Two posts on state level intervention

Two excellent posts

Robert Higgs
Economic Fascism Marches On

Reporting on a February 9 Business Week article by Pete Engardio on “State Capitalism,” the National Center for Policy Analysis summarizes:

Across the United States, state governments are crafting economic strategies that blur the boundaries between the public and private sectors. They are targeting specific industries and intervening in ways that go far beyond traditional perks like tax breaks and cheap land.

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/62598.html

Perspective ~ The State Is Morally Hazardous To Your Health
By Sheldon Richman • May 2008


It’s never been more important for advocates of individual liberty to emphasize that what is failing today is not the free market but the state. To claim otherwise is to ignore generations of pervasive and deep-seated privilege through government interference with the marketplace.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/departments/perspective-the-state-is-morally-hazardous-to-your-health/

President's Day

From 2008 over on Austrian Economists

Laissez-fairist U.S. Presidents

A few weeks ago at a dinner, I was sitting across from the great Martin_van_buren_3 Leonard Liggio. Over the course of the meal, we talked about various U.S. Presidents and I asked who, in his opinion, the real laissez-faire supporters among all the U.S. Presidents were. Leonard came up with the following list (there are only six of them). The order is from the most laissez-fairist to the least (dates of presidency in brackets):

• Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897)
• Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
• Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
• Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
• Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
• Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

Blogs to check out

Tim Schelling and the Powell Center
http://valuingeconomics.blogspot.com/

William Easterly
http://blogs.nyu.edu/fas/dri/aidwatch/

Aplia presents current events with outstanding analysis and discussion questions for use in your class.
http://econblog.aplia.com/

Economic Principals by David Warsh
http://www.economicprincipals.com/


Development Blog
http://chrisblattman.blogspot.com/

Foundation for Teaching Economics - new course

The FTE has developed a new online course - Economics of Disasters to be piloted during the Spring, 2009 semester and offered for graduate credit during the Fall, 2009 semester.

Student writing contests

The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest - http://independent.org/students/essay/

Frasier Institute Essay Contest - http://www.fraserinstitute.org/education_programs/forstudents/essay_contest/

Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest - http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_atlas

MCC Online Economics Faculty

MCC online conomics faculty teaching second 8 week spring 2009 online and other interested econ and social sciences faculty to participate in a pilot to apply what our Online Group is formulating to include:

1. Use of the common webct entry point
2. Use of a student and faculty survey
3. Collaboration of all pilot participants to:

E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate

I completed the 5 course graduate certificate program on Dec. 31, 2008!