It seems fashionable to denigrate Malcolm Gladwell. Academics moan; “he is conceptually loose and borrows ideas from other people”. It reminds me of Louis in Casablanca. People seem shocked to hear that gambling is going on. What were the critics expecting? Of course, Gladwell popularizes other people’s ideas. (For the record he can borrow and…
Category: Assumptions
Engaging With Other Disciplines
Has the way we think changed recently (on an evolutionary timescale)? Marlene Zuk suggests that as change is constant, the way we think will also have changed. This conflicts with evolutionary psychologists. They assume human brains are products of adaptation to the distant past. In one sense the evolutionary psychologists’ assumption is wrong. Like any…
Natural Does Not Equal Right
New year’s resolution time so I’ll discuss Marlene Zuk on our adaptation to diets. Zuk’s book was interesting and entertaining. I do have some issues which I’ll discuss next post. For now, I’ll note she enjoyed herself critiquing evolutionarily inspired diets and made useful criticisms. The headline is natural does not equal right. Just because…
The Deadweight Loss Of Christmas
In a holiday theme I’m discussing the Deadweight Loss of christmas. The basic idea is that gift-giving destroys value for society. The Deadweight Loss Of Christmas When buying for myself I get what I most value with the money. When you buy something for me you don’t know what I want so probably buy something…
Voters And Consumers
I recently read an interesting article in the Globe and Mail (a major Canadian paper). This talked about the political marketing techniques used by Canadian parties. The journalist asserted that “Canadian politics have moved into an era where voters no longer think of themselves as citizens, with duties and obligations and longer-term perspectives….” (Simpson 2013)….
Defining Concepts
When examining any phenomenon you must properly define what you are examining. A good example of the problems that arise when not defining concepts is “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. Great Stories Firstly, let me say that I enjoyed the book. The author packed it with fascinating stories. The book is well written….
Inequality And Efficiency
What do we know about inequality and efficiency? Inequality And Efficiency Is there an equality-efficiency trade-off? Is greater inequality just the price we pay for more efficiency? Economic theory has proven, one hears, that any but cosmetic modifications of capitalism in the direction of equality and democratic control will exact a heavy toll of reduced…
