Libertad y Organización

¿De quién son las empresas rusas?

Difícil saberlo, según un reciente informe de Standard & Poor's. En su Russian Transparency and Disclosure Survey 2004, la agencia de calificación norteamericana pone sobre de manifiesto uno de los efectos de la intervención del gobierno en la petrolera Yukos: se desconoce la identidad de los propietarios del 74% del capital, en manos privadas, de las cincuenta mayores compañías de Rusia. El ejemplo de Jodorkovsky podría haber acentuado la timidez de los empresarios rusos.

Campañas electorales

Si creen que la actual campaña presidencial estadounidense está llena de trucos sucios, no se pierdan lo que nos cuenta Paul Johnson en The Wall Street Journal ($$$). Nada comparable con la campaña presidencial de 1828, que enfrentaba a John Quincy Adams, presidente en ejercicio, con Andrew Jackson. Adams había sido elegido presidente en 1824 a pesar de contar con menos votos que Jackson. En 1828 se inauguraba también la tradición de largas campañas electorales. Muy distintas a las que en 1789 y 1793 llevaron a George Washington a la presidencia. La campaña electoral de Washington sólo le costó cuarenta libras tener contento al electorado; suficiente para pagar 35 galones de vino, 47 de cerveza, dos de sidra, media pinta de brandy y tres barriles de ponche de ron. Las cosas han cambiado.

La campaña de 1828 fue especialmente dura.

[1828] inaugurated the habit of long campaigns, since Tennessee nominated Jackson for president as early as Spring 1825, more than three years before the vote. The 1828 election saw the first "leak" and the first campaign posters. As Jackson was known as Old Hickory by his troops -- it was "the hardest wood in creation" -- Old Hickory clubs were formed all over the county, Hickory Trees were planted in towns, and Hickory Poles erected in villages. (Campaign badges and waistcoats had already been introduced in 1824.)

Adams's supporters retaliated by the campaign poster known as the Coffin Handbill, listing 18 murders Jackson was supposed to have committed. Those who claim the current election is the dirtiest know little about 1828. An English visitor, shown a school in New England (where Adams was paramount), put questions to the class, including "Who killed Abel?" A child promptly replied "General Jackson, Ma'am." An Adams pamphlet accused Jackson of "trafficking in human flesh," another accused his wife of being a bigamist and adulterer. After seeing it, she took to her bed and died shortly after the election. To his dying day Jackson believed his political enemies had murdered her. On his side, pamphlets accused Adams of fornication, procuring American virgins for the Tsar while serving as ambassador in Russia, and being an alcoholic and sabbath-breaker. A White House inventory listing a billiard-table and a chess-set led to the accusation that Adams had introduced "gambling furniture." (His most curious presidential habit, of taking a daily swim in the Potomac stark naked, went unnoticed.)

Al final, ganó Jackson. Sus seguidores, por miles, celebraron la victoria con una multitudinaria borrachera en la Casa Blanca.

Economía al revés: gripe versus ántrax

Muertes producidas en EE.UU. como consecuencia de la gripe, cada año: 36.000

Muertes producidas en EE.UU. como consecuencia del ántrax, cada año: ~1

Gasto en I+D para combatir la gripe: 283 millones de dólares

Gasto en I+D para combatir el ántrax y otros agentes biológicos: 5.600 millones de dólares

Vía Marginal Revolution

After the dust settles...

Is there anything salvageable from the dot.com wreckage? Paul Graham in a new essay, What the Bubble Got Right makes the case that there are valuable lessons to learn from the New Economy. Here´s a sampling:

The fact is, despite all the nonsense we heard during the Bubble about the "new economy," there was a core of truth. You need that to get a really big bubble: you need to have something solid at the center, so that even smart people are sucked in. (Isaac Newton and Jonathan Swift both lost money in the South Sea Bubble of 1720.)

Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Now anything that became fashionable during the Bubble is ipso facto unfashionable. But that's a mistake-- an even bigger mistake than believing what everyone was saying in 1999. Over the long term, what the Bubble got right will be more important than what it got wrong

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A hat tip to worldchanging for the link.

Economistas en Acción

En una carta abierta al presidente de EEUU, destacados catedráticos de ciencias económicas y empresariales critican la política económica y fiscal del gobierno de Bush.

Sensible and farsighted economic management requires true discipline, compassion, and courage – not just slogans. Given the tenuous state of the American economy, we believe that the time for an honest assessment of the problem and for genuine corrective action is now. Ignoring the fiscal crisis that has taken hold during your presidency may seem politically appealing in the short run, but we fear it could ultimately prove disastrous. From a policy standpoint, the clear message is that more of the same won’t work. The warning signs are already visible, and it is incumbent upon all of us to pay attention.

La economía del terrorismo

In specific, the supply and demand analysis of terrorism might be interesting, but it's not very helpful. I'm all for applying the lessons of economics to understanding terrorist groups, and do think there are some insights from institutional econ that would certainly be of use in understanding the functioning of such groups.

Interesante análisis económico de los grupos terroristas, en Truck and Barter.

La Bóveda

El estupendo blog del economista mexicano Andrés Vernon cumple un añito. Felicidades. Que cumpla muchos más!!!

El día después

¿Qué aspecto tendrá el mundo del software una vez completada la transición al código abierto?

Abstract

This essay analyzes the evolving economic substrate of thesource phenomenon. I first explode some prevalent myths about the funding of program development and the price structure of software. I then present a game-theory analysis of the stability ofsource cooperation. I present nine models for sustainable funding ofsource development; two non-profit, seven for-profit. I then continue to develop a qualitative theory of when it is economically rational for software to be closed. I then examine some novel additional mechanisms the market is now inventing to fund for-profitsource development, including the reinvention of the patronage system and task markets. I conclude with some tentative predictions of the future.

El estudio completo, aquí.

Link vía Marginal Revolution.