French government protects readers from Amazon free shipping

January 16, 2008 8:20 PM by Dick Clark

Another government interferes with the operation of the market, this time for the purpose of "rescuing" customers and restoring high-overhead, Mère-et-Père (French for "money pit") bookstores to their rightful place of prominence in the French book market. In this case, the threat came in the form of dangerously inexpensive books from Amazon.

Now, if the French regulators get their way, those French bargain seekers are going to have to pay for their books like every other respectable Frenchman--par le nez.

(Thanks to Eric Garris.)

Burst building bubble blows bad-guys' bid-rigging business

September 21, 2007 6:38 PM by Dick Clark

Even organized crime is feeling the pinch from the rapidly deflating housing bubble. According to a Jane's Security News brief:

Shooting match: Gang-related killings surge in Japan
Japan witnessed an upsurge in gang-related shootings in the first half of 2007. The violence is a result of organised crime syndicates seeking new ways to generate income as traditional revenue sources from bid-rigging in the construction industry dry up.

[first posted to http://jir.janes.com - 18 September 2007]

Of course, the official bandits have yet to lay off of the printing presses, and the vast majority of their victims aren't criminals at all.

Wikipedia: What Is It Good For?

September 19, 2007 9:09 AM by Dick Clark

The man credited with founding Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales — known to Wikipedians as "Jimbo" — was a finance major at Auburn University when the Mises Institute's Mark Thornton suggested he read "The Use of Knowledge in Society," a now-famous essay written by Austro-libertarian economist and Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek.

The essay argues that prices in the market represent a spontaneous order that results from the interaction of individuals with diverse wants, allowing them to cooperate to achieve complex goals. According to a June 2007 Reason magazine interview, this insight of Hayek's is what led Wales to found Wikipedia. The rather lofty vision that inspired Wales? "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." FULL ARTICLE