Hernando de Soto thinks that formal property rights are the key to prosperity and that the government must clearly define and enforce specific private ownership rights. De Soto’s thesis is that government must be efficient at clarifying the legal ownership rights…
Blog Archives
To Trade Is Human
What makes humans different from animals? Anthropologists used to say that humans are unique in using tools (but it turns out that many animals use tools). Linguists used to think that language is unique to humans (but other animals have…
Posted in Development, Globalization & International
Why do deer stand in roads and curiously watch the oncoming headlights?
Jared Diamond wrote one of my favorite books, Guns Germs and Steel, which explains why Eurasians conquered and colonized the rest of the world rather than vice versa. It also explains why Europeans didn’t displace the local populations anywhere except…
Posted in Development
Inequality decimates the heroes of the cult of the entrepreneur
Webster has two definitions of ‘entrepreneur’. The first definition is “a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money.” By this definition, high inequality creates a lot of entrepreneurs. Extremely poor people…
Ending The Tyranny of Temperate Climate
Humans co-evolved with our technological inventions for warming up in the cold: fire, shelter, and clothing. Our large brains would not work without the precise temperature regulation provided by our nearly furless skin. Even the remnant fur on our heads is there to insulate…
Posted in Development
Small families are good for economic development.
According to the Economist magazine: In the 1980s, population was regarded as relatively unimportant to economic performance. American delegates told a UN conference in 1984 that “population growth is, in and of itself, neither good nor bad; it is a…
Posted in Development
Entrepreneurialism is overrated.
What inputs are required for the production of goods and services? All modern economics textbooks agree that labor and capital are fundamental factors of production. Some textbooks also include land which is usually a shorthand for all natural resources including…
Posted in Development, Managerial Micro
Medianism 