To Live and Breath in Beijing
“Foreign Correspondents as They Live and Breathe,” (New York Times, March 30, 2017) reports on the still deadly air pollution in China: Ian Johnson, a China correspondent, took out his phone to check Air...
Economic Thinking Posts on Debate Topics
From Building Codes to Noisy Chickens, Children, and Public Needs
Well, to start with, property doesn’t have rights and the public doesn’t have needs. So when students are asked to compare values in these two phrases, confusion often results. The current Stoa Lincoln-Douglas topic is:...
Free Money for Freeways: Notes on Federal Transportation Reform
Billions are being invested upgrading U.S. railroads, including various new technologies. The federal government has little involvement in this upgrade. Railroad, apart from Amtrak, are privately owned and operated and when demand for services...
Brexit, Texit, Calexit, and the Future of China
Should the U.S. encourage China to further decentralize economic and political authority? Soft or full partition has been advocated for Iraq, Syria, and Libya. The politically-decentralized canton-nation of Switzerland, and past and modern city-states show the success of devolving political...
Ford’s Electric Cars in China: Good News or Bad?
Electric cars are popular with investors, and the New York Times reports on booming market value as “Tesla Passes Ford in Market Value as Investors Bet on the Future,” (April 3, 2017). Tesla’s Elon...
Protecting U.S. Producers from Benefits of Low-Cost Steel
A Wall Street Journal headline writer likely sensed something amiss with calls by U.S. steel producers for more protectionism. The August 12, 2015 WSJ print edition article by John W. Miller was titled: “Steelmakers Lodge New...
Blockchain Certify Food Imports from China
Food safety is always a challenge. Insuring food safety from suppliers in distant countries like China is even more of a challenge. “Blockchain: A Better Way to Track Pork Chops, Bonds, Bad Peanut Butter?,” (New...
China to Palestine: Let Charter Cities & Economic Freedom Bloom
Nation-states can be more trouble than they’re worth. For the Middle East, federalism, soft-partition, enclaves, and charter cities offer non-state paths to peace and prosperity. The March NSDA Public Forum topic is “Resolved: The United States should no...
China and U.S. Companies Head to the Moon
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk want to set up operations on the moon. “An exclusive look at Jeff Bezos’s plan to set up Amazon-like delivery for ‘future human settlement’ of the moon” (Washington Post,...
Reducing Rice Subsidies Can Help Open Export Markets
Federal farm programs regulate and subsidize wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, and rice production and exports. These subsidies are costly to taxpayers and consumers, and complicate trade relations with China and other Asian countries. Downsizing The...