Articles by John Baden
Political Dangers Ahead
Many of my friends are worried about their future and that of our nation. This is surely understandable. Jobs are insecure, retirement funds are dissipating, and our governments are poised to become significantly more intrusive and constraining. As a result...
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Privy Politics
With Bozeman's boom fading or gone, focus turns to the likely impact of the stimulus upon employment. Naturally, some recall FDR's Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935. This was one of many New Deal programs known by their letters and...
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Myths of Oil Independence
A friend recently passed on a chain letter urging independence from Middle Eastern oil. It's a seductive idea. Here's the gist: "Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia.Just...
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Third World's Realities
Will Tata Motors' Nano be the Third World's Model T Ford? Sixteen million Ts were produced during its 20-year lifespan from 1908 through 1927. It initially sold for $850, about $15,000 in today's dollars. By 1915, due to the advantages...
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The Joys of Winter
This January I've had the luxury of previewing retirement. It was not, however, what I hoped for, no skiing or even driving off our place. Being allergic to TV, I spent time reading, writing, and listening to more NPR than...
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Will Global Warming Generate America's Fourth Great Awakening?
We have just ended the season when every environmental group to whom we've contributed, the NWF, WS, Sierra Club, and others, sends appeals for more funds. If you have ever contributed to these groups, you've no doubt been approached to...
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Plunder in the New Year
Many smart and well-intentioned people fault government for its injustices and inefficiencies. Because there are few incentives to economize, and many to mislead, waste and moral corruption are endemic to and inherent in political management. No nation has found a.
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Commons Problems
I recently read that a Japanese whaling fleet is heading toward Antarctica to kill humpback whales, a species "protected" since the 1960s. This took me back in time. When I was a grad student at Indiana University, nearly 40 years...
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Home Disappointment
Three Americans shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory." They owe an intellectual debt to Friedrich Hayek. His 1945 American Economic Review article, "The Use of Knowledge in Society," focused on...
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House of Pain: Why Failure Is Important
I recently met with an intelligent and highly successful young man. Most of those with whom he deals are part of young families. He began our conversation with this statement, "I'm no economist, but I think we're facing a local...
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