Marginal Revolution

What I've been reading

1. Predictocracy: Market Mechanisms for Public and Private Decision-Making, by Michael Abramowicz.  A good compilation of current knowledge on prediction markets; he also argues for letting prediction markets determine many social decisions.  Here is his debate with Robin Hanson on the same.

2. Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, by Robin Wright.  An intelligent and experienced book on current trends in the Middle East and why we should be optimistic that pluralism will triumph.  Here is one good review.

3. "What makes Finnish kids so smart?"

4. Superior, Nebraska: The Common Sense Values of America's Heartland, by Denis Boyles.  Contra "What's the Matter with Kansas?", Boyle argues that the Midwestern values of individual responsibility are wise and sophisticated and that the Republican Party embodies much of this wisdom.  The author lives...in France.  By the way, here are maps for per capita Starbucks and Wal-Mart.

5. Edward Castronova, Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun is Changing Reality.  This seems to be less popular than Synthetic Worlds but in terms of social science I think it is better and deeper; recommended.  Here is a Russ Roberts podcast with Castronova.

Markets in everything

Call this one "feline edition": Wigs for cats.   Thanks to John De Palma for the pointer.

Kill the Farm Bill

Farm subsidies in the United States go to just a handful of crops, corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans, and rice.  Most fruits and vegetables are not subsidized, at least not directly but don't forget opportunity cost!

David Zetland has the dirt:

In this op/ed, a Minnesota farmer complains that he cannot increase production of garden crops by growing them on former-program crop land because these acres will lose their corn subsidy forever if non-program crops are grown on the land for a year.

Why? Because national fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.

...In other words, it seems that non-program crop states have been willing to support continued subsidies for program crop states because they are facing less competition in return. Less competition, higher prices and more money. Voila!

China fact of the day

There are some forty thousand Chinese restaurants in the United States -- more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined.

That is from the often quite interesting The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, by Jennifer 8. Lee (yes, readers, her middle initial is the number "8").  Of course arguably most of these restaurants do not count as Chinese food at all.

At the end of the book the author undertakes a global pilgrimage to discover the very best Chinese restaurant outside of China.  The winner?: Zen Fine Chinese Cuisine, just outside of Vancouver.  The number two choice came -- justly -- in Mumbai (Nelson Wang's China Garden).  I've never been to Richmond but I believe all of my top picks would come in India.  Hunan, in London, deserves consideration as well.  The author is correct that Chinese chefs, for whatever reason, do not flourish in France.  Recommended.   

What if we elected a Muslim black nationalist?

Reading Matt Yglesias, I couldn't help but wonder.  Assume the candidate was intelligent and had a responsible temperament.  What would it actually be like?  Presumably such a President would limit or cut off aid to Israel and directly support a Palestinian state.  (We might keep some aid for purposes of leverage.)  In the Arab world we would probably take some different sides, and more specific sides, than we do now.  I fear we would end up embroiled in a Muslim religious civil war in the Middle East.  When needed, we would likely intervene to help out Muslims in the Balkans or in Kuwait.  Might we get more free trade?  After all most Muslims live abroad and would like to sell their goods here.  The President could try to up the immigration quotas from Muslim countries but I doubt if Congress would accede.  Public and Supreme Court support for the separation of church and state would go up, not down.  Haven't Muslim black nationalists, historically, had a big interest in prison reform?  Would our President give the bomb away to Muslim nations?  Would it be easier to find Koranic recital CDs in Borders?  Would the President pressure the Fed to drive nominal interest rates close to zero, thereby implementing Milton Friedman's optimum quantity of money?