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General
Interest | On
Colombia | Notes
| Reviews |
Previous Opinion Files
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“Análisis Económico de los
Conflictos Internos”
A review essay on the economic theory of internal
conflicts.
Document Prepared for the "Fundacion Ideas
para la Paz" www.ideaspaz.org.
by Jorge Restrepo
Read abstract |
Download
Full Paper (pdf file 364k)
“En la Educación, lo clave son la administración
y los incentivos”
A nice essay supported by a paper recently published
by the "Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Economico
(CEDE)" of the Universidad de los Andes, full of
policy implications for our educational system.
by Jairo Nuñez
Read abstract |
Download
Full Paper (pdf file 31k)
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read
more:
¿Cuáles Colegios Ofrecen Mejor Educación en
Colombia? By Jairo Nuñez, Roberto Steiner,
Ximena Cadena y Renata Pardo. Documento CEDE
2002-03. Abril de 2002. |
“Dolarizar, Flotar, Callar”
by Leopoldo Fergusson and Juan Fernando Vargas
Read abstract |
Download
Full Paper (pdf file 136k)
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El Futuro está en Juego: ¿Liberalismo Economico
o Social Democracia?
Power Point Presentation delivered in February
2002
by Alberto Carrasquilla.
Download
Power Point Presentation
The
Fraser Institute
Which based on 21 variables, ranks 123 countries
according to their degree of economic freedom.
“The
Truth about Globalization”
Published in The
Public Interest (Spring 2002).
Taylor has written a balanced analysis about globalization,
starting by definning correctly what it means, and
not the very vague and actually, narrow minded “catch-all
term for capitalism and injustice”. Down to earth
and serious economics for a general audience. This
is an excellent essay (truth globalization).
by Timothy Taylor
See also:
Jagdish
Bhagwatti writings on Trade and Development in The
Economist
Linux and Economics and the Economics of Linux
by Franz
Hamman
“Linux
and Economics and the economics of Linux: Part
II”
by Franz
Hamman
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“The
real state of the world: enviormental degradation
and human development”. |
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THE
SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST
Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjørn Lomborg
a Review Essay By Luisa Estefanía Daniela Valdés
V.
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read
more:
The other side of the debate in Scientific
American January Issue: Misleading Math
about the Earth: Science defends itself
against The Skeptical Enviormentalist. |
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read
more:
Lomborg´s reply: Download article (pdf
format. |
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read
more:
SURVEY: THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT. THE ECONOMIST,
July 4th, 2002. This survey analyses different
environmental issues: Such as the apparent
incompatibility about economics and ecology
based on the controversial concept of “sustainable
development”. There is also an article about
the lack of reliable world-wide environmental
databases, which could be used to assess the
real state of the world. “Blowing hot and
cold” is a presentation about global warming
in order to promote global policies that help
solve this problem now, even if the causes
and consequences of the climate change aren’t
clear yet. Later, THE ECONOMIST assesses the
relationship between poverty, economic growth
and environment. It is interesting to see
how economics can actually help the environment
with economical or cost benefit analysis,
or market policies such as taxes, subsidies
and the so-called "green markets". |
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read
more:
"The Real State of the World": The litany
and the heretic", THE ECONOMIST, Feb. 2nd
2002. This article explores the reasons why
"The Real State of the Wold" has created such
a controversy, considering both its weaknesses
and its strengths. It considers again the
main environmental fears, comparing “The Litany”
against “The Real State of the World”. |
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read
more:
"Defending science" THE ECONOMIST, Feb.
2nd 2002. Similar to the article reviewed
above, it reviews the book written by Lomborg
and the controversy it has created. |
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read
more:
"Never the twain shall meet" THE ECONOMIST,
Feb. 2nd 2002. This is an assessment of
the divergent points of view and analysis
methods of economics and environmental sciences.
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read
more:
"Economic man, cleaner planet"; THE ECONOMIST,
Sept. 29th 2001. Similar to the article
in the survey reviewed above, this is a presentation
of how economic policies and market forces
can help the environment. It considers the
flaws of the past environmental policies (command-and
control) and proposes new ones like tradable
permit schemes, green taxes and charges, reduction
of certain anti-environmental subsidies and
the facilitation of the creation of green
markets. It finally reviews why this kind
of policies might be subject of debate. |
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For the most part, public opinion in our
country is academically poor and heavy in ideology.
Laziness covered with radical writing. See Antonio_Caballero_y_las_Ciencias
by Salomon Kalmanovitz.
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“Aquí lo necesario puede ser lo imposible”
By Alejandro Gaviria
Download
Full Paper (pdf file 8k)
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| Articles |
Revolution and Evolution in Twentieth - Century
Macroeconomics.
Short and iluminating history of Macroeconomic
Theory.
By: Michael Woodford
George
A. Akerlof:,
A. Michael Spence, Joseph
E. Stiglitz :
The 2001 Laureates in Economic Sciences have
been awarded to the developers of the Theory
of Assymetric Information and it's implications
for economics
Read a good summary of their contribution:
Markets
with Asymmetric Information
Charles Murray.
IQ and Economic Success
Murray describes "an emerging class society
in which the intellectually blessed become
ever more rich and powerful and the intellectually
deficient find it harder to cope". Th aeuthor
"propose that this new form of class division
is substantially (though by no means completely)
independent of one's socio-economic background".
Taken from: The
Public Interest
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| Books |
Thomas Nagel
The Last Word
Oxford University Press, 1997.
Review by Michele Boldrin
The book is a fine and clear defense of rationalism
and realism in science. A side from introduction,
the first four chapters (Why We Can't Understand
Thought from the Outside, Language, Logic,
and Science) are excellent, convincing,
and highly coherent. In the last two chapters,
Ethics and Evolutionary Naturalism and
the Fear of Religion, he somehow manages
to vindicate the views of some of those people
he so convincingly dismantles in the earlier
part of the book. He shows, in other words,
that he has "an agenda" which, while covered
by some form of rigorous and coherent Kantian.
I know he did not mean it to be used in this
way but still... I like the way in which the
concept is expressed here.
"Still, the supposition that there are
no objective values seems intelligible in
a way that the supposition that there are
no facts of any kind is not -- and it seems
to be one possible respect in which one might,
however mistakenly, come to regard oneself
as a mere biological product". Page 142.
Jared Diamond:
Guns, Germs and
Steel: the fates of human societies.
Review by Alvaro Riascos
A history of human societies, why Western
Civilization came to be what it is, why Pizarro
beat Ataualpha and not the other way round,
the role of the natural environment, geography
and technology in human history. A non-racist
theory of human societies. This is a wonderful
book. |
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