Sorry, but we are not all “Keynesians.”

It is a well-known quote commenting economic policies:”We are all Keynesians right now.” It is true, at least in political arena, and even for free-market economists becoming careered politicians. Stimulus plans, aimed to substitute the lost purchasing power due to the financial crisis, are setup just within such a short time and are so roughly [...]

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The Keynesian Proposition

Over at Economist.com, they got Brad DeLong and Luigi Zingales representing Keynesianism and Neoclassical respectively over an online debate on the proposition “We are all Keynesians now.”
The proposition is awkwardly framed, i mean come’on, arguing for the proposition is like arguing that entire political and economic elites agrees over the remedy needed to recover from [...]

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如何評量消費券的效果？

看到最近沸沸揚揚的消費券議題, 從之前就想要寫些什麼討論一下這個公共政策, 但無論是在意識型態咖啡, 異鄉人或是 Evil Capitalist Heroes 都有淺白但是深刻的討論, 如果再多寫什麼, 都有班門弄斧的嫌疑, 只是手癢的時候還是停不住, 由於消費券政策的『勢在必行』, 不妨來討論一下, 怎麼樣衡量消費券的效果。

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Standards, for what and for whose interests?

After the JCEE this year, the “minimum” score requiring for entering a college fall from 18 to 7.69. The Premier of Taiwan demanded there shall be another “education reform” that we shall not tolerate the declining “quality” of high school. It is argued that the old system shall be restored. It means the original credit [...]

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Reply to Neouto’s Question about FED bailing out Bear Stearns

At first glance on this issue, it seems to be a dilemma situation.  I don’t have solid stance against or for this policy. However, I would like to provide some opinions on it.
First of all, it is widely agreed by liberalism that one reason for a government  intervention in the market is the existence of externality, which [...]

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Bob Tsao’s misguided view of democratic governance 曹興誠錯誤的民主行政觀念

I was very impress with Bob Tsao (曹興誠)’s cross strait peaceful coexistence act (兩岸和平共處法), however his concept of democratic governance stuns me as misguided.
In a post he wrote following KMT’s election victory gaining control over 3/4 of the legislature seats.
一般沒有管理經驗的學者，通常會過度強調制衡的重要。可是「制衡」與「掣肘」、「牽制」、「搗亂」該如何區分？許多人就說不清楚了。按理說，不管總統、各級官員、立法委員或其他民意代表，通通是食國家俸祿的公務員；老百姓付他們薪水，是希望他們通力合作，為人民謀福利。如果這些公務員，正事不幹，天天就是彼此搗蛋、牽制，弄得國家一片混亂，那實在是笑話。然而不幸的是，台灣民主化以後，這樣的笑話，變成我們天天看到的現實。
以台北市來說，市民們以七、八十萬票選出了一個市長；接著又以三、五萬票選出一批市議員；如果這些議員主要的工作就是牽制市長，那豈非我們的左手與右手成天互相搗亂，而我們則像一個精神分裂的病患？

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What to do about prostitution?

From Brad Plumer’s blog
The moral questions surrounding prostitution are thorny (is it ever freely chosen? is it always coercive?), so let’s set that aside and just note that criminalization creates a host of practical problems—and usually makes the sex trade more dangerous. One recent study by Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh found that many police [...]

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