GlobLog - June 2006
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

10:21 - ANOTHER BOOK IS POSSIBLE: 

Now it’s been one month since I published my new book on entrepreneurship, and the first printing is almost sold out. I celebrate this by publishing another book now, shorter, on Swedish politics and written together with leftist America Vera-Zavala.

This book, Ett annat Sverige är möjligt (“Another Sweden is possible”) is a follow-up to our book Global rättvisa är möjlig (“Global justice is possible”), which presented two opposite views on globalisation and poverty. It was a big success, very popular in schools and universities, and has sold more than 10 000 copies.

In the new book we present two opposite views on how Sweden should change – more or less government, more or less market. And the common denominator is that we don’t think that those basic, essential questions about principles and ideology are raised in Swedish politics, especially not in an election year.

08:39 - THIS IS LONG, SINCE I AM DEVELOPING MY THOUGHTS AS I WRITE: 

Many ask me what I think about copyrights in general and the activity of The Pirate Bay in particular, and recently, Joel Malmqvist, a young Swedish social democrat, urged me to become Sweden’s Captain Copyright, who explains the benefit of intellectual property rights for the kids.

The reason why I have not been much engaged in this discussion is that it’s a difficult one, where I think that both sides make mistakes, and since I try to learn more about it before I become involved, at least as a dressed-up super hero in defence of IPRs. In fact this is a big discussion in liberal/libertarian circles, where the whole spectrum of opinions exists, and where a small, but well-articulated minority does not see any similarities between physical and intellectual property rights, and wants to abolish the latter.

Here is a sketch of my own view so far:

I am in favour of intellectual property rights for both moral and practical reasons, just like physical property rights. Morally it is a way to recognize and the creator of new values and protect his rights to it, practically it is an incentive for more production and creativity. With patents and copyrights there are more shades of grey, it’s not easy to say exactly what deserves protection and for how long. But a grey area does not rule out that there is black and white on both sides of it.

If someone sells me a DVD or a CD on a specific condition – for example that I am not allowed to distribute it to others – then this restriction is a result of freedom of contract. If I don’t agree to those terms, I shouldn’t buy them, I don’t have a right to pretend that I agree and then break the conditions afterwards.

And I don’t agree at all with the idea that this is suddenly less interesting and legitimate because technology makes it easier to spread and use ideas and creations of others, quite the opposite. As the cost of physical production keeps approaching zero, the ideas, science and knowledge that goes into them become the important and valuable aspect of our economy. A system that does not protect rights to that will not do well.

I also think that some of the arguments against musical copyrights are worthless unless you are an opponent of capitalism generally:

 “It is just a protection of the big record company and not the musician” – even if that was the case it’s up to the musician to make that decision and not for outsiders. After all he goes there voluntarily because he thinks that deal is better than any alternative. (And it doesn’t seem to be the case, as I understand the Swedish experience where record sales have been halved in five years – the big ones don’t lose too much, because they have alternatives, but individual musicians and independent labels do.)

“When I spread their music they gain a bigger audience, might sell more records and more people go to their live shows.”– even if that was the case it’s up to the musicians to make the decision to distribute it that way, not for others to do it for them. You wouldn’t accept stealing and distributing Volvos, even if you could make the case that Volvo would gain more from brand recognition, selling extra features, repairs and spare parts.

At the same time, there has been abuse of the patent and copyright system. For example we see how strong industry interests have successfully lobbied for constantly longer protection. Now artistic copyrights are protected 75 years after the death of the creator. Why should that be so much longer than the protection of patents in for example robots and drugs (20 years)? There is no specific moral legitimacy, it is just a Mickey Mouse law (the day Disney’s copyrights would expire, 50 years after his death in 1966, approached rapidly – ironic since this particular mouse borrowed liberally from other sources).

And when it comes to patents we see that many companies seek and receive protection for tons of tiny discoveries that are not related to products, but do this only to sue other companies when they use something that comes close in one of their products.

The lack of a moral basis and the aggressive, self-interested lobbying from the industry has hurt their case, and fuels distrust and opposition to the IPR system. But on the other hand, that is a reason to fix the system, not to dismantle it. And it is a reason for the industry to initiate a serious debate about these issues and really explain their case in a moral, principled fashion, and not just support short-term interests in a legalistic framework. It’s a big task. As long as physical property rights aren’t well understood in our society, how can we expect intellectual property rights to be?

