Dirk Niepelt

In the Washington Post, Henry Farrell writes about Schelling’s work and how it shaped the Cold War. Schelling’s contribution was to show how the two sides could think systematically about coordinating (where they had common interests) and deterring each other from unwanted actions (where they did not). This arguably gave rise to a much more stable world — the world of the Cold War — where both sides struggled with each other for dominance, but tacitly agreed on some of the rules of the...

In a 2011 paper, Kaushik Basu argued that “harassment bribes”—bribes that people give to officials in order to get what they are legally entitled to—should be treated as legal. The reasoning is as follows: Under the current law [treated as illegal], … once a bribe is given, the bribe giver and the bribe taker become partners in crime. … Under the new law [treated as illegal], when a person gives a bribe, she will try to keep evidence of the act of bribery so that immediately after the...

80,000 hours, that’s how many hours we typically spent working over a lifetime, according to Benjamin Todd and the 80,000 hours team. They have published a book/ebook on how to make the best of it. Their advice for a dream job: Look for work you’re good at, work that helps others, supportive conditions: engaging work that lets you enter a state of flow; supportive colleagues; lack of major negatives like unfair pay; and work that fits your personal life. The book discusses strategies to...

In the Washington Post, James Hohmann reports that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his candidate for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, share an affection for Ayn Rand’s “objectivist” philosophy. Trump identifies with Howard Roark, the main character in [Rand’s] “The Fountainhead” while Tillerson prefers “Atlas Shrugged” which I reviewed here. Other prospective members of the new administration also hold objectivist views while Stephen Bannon rejects “unenlightened capitalism” a la...

On Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok discusses the radicalism of the early American Economic Association (founded 1885) and its co-founder, Richard T. Ely. Prominent economists at the time rejected the marginalist principle, held socialist and racist views and supported eugenics.

In a CEPR discussion paper, Elhanan Helpman concludes that trade played an appreciable role in increasing wage inequality, but that its cumulative effect has been modest, and that globalization does not explain the preponderance of the rise in wage inequality within countries.

In the NZZ, George Sheldon questions the efficiency and usefulness of taxes levied on immigrants. He argues that firms rather than immigrants would likely end up paying and that a tax levied at the firm level would thus be more efficient. Moreover, he points out that an immigration tax might reduce incentives to emigrate.

On his blog, Tyler Cowen summarizes the economics in Theodor Herzl’s “The Jewish State.” Herzl favored selling European homes and businesses of departing Jews and buying land in Argentina or Palestine, at a profit, through a land acquisition company incorporated in London. Poor Jews from Romania and Russia would supply cheap labor and be rewarded by their own houses eventually. Herzl favored short working weeks, a democratic monarchy or the aristocratic republic of Renaissance Venice....

On his blog, John Cochrane reports about a Hoover panel including him, Charles Plosser, and John Taylor. Cochrane focuses on the liability side. He favors a large quantity of (possibly interest bearing) reserves for financial stability reasons. Plosser focuses on the asset side and is worried about credit allocation by the Fed, for political economy reasons. Taylor favors a small balance sheet. Cochrane also talks about reserves for everyone, but issued by the Treasury.

In the FT, Vanessa Houlder reports about the tax evasion business. The new regulatory environment has led to portfolio adjustments and new types of behavior, and it exposes vast differences in enforcement across countries: Diamonds in vaults rather than financial assets. Trusts in South Dakota rather than anonymous bank accounts. Moving to a different country rather than just shifting assets. FATCA versus the Common Reporting Standard. The article also links to an article by Kara Scannell...