What would a 1971 Bretton Woods Dollar be worth today?

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Here is the answer.

Things can only get better...

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On this day in 1997, The Labour Party under Tony Blair come to power.

Blog Review 949

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We have myriad problems about pensions, both public and private, at present. But the root cause of all of them is actually something to celebrate: we're all living longer.

Anna Schwartz blamed the Fed for the last disaster, in the 30s, and she was right. Now she's blaming the Fed for the current problems: is she right again?

No, Somalian anarchy is not the perfect state. But amazingly, the absence of government is better than the presence of some governments.

The secret to understanding Adam Smith. He describes meticulously that which is - and not so much that which should be.

The universal first rule of politics:

Every politician really, sincerely, and truly wants what is best for the nation ... as his or her second priority, after doing whatever it takes to get elected or re-elected.

The language here is shocking but then perhaps justifiably so. The lies and contortions are simply fantastical.

And finally, celebrating May Day.

Catch it, bin it, kill it

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We'll probably discover Mr Brown, when he was Chancellor in the late Nineties, okayed a massive overspend on antivirals because he thought they'd stop the Millennium Bug.

Frank Skinner, Blow your snout and rinse your trotters The Times

Blog Review 948

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What we do about the current troubles of course depends on what caused them. And there's still some confusion around as to what actually did cause the current troubles.

We used to have a Man in Whitehall who really did know best. Unfortunately, he retired, which explains a lot about the modern world.

This is known as "ripping a new one". About time it happened to Thoreau.

Rarely is the correct reaction to a tragedy to ban something.

Why Government procurement always costs so much.

Has Gordon really lost the plot?

And finally, some appear to think so.

Us vs. Them? The global economy in a time of economic nationalism

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Rising unemployment and economic contraction spawned by the financial crisis have inspired governments in almost every major economy to “do something."  Often that has included raising barriers to trade, subsidising domestic industries, compelling local lending while deterring lending abroad, and preventing the benefits of Keynesian “stimulus" spending from “leaking" outside national boundaries. The mantra of both the Right and the Left has become “British jobs for British workers," while the American government precludes “bailed-out" financial institutions from hiring foreign workers.

But is this inward-looking thinking anachronistic for the modern global economy? Over the past 50 years, falling barriers to trade have led to an unprecedented division of labour.  Where supply chains were once very small and usually entirely domestic, they have evolved into highly efficient transnational operations, often spanning several countries.  It’s no longer “our" producers vs. “their" producers; nowadays our producers are the customers of their producers and vice versa.  Collaborations of our producers and their producers compete against other collaborations of our producers and their producers.

The impact of rapidly increasing levels of trade in recent decades has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of innovation, job creation, growth, and poverty reduction around the world.  But changes in trade policy thinking didn’t keep pace with changes in commercial reality, which has kept the door ajar for a resurgence of economic nationalism.  Does that spell the end of the global supply chain?  Daniel Ikenson, trade expert at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C., will discuss these issues in an upcoming event hosted by The Adam Smith Institute and International Policy Network:

Date: 28th May 2009
Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm (buffet from 12:30, talk from 13:00)
Location: 23 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BL

If you would like to attend this event, please email events@old.adamsmith.org

Lessons from the Great Depression

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Click here to see an excellent video from Freedom to Trade (F2T).

F2T is a joint initiative of IPN and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation to alert the public to the looming dangers of protectionism and to oppose existing and new protectionist measures. We have formed a coalition with 68 other think tanks and civil society organizations around the world, including the Adam Smith Institute.

Blog Review 947

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There are almost no lengths a bureaucracy won't go to in order to garner more of your money. Almost none.

It looks like there's a very nice little scandal brewing over the Vice President's son and brother. Absolutely no proof of anything as yet, of course.

Something for Green types to think on. Self-sufficiency is the route to poverty.

If industrial production is a much smaller share of our economy than it used to be, does declining industrial production matter quite so much?

Schumpeterian creation in unusual places and unusual markets.

Perhaps the libertarian (or classically liberal) discussion around climate change should centre on what we're already good at: the economics of it all?

And finally, well, why not?

Adam Smith and the UN

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"I wonder what Adam Smith would make of all this?" pondered Mr. Annan (although he wasn’t referring to the failure of his own hardwired redistributionism). “Maybe he would see the crisis as the consequence of failure to put economics at the service of the common good."

Maybe not.

Smith believed that great common good was provided by the pursuit of self-interest. He also believed that great danger lay in “partnerships" between government and business. Mr. Annan has done more than anybody (prodded by advisers such as Maurice Strong and Jeffrey Sachs) to promote such partnerships and lumber business with social and environmental “leadership," thus diverting them from job creation.

Peter Foster, 'Kofi Sends Adam Spinning', National Post

Blog Review 946

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The essential points about swine flu laid out for you. Although, it has to be said, the responses might not be entirely 100% accurate.

This however appears to be 100% correct. You'll need a licence to dispose of those face masks.

Should we be optimistic about the economic future? Depends how classically liberal we are about it really.

Yes, that is classically liberal, rather than the way some "liberals" get confused over matters.

The difference between how good ideas get picked up and promoted and the ideas that government picks up and promotes.

More interesting numbers: those governments which take less than 40% of GDP in taxes have economies growing faster than those that take more.

And finally, Harriet is about to make it legal to sack socialists.