Archive for November, 2008
TV primer on GM crops
In: Uncategorized
30 Nov 2008Belatedly caught up with the BBC TV Horizon programme on Jimmy’s GM Food Fight (as I write there are still 23 days left to watch it on BBC iPlayer). It provided an unexpectedly good primer to the debate about genetically modified (GM) crops (or GMOs as they are known in America). The presenter was Jimmy [...]
- Tags: consumption, food, health, science, technology, television
Happy Thanksgiving!
In: Uncategorized
27 Nov 2008An article on America’s Thanksgiving festival as a celebration of abundance and prosperity.
- Tags: America, consumption, food
Critique of Obama’s Green New Deal
In: Uncategorized
26 Nov 2008A critique of Barack Obama’s “Green New Deal” from a free market perspective from junkscience.com. I do not agree with all of it but it makes some valid points.
Protectionism could trigger global conflict
In: Uncategorized
24 Nov 2008The following is my latest comment from Fund Strategy. The proposed bail-out of Detroit’s big three car manufacturers raises several potential problems. For a start it raises the question of what capitalism means. Generally market economies are characterised by substantial private sectors. The state usually plays a role in the economy but its ownership of [...]
Apocalypse porn
In: Uncategorized
23 Nov 2008Two more examples of the popularity of the post-apocalyptic genre. This evening the BBC Survivors programme – a remake of a 1970s series – was first aired. It is the cheery tale of a world in which a global flu pandemic has killed 90% of the population. This week also saw the launch in Britain [...]
- Tags: apocalyptic, film, television
Insights from the Economist
In: Uncategorized
23 Nov 2008A couple of particularly interesting pieces in this week’s Economist (22 November): * An article on the creation of a Committee on Climate Change, chaired by the ubiquitous Adair Turner, modelled on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. In other words it will give Britain’s green pledges the force of law. They will be [...]
- Tags: climate, development, economics, health
Support for a “green new deal”?
In: Uncategorized
23 Nov 2008An article in the Christian Science Monitor (19 November) on how an opinion poll in 21 countries shows support for more use of renewable energy sources even if it means higher prices in the short term. It talks favourably of President-elect Barack Obama’s plans to create jobs through the development of “clean technology” as well [...]
An absurd claim to heresy
In: Uncategorized
23 Nov 2008A thick, glossy magazine caught my eye in the newsagent. The winter 2008 Davos Edition of The New Economy has a polar bear on the front cover along with a main cover line proclaiming: “Standing on the edge: Why economic growth is bad for the planet. The cover section includes articles by Herman Daly (veteran [...]
- Tags: economics, environment, growth
Happiness prime minister speaks
In: Uncategorized
21 Nov 2008Today’s Wall Street Journal has an interview with Bhutan’s first elected prime minister. Inevitably it touches on the Himalayan kingdom’s much lauded emphasis on pursuing Gross National Happiness rather than GDP. What Jigmi Y Thinley says is pretty anodyne. What is more notable is that he became the first democratically elected prime minister only this [...]
Happiness in Latin America
In: Uncategorized
19 Nov 2008Even Latin America seems to be getting in on the happiness obsession. A study by the Inter-American Development Bank says – if you can believe the headlines – that fast economic growth damages life satisfaction. Usually the results of such surveys, once they are subject to close scrutiny, are not as straightforward as they appear.
- Tags: happiness, Latin America
- Entries (RSS)
Contact Daniel
Welcome to danielbenami.com.
To contact me email ferraris AT danielbenami.com
My blog posts are fed through to Twitter and I also have a Facebook fan page.
Buy the book
Ferraris For All, my book defending economic progress, has just been published in an extended edition in paperback and on Kindle with a new chapter on the inequality debate.
Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de,Barnes & Noble, Borders Australia
Please see the Buy the book page for more details.
- No comments
- The “new normal” revisited
- Cover story on American slowdown
- Cover story on “great stagnation”
- Shareholder revolt is no Arab spring
- My inequality essay now on spiked
- Spiked review on Real Clear Books
- Critique of report on population
- Best to ditch the economic rules
- The American incomes debate
- Pity the American left