Chicago. Milton Friedman from Cambridge to T.W. Schultz. 29 Mar 1954

by Irwin Collier, Economics in the Rearview Mirror, June 7, 2016.

Excerpt from Friedman’s letter:

Of the people you list as possible visiting professors while Koopmans is away, Solow of M.I.T. is the one who offhand appeals to me the most. I have almost no doubt about his absolute competence: I read his doctoral dissertation at an early stage and saw something of him last summer and the preceding summer when he was spending some time at Hanover in connection with one or another of Bill Madow’s projects. He has a seminal mind and analytical ability of a very high order. My only questions would be the other that you raise, whether he is broadly enough interested in economics. And here I am inclined to answer with an uncertain yes, relying partly on the fact that he is flexible and capable of being induced. I do not know Dorfman of California either personally or through his writings. My question about him is that I believe that we would do best if we could use this opportunity in general to bring in someone with a rather different point of view and who will provide a broadening of the kind of thing done under the heading of mathematical economics, and my impression is that Dorfman is very much in the same line as Koopmans – but here too, I don’t have much confidence in my knowledge. As you know, I think very highly of both Modigliani and Christ, but as of the moment for this particular spot, would prefer Solow, partly on grounds of greater differentiation of product.

DRH comment: This is so interesting in light of the fact that Solow seems almost to have hated Friedman later.

Globalization with minimal apologies

by Jason Furman, Peterson Institute for International Economics, September 11, 2024.

Let me go quickly through just a few aspects of it. First of all, at the global level, trade and globalization more broadly have contributed to an incredibly rapid, enormous reduction in inequality. If you look at the inequality among all the people in the world you erase national borders and ask just how much inequality is there among 8 billion people? If you look at Branco Milanovic numbers, there all of the increase in inequality from the year 1900 to 2000 went away between 2000 and around 2020. In a quarter century of hyper globalization erased a century’s worth of increased in global inequality.

Second, the question that you want to ask is probably not does inequality go up but what happens to the living standards for the middle class and the poor. If trade helps everyone but helps some people more than others that might be to some degree lamentable, but you probably wouldn’t want to stop it from happening. I believe a lot of trade has had this character especially when you take into account the enormous and progressive gains from trade on the consumer side that I discussed earlier.

US military draft sign-ups plunge in 2 years

by Edward Hasbrouck, Responsible Statecraft, October 7, 2024.

Excerpt:
Of men in the U.S. who turned 18 in 2023, fewer than 40% signed up for the draft — down from more than 60% in 2020 before the start of the war in Ukraine.

This eye-popping and previously undisclosed admission, as well as other revelations equally damning to plans to increase readiness to activate a draft, was included in documents released recently by the Selective Service System(SSS) in response to a Freedom Of Information Act request.

DRH comment: Finally some good news.

Home Kitchens Are Under Attack by Regulators

by C. Jarrett Dieterle, Reason, October 12, 2024.

Excerpt:

Rhiannon Deschaine of Kenduskeag, Maine began making and selling meals from her home-based business, Kenduskeag Kitchen, in April 2022—sourcing many ingredients from the family garden or homesteading neighbors. In July 2022, an official from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services dropped by Deschaine’s house to conduct an unannounced inspection. While the inspector didn’t find anything unsanitary or problematic about Deschaine’s food preparation or meals, Deschaine was informed that Kenduskeag Kitchen needed to have a “food establishment license” to operate, which would, in turn, require her to install a full commercial kitchen in her home.

A letter of enforcement followed in October of 2022, and by December 2022, Deschaine shut down Kenduskeag Kitchen in the face of potential fines and enforcement action. Shutting down a business like Kenduskeag Kitchen is especially ironic in Maine, a state that recently passed a Food Sovereignty Act and enshrined a Right to Food in its constitution.