Eric Crampton

2 weeks ago | nzinitiative.org.nz | Eric Crampton

Many economists make international trade seem more complicated than it needs to be. Stephen Landsburg had a simple way of explaining it all.  Landsburg’s version goes as follows:“There are two technologies for producing automobiles in America. One is to manufacture them in Detroit, and the other is to grow them in Iowa. Everybody knows about the first technology; let me tell you about the second. First, you plant seeds, which are the raw material from which automobiles are constructed.

2 weeks ago | nzinitiative.org.nz | Eric Crampton

About a quarter of a century ago, my wife to-be introduced me to a card game called Flux. It was popular among the computer science and engineering students in Pittsburgh. Those students, who spent their days agonising over the logic of the code and structures they were designing, needed something a little different. Something so unpredictable that it defied planning and logic. Something where they didn’t have to think, because thinking couldn’t help much.

2 weeks ago | newsroom.co.nz | Eric Crampton

Comment: About a quarter of a century ago, my wife to-be introduced me to a card game called Flux. It was popular among the computer science and engineering students in Pittsburgh. Those students, who spent their days agonising over the logic of the code and structures they were designing, needed something a little different. Something so unpredictable that it defied planning and logic. Something where they didn’t have to think, because thinking couldn’t help much. Already have an account?

2 weeks ago | nzinitiative.org.nz | Eric Crampton

I am always glad that I am not an economic forecaster. Most people’s exposure to economists is radio or newspaper bits from bank economists making their best guesses about economic growth, the unemployment rate, or the track for interest rates. Every economist who isn’t a forecaster has to be patient when asked at parties which way the markets are likely to go. For most of us, that just isn’t what we do. And some of us view that kind of forecasting as being a bit too close to fortune-telling.

3 weeks ago | nzinitiative.org.nz | Eric Crampton

The pendulum theory of politics suggests that policies often swing from one extreme to another without finding a balanced middle ground. Consider New Zealand’s supermarkets. Current regulations have made it near-impossible for new large-scale grocers to enter the New Zealand market.