I largely agree with Gary Becker and Richard Posner with reference to the Democrat proposal for raising the minimum wage in the USA. Despite the fact that the proposal is also supported (and to some extent, ignited to start with) by many remarkable economists, I do not think there is any undisputed, clear, evidence that the benefits would outweigh the costs, and moreover there are better alternatives that can be used towards the same (declared) goals (as, for instance, the Earned Income Tax Credit, first championed as the “negative income tax” by the late Milton Friedman; as Posner discusses in his post mentioned above, why not work towards making that more generous, since the EITC is probably a less inefficient tax than the minimum wage).
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Petitie Ad Astra
Ad Astra revine cu o petitie pentru rezolvarea unor probleme majore in managementul cercetarii stiintifice din Romania (petitie pe care tocmai am semnat-o si eu). Evident, in mod normal o asemenea petitie ar fi redundanta pentru ca toate cerintele acestea fac parte din standardul organizarii cercetarii stiintifice intr-un regim civilizat.
→ Read more The US Library of Congress on Romania
To my shame (and my ultimate frustration) I have only found this excellent, objective, accesible, compact source on Romania very recently. My overall impression: this is the best snapshot on Romania’s historical, geographical, social, political, economic and military aspects I’ve ever run into, devoid of futile passions, gross incompetencies and other such features that plagued every single such study that I consulted before.
→ Read more Dezbatere privind cercetarea din Romania (II)
Continuand postul meu din 28 aprilie, indic si comentez foarte pe scurt o serie de noi articole aparute tot in cadrul discutiei referitoare la reformele privind cercetarea stiintifica din Romania, unele ca raspuns la articolele deja amintite.
→ Read more John C. Harsanyi: O calatorie incredibila sau ”Daca vrei cu adevarat, poti!”
La un moment dat (cu destula vreme in urma) am scris un eseu despre Laureatul Nobel John Harsanyi pentru Suplimentul Educational al Gandului. Nu am nici o idee daca a fost publicat sau nu- din nou, modul de lucru al ziaristului roman.
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