Who's Your Economic Crush?
Y'all remember Hayek Girl, right? So in love with Friederich Hayek she thinks they both should share milkshakes and a kayak. In that spirit, Ricochetoiseerians, who's your latest economic crush?
Me, it's Ronald Coase. This is a guy who won a Nobel prize not, as I understand it, for any fancy equation, but for a history of showing other economists, over and over again, that assumptions they had long taken for granted were simply wrong.
Take Pigovian taxes, for example. Pigou's theory of externalities was accepted by practically everybody... until one night in 1960, when Coase managed to convince 13 top economists at the University of Chicago, including Aaron Director and Milton Friedman, that Pigou was just... wrong. Not bad for an after-dinner conversation, eh?
Or take lighthouses. It had long been part of economic lore that it must be impossible to operate lighthouses privately. Lighthouses were the example of a canonical government service. Until Coase investigated English history and found that, oops, English lighthouses were privately owned and operated (and worked just fine) long before they were incorporated into a government service.
But what I love most about Coase is his dry sense of humor. Perhaps it's dry enough that many folks would miss it, but it manages to produce loud peals of merriment in Mr. Rattlesnake and me. For example:
Most economists seem to be unaware of all this [the long history of legislatures granting firms regulatory immunity from common-law nuisance complaints]. When they are prevented from sleeping at night by the roar of jet planes overhead (publicly authorized and perhaps publicly operated), are unable to think (or rest) in the day because of the noise and vibration from passing trains (publicly authorized and perhaps publicly operated), find it difficult to breathe because of the odour from the local sewage farm (publicly authorized and perhaps publicly operated), and are unable to escape because their driveways are blocked by a road obstruction (without any doubt, publicly devised), their nerves frayed and their mental balance disturbed, they proceed to declaim about the disadvantages of private enterprise and the need for governmental regulation.
-- The Firm, The Market, and the Law, p 131 (The Problem of Social Cost)
Poor economists! Driven too crazy to think straight. My husband and I love this passage.
What Coase has to say about the Coase Theorem is also entertaining (he's not as enthusiastic about it as you might suppose, considering that it's named after him), but I'll save that passage for another day. The Reason archives have an excellent (and also entertaining) interview with Coase here, and you can listen to Coase (he's still alive!) on EconTalk here. Coase's collection of essays entitled The Firm, The Market, and the Law is also a ripping good read.
But enough about Midge's economic fantasy life. Tell us about yours. The decent bits, that is.
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Comments:
Apr '12
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
That video is hilarious, but you'll forgive me if most famous economists don't do much for me.
Dec '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Mollie studied economics, so I'll go with her.
Apr '12
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Not for the straight guys, but Reagan also got an economics degree.
Aug '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Guys. Always so literal. I mean intellectual crush, not (necessarily) a physical crush.
I don't really know what Coase looks like, only that at the age of 102 he's way too much of a geezer for me to have a crush on him in... that way... So long as y'all are talking about physical crushes, though, my biggest physical crush on an economist is naturally on Mr Rattlesnake.
In any case, I can't be the only one around here capable of mad intellectual crushes. So I'll rephrase it: Men, which economist have you got a man-crush on? Does that make the question more manly?
Dec '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
I will go with von Mises, but it has nothing to do with how dapper he is/was.
Jun '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
John Taylor (Hoover) is a quiet voice for liberty, predictability, and free markets. No histrionics, just serious, logical thought. He's the anti-Krugman. I have a serious intellectual crush on Taylor.
Check him out on Uncommon Knowledge a while back. And his new book First Principles: Five Keys for Restoring American Prosperity is simple, straightforward, and right.
Edited on June 26, 2012 at 10:27pmDec '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
All my man crush are belong to Peter. But, Sowell is so well reasoned and plainly spoken that it's hard not to idolize him.
Dec '11
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Thomas Sowell would be my choice as well, not only for his astute convictions, but for the strength of character he has displayed in defending them. (Read his auto A Personal Odyssey; he rejected all sorts of jobs- some tenured- because he refused to compromise his principles.)
Full disclosure: I actually sent him a "fan letter" several years ago; something I haven't done since I was a member of the Beatles fan club in grade school. :)
May '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Paul Ryan. But then again, I just have a generalized crush on Paul Ryan. Something about nerdy cute that I just can't resist. I had a similar crush on my (calculus based) biostatistics professor in grad school. Totally innocent school girl stuff.
Aug '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
EThompson
Thomas Sowell would be my choice as well...
Full disclosure: I actually sent him a "fan letter" several years ago; something I haven't done since I was a member of the Beatles fan club in grade school. :)
Sowell! The whole Ricoverse must have a crush on him. My full disclosure? I'm too intimidated by Sowell's awesomeness to send him fanmail. No joke. I've start writing a few times, then chickened out.
The anti-Krugman? I will have to check him out, then! Thanks, Tabula!
Apr '11
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Put me solidly in line for Professor Sowell, too.
Jun '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Not an economist, but she writes about economics:
Amity Shlaes
Aug '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
My Dad. But Sowell works as well.
Jan '12
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Probably James M. Buchanan, although Milton Friedman and Tyler Cowen are up there as well.
May '12
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Thorstein Veblen.
For the manly 'stache, and that dour, progressive class envy charm.
Aug '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
For the guys who've gotta go for the gals, besides our own charming and lovely Mollie Hemingway, and Amity Shlaes, as Mel Foil mentioned above, there's also the stylish Veronique de Rugy:
Aug '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
dash: Thorstein Veblen.
For the manly 'stache, and that dour, progressive class envy charm.
Ha! There is something about a 'stache, though...
Dec '11
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
EThompson
Thomas Sowell would be my choice as well...
Full disclosure: I actually sent him a "fan letter" several years ago; something I haven't done since I was a member of the Beatles fan club in grade school. :)
Sowell! The whole Ricoverse must have a crush on him. My full disclosure? I'm too intimidated by Sowell's awesomeness to send him fanmail. No joke. I've start writing a few times, then chickened out.
MFR: After sending a "luv" letter to Paul McCartney at age 7, I have no inhibitions about sending fan mail to anybody. :))
Jun '10
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Isn't it amazing that we could look to a Frenchwoman for great economic advice? Veronique is great.
And keeping to our French theme, how about Guy Sorman in City Journal? He has an excellent and eviscerating review of Paul Krugman's new book entitled "Paul Krugman's Follies." It's great (the review, not the book).
Edited on June 27, 2012 at 12:51amMay '12
Re: Who's Your Economic Crush?
Milton Freidman. He had me at "History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition."