Author Archives: admin

Can beliefs about fundamental social institutions such as the market system, change? If so, what can cause such changes? Even if one replies “yes” to the first question discerning an answer to the second has been an elusive goal for social scientists. Recent research by Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galliani, and Ernesto Schargrodsky (2007) presentsContinue reading “The Origins of Beliefs”

If carbon emissions, chemical spills, and non-point water pollution are weighing heavy on your mind, a new report from Cambridge University has a bit more bad news. That simple, white cotton t-shirt is a problem. Listen up guys! Over the lifetime of the garment, a polyester blouse uses less energy than your t-shirt.  While peopleContinue reading “The Shirt Off My Back”

By now, most of us have heard that using vegetable oil to run diesel engine cars is the clean way to drive—reducing carbon emissions. And, we have heard about those handy folks who manage to switch their cars to vegetable power, make friends with the local McDonald’s, and soon are buzzing around town with theContinue reading “A Tub of Soy Please”

Earth Day “Last Sunday was marked by an orgy of celebrations of Earth Day, the worldwide annual event intended ‘to spark a revolution against environmental abuse’…[But it is] human ingenuity and technology that not only raise living standards, but also restore environmental amenities. How about a day to celebrate that… Economic Progress Day?” –John Stossel,Continue reading “Impressions”

Ideas travel far and fast I read with interest, as usual, the Spring edition of PERC Reports, I remember the book very well, and not only that, it seems to me that we may have one of the first quotations of the book in an article in Spanish. Together with Alberto Benegas Lynch we bothContinue reading “Letters to the Editor”