-05:00Regulation effect is multiplied by how it changed ...Regulation effect is multiplied by how it changed the innovation dynamics. <br /><br />I'm sure it is intuitive to you. But you are not explicit about it. <br /><br />Like the old argument that maybe steam engines are as good as internal combustion. But steam hasn't been developed due to randomly initiated path dependencies. <br /><br />The naive counter argument to your post is that if an idea is really worth it, it will be worthwhile to suffer regulation for. <br /><br />This, however, ignores that innovation goes in steps, most of which do not have massive transparent certain value. <br /><br />Those steps are killed by regulations and liabilitiesJazi Zilberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05905089558096276638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-24317244458312298582020-09-28T07:32:26.941-05:002020-09-28T07:32:26.941-05:00"but it is just stymied by the ever-increasin..."but it is just stymied by the ever-increasing web of law and regulation. "<br /><br />That's why so much of the growth is in new fields, currently free from the incumbents glorying in their protective regulation, and not in older fields where they reside.Tim Worstallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13161727860817121071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-72620981524588395142020-09-26T16:10:33.018-05:002020-09-26T16:10:33.018-05:00The US growth rate has gone down as more and more ...The US growth rate has gone down as more and more of the US govt budget has gone to transfers. People like transfers, but there is a cost.Bob Floodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-81636027771601712342020-09-26T10:19:32.933-05:002020-09-26T10:19:32.933-05:00I wrote: "I think Twitter and Tik Tok are dis...I wrote: "I think Twitter and Tik Tok are dis-economies." Further proof of this assertion, as if it were necessary:<br /><br />"FDA to TikTok teens: the ‘Benadryl Challenge’ can kill you: The social media-fueled dare to overdose on the allergy medicine can cause death and serious health problems" By Nicole Lyn Pesce Published: Sept. 26, 2020<br />https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fda-to-tiktok-teens-the-benadryl-challenge-can-kill-you-2020-09-25<br /><br />The “Benadryl Challenge,” which has been posted on the video-sharing app TikTok, sees users intentionally overdosing on the over-the-counter allergy medicine diphenhydramine (better known as Benadryl) to induce hallucinations.<br /><br />Last month, a 15-year-old Oklahoma City teen died from an overdose of Benadryl that was blamed on the social media stunt. The “Benadryl Challenge” was also linked to sending three teens in Fort Worth, Texas to the hospital in May.<br /><br />So the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a dire warning against taking high doses of the drug on Thursday, noting, “We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the ‘Benadryl Challenge’ encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.”<br /><br />Fat Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09554029467445000453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-1082973762284726982020-09-26T09:32:28.624-05:002020-09-26T09:32:28.624-05:00I am not sure why I would want a flying car but ro...I am not sure why I would want a flying car but road vehicles are on specified roads in part to keep driving safe. Air traffic control would be a nightmare (where are all those drones?). Nuclear waste is definitely a big concern and as well weaponry. We've made so much of a big deal about Iran and in the past WMD in Iraq. Why wouldn't there be similar concerns here?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05109686459827002945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-52955577150736991032020-09-26T07:57:24.493-05:002020-09-26T07:57:24.493-05:00Exactly. Think WPPSS (more commonly known as &quo...Exactly. Think WPPSS (more commonly known as "Whoops!"); killed by endless lawsuits, massive regulation of the nuclear industry, and the supposed infinite supply of cheap water power in Washington State, the costs skyrocketed and the project was shelved. The two towers stand in mute reproach.blnelson2https://www.blogger.com/profile/12547628233109018246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-16402525617372862972020-09-26T03:12:57.071-05:002020-09-26T03:12:57.071-05:00"Quantifying the damage of regulation is awfu..."Quantifying the damage of regulation is awfully hard."<br />Might this recent paper be a good attempt?<br />mercatus.org/publications/regulation/impact-regulatory-growth-operating-costsFrederik Marainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13374203862350622063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-19823949310969078462020-09-25T18:58:00.860-05:002020-09-25T18:58:00.860-05:00The prior question about quantum computing is when...The prior question about quantum computing is when will it will move to the production stage. The hype/production ratio is getting awfully high.Fat Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09554029467445000453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-13664713247548857792020-09-25T18:55:52.858-05:002020-09-25T18:55:52.858-05:00Good point about mil tech.Good point about mil tech.Fat Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09554029467445000453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-37772925418879317562020-09-25T14:10:57.734-05:002020-09-25T14:10:57.734-05:00Touche. I meant to say cheap areas that do not alr...Touche. I meant to say cheap areas that do not already have residential communities around them. The community I live in has perhaps 150 recently built homes. Most living there would lobby hard against rezoning of the land right around the community. But there are large areas of land where the cheap government housing would be the first thing built. No NIMBY during construction if there are no other backyards around. Although not led by the government, that was how several communities in the area were developed and grew - they just weren't designed as cheap housing, but the same thing could happen in those cases as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-71623240561750576542020-09-25T13:57:30.389-05:002020-09-25T13:57:30.389-05:00For regulators, regulation is a self-licking lolli...For regulators, regulation is a self-licking lollipop--more is always better. That's what happens when results are rarely tracked and no pragmatic cost-benefit analysis is ever done. When even Canada requires some regulations to be removed in order to impose new ones, our approach to regulation is clearly obsolete.Dave Schulerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02139815513591506818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582368152716771238.post-51162573077616358262020-09-25T11:56:48.283-05:002020-09-25T11:56:48.283-05:00https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i...https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2559803<br /><br />Nathan Goldschlag and Alex Tabarrok found in a 2018 study that regulation did not explain the decline in entrepreneurial activity over the last 3 decades. While regulations depress entrepreneurship, it is not to any greater degree than in the past.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com