But on the other hand, nothing I have said can be used to support the kind of activities the authorities have used against the Pirate Bay and file sharers. Just because it’s illegal and wrong to stab someone doesn’t mean that knives should be outlawed. Just because it’s illegal and wrong to distribute others’ music doesn’t mean that the technology that makes it possible is wrong (it’s also used for legitimate purposes) or that it is legitimate with harsh repression and surveillance to stop it.

And to me the raid on the Pirate Bay looks like an overreaction. You might make the case that the pirates not only enabled, but also encouraged and were complicit in the activities. We’ll have to wait and see, but anyway it’s bizarre when the police in this raid take about 200 servers from other IT-companies that had nothing to do with the Pirate Bay – and so far haven’t returned them. It definitely gives the pirates a PR boost.

It might be that something should be illegal, but that new technologies make it impossible to stop it with legitimate means. Therefore it’s essential for the industry to develop new business models, adapted to the new technologies. One of the biggest problems is that they have been far too slow to use the opportunities of digital communications and the internet, partly because they thought they would fuel illegal file sharing. But of course, it was the other way around. Simple and free or difficult and expensive? Just saying that it is illegal doesn’t help much when legislation changes so rapidly that people don’t know what is and should be illegal.

But when legal and easy-to-use alternatives have been developed, for example via iTunes, it’s extremely popular (one billion songs sold). And iTunes’ FairPlay encryption scheme makes it possible to sell songs that can be played only on iPods and on a limited number of music machines, to stop uncontrolled distribution. But here comes the really absurd part, French legislators and the Swedish Consumer Agency have shown an unhealthy interest in outlawing that business model, because they think it is proprietary and monopolist. They want to force Apple to sell a format that can be played on all mp3-players and can be played on any number of machines.

In other words, they want to outlaw an excellent technological solution to a difficult problem, and instead the government would be left with the option to harass young file sharers and raid IT-companies to try and stop the pirates.

As I mentioned, this is a difficult subject and it’s not easy to know exactly what to think, but whatever happens and whatever position turns out to be the right one, one thing remains constant: French lawmakers and the Swedish Consumer Agency will be on the wrong side.

16:41 - THERE IS A MARKET IN EVERYTHING: 

The ten weirdest items sold on ebay proves that there really are markets in everything. How about buying a ghost in a jar or finding out the meaning of life for only $3.26? And I´ve got to get me one of those Vampire killing kits.

(Via Tyler Cowen)

11:12 - PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENTS: 

"We have 25 or so years invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?"

- Phil Jones, one of the advocates of the "hockey stick"-theory of global warming, to climate skeptic Warwick Hughes in February 2005. (Jones was right to be protective, since another look at data shortened the hockey stick 600 years.)

22:18 - OM MALM BARA LÄSER SINA IDOLER BÖR HAN I ALLA FALL LÄSA DEM UPPMÄRKSAMT: 

Jag tipsade Andreas Malm om att läsa Hernando de Soto för att bättre förstå slummens problem. Det har han nu inte gjort, men han har i alla fall läst sin favoritmarxist Mike Davis kritik av de Soto, och publicerade en jätteartikel om den i DN i går. Men Malm läste Davis slarvigt, och exempelvis skyller han i första stycket Perus massarbetslöshet på Fujimoris marknadsreformer, när den (som Davis också skriver) skapades av föregångaren Garcias populistiska politik.

NMI skriver om detta.

22:34 - MUGGED BY REALITY (AND WELFARE BENEFICIARIES): 

“We had too positive an image of society [...] Nowadays, some [Hartz IV] recipients go to their job centres and demand money as though it were a salary. We must make it clear that this is taxpayers’ money for which some people have worked very hard.”

 - Peter Struck, head of the Germany´s social democratic parliamentary group, via FT. (Thanks Janerik)

16:16 - A GRAPH FOR LARS MAGNUSSON: 

There have been many reviews of my new book, and so far there has only been one outright hostile review: The conservative magazine Axess gave my book to the economic historian Lars Magnusson, a sort of leftist advocate of protectionism who didn´t have a single nice word to say about my book (at the same time they gave his new book to an old student of his...).

I will deal with Magnusson´s criticism when I review my reviewers later. But one interesting thing was that he challenged my arguments about a correlation between poverty-corruption-lack of economic freedom, and for example he thought that many poor African countries aren´t very corrupt. Check here and see if you agree with him.

I came to think of this when I visited Gauche Totalitaire and found this graph comparing economic freedom (from Heritage) and corruption (from Transparency International). A low score means a lot of corruption and in economics it means freer markets. So you probably don´t have to strangle your economy in red tape to create corruption, but it certainly helps.

