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January 9, 2007
Economics and non-economists
Consider the extent to which we live in a world where economics shapes our world view. Four of the ten best selling books on Amazon are built around economic thinking. Humor website over heard in NY can make jokes like this (note the title):
His Archenemy Is a Severely Progressive Tax Structure
Older brother teaching the finer points of comic books: Yeah, Batman's really cool. Best thing about him -- he doesn't have superpowers, so he's really an ordinary guy.
Younger brother: Wow, no superpowers?
Older brother: Well, apart from being super rich.
--F train to Queens
So perhaps it isn't a surprise that the Stern Report on Global Warming prepared for the British government, a long, arcane, and technical estimate of the costs of global climate change has attracted much popular interest. But who would have thought that discount rates and the elasticity of marginal utility of consumption would become topical discussion points for non-economists?
Jane Galt has a fascinating criticism of some of the parameter estimates that underlie the Stern report, even as she largely supports the document's policy prescriptions anyway. I wonder why -- ascetics?
Meanwhile, The economist blog, in their piece, Right-to-discount, discusses how the assumption of a zero-discount-rate by the Stern report creates serious problems in justifying an open abortion and birth control policy if we insist that discount rates be used consistently.
Posted by OneEyedMan at January 9, 2007 2:16 PM
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