The science of self-control

Whether you can resist the temptation to immediately chuck down a marshmallow as a four-year-old predicts your future success better than any IQ test. Interesting article in the New Yorker.

French prosperity?

The cover of the current Economist asks whether the French system is looking better in light of the recent crisis. Of course, they don't think so.

Colbert: Rand Illusion

Ayn Rand is apparently gaining popularity again. Watch here. "Atlas Shrugged" is has a sales rank of #52 on amazon.com. Sadly Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" is only about #600.

Obama and France

I found this funny take on the French vs the American economic system on Greg Mankiw's blog. Click here to watch Veronique de Rugy, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, talk about France.

Socialist nightmare

The Daily Show's take on the "socialist nightmare" in Sweden: here.

US mobility

Mobility is often touted as a major strength of the US economy. A side effect of the housing market's implosion is that mobility is the lowest in 47 years, according to this NYT article.

Forging a New Capitalism

The President of France writes in the New York Times that "The world expects that we build, together, a new form of capitalism, better regulated, with a greater sense of morality and solidarity." At the same time, he says that "This crisis is not the crisis of capitalism. On the contrary, it is the crisis of a system which has drifted away from the most fundamental values of capitalism." And then he adds "We decided that in future not one financial player, not one institution, not one product would be beyond the control of a regulatory authority."

A centralized approach to green cars

China is aspiring to become the world leader in green cars, according to this New York Times article. The government ordered the power company to set up electric charging stations in several cities. A quick way to cut through the chicken-and-egg problem of electric cars first or charging stations first.

Private gains, social losses

Columbia economist Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel-prize in 2001) says Geithner's solution to the crisis is worse than nationalizing banks. Read here why he talks about "Obama's Ersatz Capitalism."

American Oligarchs?

The former Chief Economist of the IMF thinks that the US is turning into a Banana Republic, and the financial top dogs are oligarchs. Read his article in the Atlantic Monthly.

Obama on the auto industry

In this video, Obama says the government is not interested in running GM, and then explains how GM is going to be run (if they fancy any of that taxpayer money, that is). The way he talks about launching the auto industry into the 21st century and into worldwide preeminence sounds almost like the Japanese MITI guiding baby industries—except these firms are going to have to be killed before they can be born again.

Are the French lazy or lifestyle-smart?

Six views on the shorter workweek as a solution to the economic crisis. Instead of laying off one worker, why not reduce the hours of three? Read here.

Hayek for the 21st century

Reason.com interviewed Hayek biographer Bruce Caldwell on the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Road to Serfdom. Read the interview.

Gary Becker

He still believes in markets. Interview in the Wall Street Journal.

Life after the crisis

Richard Florida writes in The Atlantic Monthly on what America will look like after the crisis. Read here.

Wall Street Lays Another Egg

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson explains the global financial crisis in historical context on the pages of Vanity Fair.(click here)

The Future of Capitalism

A discussion on the Financial Times website. In light of the current crisis, what will capitalism look like in five years? Click here.

HDI

The Human Development Report ranks countries according to their level of development, taking a wide variety of factors into account. Do you think the US is in the top five? The top ten?

Freedom House

Which countries enjoy the most freedom in the world? Which have the least freedom? The Freedom in the World Report gives you one answer.

HPI

We often measure progress with GDP and identify development with GDP growth. But does more stuff make a country happier? The Happy Planet index (at http://www.happyplanetindex.org/index.htm) tries to at least ask the right question.