The Capitalist Paradox: How Cooperation Enables Free Market Competition
Paul H. Rubin is the Dobbs Professor of Economics Emeritus, Emory University, and President, Southern Economic Association, 2013 I want to thank Geoff for inviting me to blog about my new book. My book, The Capitalist Paradox: How Cooperation Enables Free Market Competition, Bombardier Books, 2019, has been published. The main question I address in this ... The Capitalist Paradox: How Cooperation Enables Free Market Competition
Thoughts on Fred McChesney
Paul Rubin is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Economics at Emory University. I first met Fred in about 1977, when I presented a paper at Miami and Fred was a student in the Law and Economics program. We thought alike and became friends immediately. After that, I saw Fred in Washington, when I worked at the ... Thoughts on Fred McChesney
Crony Capitalism Revisited
There were several letters in today’s Wall Street Journal commenting on my recent op-ed with my son Joe on second best arguments for various forms of crony capitalism. Overall, these articles are critical of our position, but I do not disagree with them. Our original article was at best a weak defense, with terms like ... Crony Capitalism Revisited
From Today’s New York Times: Uber and Amazon
The Times seems to specialize in stories that use lots of economics but still miss the important points. Two examples from today: Stories about Uber, and about the dispute between Amazon and Hachette. UBER: The article describes Uber’s using price changes to measure elasticity of demand, and more or less gets it right. But it ... From Today’s New York Times: Uber and Amazon
Some Data on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
As another Israeli-Muslim armed conflict begins, it instructive to consider the lethality of previous conflicts. The best estimate is that about 35,000 Muslims have been killed in all of the Israel-Muslim conflicts since 1948. During that same period, about 10,000,000 Muslims have been killed by other Muslims. The Arab-Israeli conflict overall is the 49th deadliest ... Some Data on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
From the Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2014, on Crony Capitalism
My son Joe and I have an op-ed in today’s WSJ that should stir up some controversy. Opinion Wall Street Journal The Case for Crony Capitalism Many government regulations choke off entirely legal avenues of potential bank profits. By Paul H. Rubin And Joseph S. Rubin July 7, 2014 7:34 p.m. ET Economics has a ... From the Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2014, on Crony Capitalism
An Additional Cost of Non-Price Rationing
Today’s (July 5, 2014) New York Times has an interesting story about rationing of water in California. There are apparently rules in place urging people to cut back on water use, but they are apparently not well enforced. Unsurprisingly, these appeals and unenforced rules are having relatively small effects. So many municipalities are urging neighbors ... An Additional Cost of Non-Price Rationing
More bad economics from the Times
In today’s (Sunday, June 22, 2014) New York Times Steven Rattner Has a column that at first appears to get the economics right, but blows it at the end. Most of the column is an explanation of why increased automation will not cause unemployment. He describes past fears of automation leading to unemployment, going back ... More bad economics from the Times
Restaurant Reservations
Today’s New York Times has an interesting article on restaurant reservations (Julia Moskin, “Getting a Good Table by Flicking an App, Not Greasing a Palm,” Saturday, June 14, p. A1, As the title suggests, there are now various apps and online services that obtain hot restaurant reservations and then sell them to willing buyers. This ... Restaurant Reservations
David Brat
I do not know David Brat and had never heard of him before he won the primary. I have looked at his Vita. However, I am bothered by seeing him called a free market economist and a Randian. Apparently one of the major issues distinguishing him from Mr. Cantor is Mr. Brat’s opposition to immigrants ... David Brat
From July 30 WSJ
Wall Street Journal OPINION July 31, 2012 ‘A Climate That Helps Us Grow’ By PAUL H. RUBIN President Obama’s riff on small business—”If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that, somebody else made that happen”—has become a major controversy. The Romney campaign has made this quote the subject of several speeches and ads, and ... From July 30 WSJ
Larry Ribstein on Movies
Our greatly lamented colleague Lary Ribstein was a movie buff. Some time ago he wrote an encyclopedic article on business in the movies, “Wall Street and Vine: Hollywood’s View of Business.” At the time of his death, he and I were in discussions about publishing this article in the journal I edit, Managerial and Decison ... Larry Ribstein on Movies
