Economists Have No Clothes

Why have economists had so little meaningful to say about the 2008 crises? Where and when did the 'science' get off the track? Can anything be done to restore respectability to Economics as a useful area of inquiry? This short essay examines these questions.methodology of economics, financial crisis, economics as science

PUBLIC CHOICE AND PUBLIC POLICY

Public Economics,

The Limits of Market Efficiency

The framework rules within which either market or political activity takes place must be classi?ed in the non-partitionability set under the Samuelson taxonomy. Therefore there is nothing comparable to the pro?t-loss dynamic of the market that will insure any continuing thrust toward more desirable rules. 'Public choice' has at least partially succeeded in getting economists to remove the romantic blinders toward politics and politicians as providers of non-partitionable goods. It is equally necessary to be hard-nosed in evaluating markets as providers of non-partitionable rules.markets, politics, efficiency, Samuelson, non-partitionability, public choice

A Limnological Study of Ricks Pond and the Gulpha Creek Drainage in Garland County, Arkansas

A limnological investigation of Ricks Pond and the Gulpha Creek drainage of Garland County, Arkansas was conducted between 1 June 1978, and 21 August 1978. Water samples taken from ten stations on three different dates indicated that the stream and pond systems were typical in water quality characteristics of other small, high gradient streams and impoundments in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. In Ricks Pond, thermal stratification occurred along with the development of an oxygen deficient zone below a depth of one meter. Other water quality parameters indicated that Ricks Pond is a moderately productive ecosystem, with the productivity limited by the nitrogen species. The fecal coliform bacterial counts were very low, indicating no direct input of excessive amounts of fecal matter into the system during the present study. However, a Hot Springs city sewer line runs through the pond, and two manholes emerge from the pond\u27s surface. The possibility exists that this sewer line could discharge raw sewage into Ricks Pond during periods of high water. A biological investigation was also conducted in the study area, and lists of the phytoplankton, periphyton, higher aquatic vegetation, zooplankton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fishes are presented. Twenty-seven species of fishes were collected from the Gulpha Creek drainage, and no rare or endangered forms were found. Ricks Pond is best-suited for the establishment of a put- and-take fishery for channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. The following recommendations were made for the establishment of such a fishery: (1) Renovation of the pond by draining and deepening it; (2) Removal of the sewer line from the pond; (3) Stocking of catchable size channel catfish at the rate of approximately 300-400 pounds per acre; (4) Periodic monitoring of the water quality

Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy of Young Portuguese Water Dogs

A novel dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in 12 related Portuguese Water Dogs was identified by retrospective analysis of postmortem and biopsy case records. Male and female puppies born to clinically healthy parents typically died at 13 (± 7.3) weeks of age (range, 2–32 weeks) because of congestive heart failure. Puppies died suddenly without previous signs or with mild depression followed by clinical signs of congestive heart failure 1–5 days before death. There was no sex predilection. The hearts were enlarged and rounded, with marked left ventricular and atrial dilation. No other significant structural cardiac defects were noted. The histologic changes in the myocardium were diffuse and characterized by myofibers of irregular sizes separated by an edematous interstitium. The myofibers had multifocal swollen, cleared segments often involving perinuclear areas that contained granular, phosphotungstic-acid-hematoxylin-positive material consistent with mitochondria. There was loss of the cross-striation pattern, and intercalated discs were difficult to identify. There was no evidence of concurrent myocardial fibrosis; rare chronic inflammatory infiltrates were noted in one dog. Noncardiac skeletal muscles were not affected. The underlying cause is unknown. From the pedigree analysis, an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance is suspected. Based on the histologic findings, this DCM is most likely due to an underlying molecular (biochemical or structural) defect. The early onset and rapid progression of the disease makes this a clinically distinctive form of canine DCM

Economic Science in the Future

Economics in the future should embody "the welfare economics of markets" in a dynamic, nonequilibrium, evolutionary framework. This economics will include a "return to increasing returns" as a central research program. And, relatedly, the intersection between economics and ethics will necessarily assume more significance.Economics