Economic Links of the Day

Emily Oster on AIDS and income (PDF version here):

I also show suggestive evidence, based on a very simple calibration, that the magnitude of behavioral response in Africa [to AIDS] is of a similar order of magnitude to that among gay men in the United States, once differences in income and life expectancy are taken into account.

(HT Marginal Revolution)

Alex Tabarrok on Harry Potter and the Mystery of Inequality:

J.K. Rowling is the first author in the history of the world to earn a billion dollars.

Rowling's success brings with it inequality. Time is limited and people want to read the same books that their friends are reading so book publishing has a winner-take all component. Thus, greater leverage brings greater inequality.

...if you really want to understand inequality today you must first understand Harry Potter.

Tyler Cowen on why divorce is good for marriage.

Bryan Caplan's book "The Myth of the Rational Voter" is out.

Bill Easterly (I just got out of his class an hour ago) on Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank.

Charles Wheelan, author of "The Naked Economist", offers his economics laundry list.

Clinton vs. Friedman:

"The unfettered free market has been the most radically destructive force in American life in the last generation."

-- First Lady Hillary Clinton on C-Span in 1996

"What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will. The market gives people what the people want instead of what other people think they ought to want. At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself."

-- Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1961

(HT Greg Mankiw)

The College Premium:



And speaking of college, I better get back to the books!