12:10 - PROZAC SAVES LIVES: 

There is a theory that anti-depressants like Prozac might cause suicidal thoughts in some people. Even if that were true, the opposite effect seems to be much, much stronger. After having been fairly stable since the early 1960s, the number of suicides in the US has dropped by 15 percent since 1988, the year Prozac was introduced.

If this is because of anti-depressants, it has saved somewhere between 22 400 and 45 000 lives in 14 years, according to a new study. The Economist writes about it here.

11:14 - THIS IS NOT SATIRE: 

Senator Hillary Clinton supports the candlemakers´ petition.

Frédéric Bastiat was not available for a comment.

(Thanks Mattias)

20:44 - WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SLUMS?: 

In a review of Mike Davis´ Planet of slums in Dagens Nyheter yesterday, Andreas Malm explained that the slums are growing all over the world, and that this is because of liberal market reforms. And he said that this is something "all the Johan Norbergs of the world" have to read about(it´s part of the most tortured metaphor I have ever seen in print).

But instead of relying on an apocalyptic socialist like Davis I thought I should look at the facts, and according to the latest UN Habitat study the proportion in developing countries who live in slums has actually been reduced. In 1990 46.5 lived in slums, in 2005 41.4 percent did.

As Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, has pointed out it is a good thing that the rural population declines worldwide, because living and health standards there are just as bad as slums. So the urban revolution should not be lamented. The interesting thing to look at is that urban growth is faster than the slum growth. And that is actually the case in all regions, according to the UN. The only region where slums grow almost as fast as the urban areas generally is Sub-Saharan Africa - the world´s least liberal, least capitalist and least globalised region. And it has decreased in the countries that have received most foreign investments and who have been able to increase their trade.

What people need to get out of the slums is the right to formalise their work and businesses, unrestrained by regulation and corruption. And they need proprty rights to their shacks and possessions to be able to improve them, get credit, water and electricity. Hernando de Soto´s book The Mystery of Capital explains how this could be done.

Necessary reading for all the Andreas Malms of the world.

(Thanks Michael)

13:24 - GENOCIDE IN UGANDA: 

Many observers (myself included) have pointed to Uganda as a good example of how economic liberalisation and a serious fight against AIDS can improve living standards in Africa. But in Foreign Policy Olara A Otunnu, a former UN under secretary-general, shows that the government is guilty of a horrible crime, hidden from the rest of the world:

"For more than a decades, government forces have kept a population of almost 2 million (from the Acholi, Lango, and Teso regions) in some 200 concentration camps, where they face squalor, disease, starvation, and death. Imagine 4000 people sharing a latrine, women waiting in line for 12 hours to fill a jerrycan at a well, and up to 10 people packing themselves sardine-like into tiny huts.

Ninety-five percent of the Acholi population now resides in these camps. In January 2006, World Vision Uganda reported that 1000 children are dying each week in the region, one of the worst mortality rates in the world. More recent estimates indicate that number may have climbed to 1500 deaths a week. In March, a survey by a consortium of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that the death rates in the concentration camps are three times those of Darfur."

(Via Fredrik Erixon)

13:15 - WE APOLOGISE: 

Spokesmen from Swedish trade unions have portrayed Polish workers as parasites and criminals. In the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza a group of concerned Swedes apologise for these attacks.

Here other Swedes can join the apology and show their solidarity with Polish workers and their right to cross borders.

11:46 - CONNECTING PEOPLE - 18 PER SECOND: 

"And this weekend global GSM subscribers passed 2 billion, and are now signing up at the rate of 1,000 per minute or just under 18 per second."

- PSD Blog

11:25 - IF FOOTBALL WAS A DRUG IT WOULD BE OUTLAWED: 

I got suspicious when I heard that sick-leave among Swedish men increased by 55 percent during the world championships in 2002. But perhaps I was too cynical, perhaps football really is bad for your health.

Svenska Dagbladet writes that the number of men who had heart attacks increased by 60 percent in Switzerland during the championships 2002 - and they weren´t even playing! In England it increased 25 percent when they lost against Argentina.

Correction 2006-06-23: When England lost against Argentina in 1998, that is. In 2002 they beat Argentina. The study does not say what kind of an effect that had on heart attacks... (Thanks WIlle)

10:55 - SEGER I KRIGET MOT FOLKÖL: 

I åratal har nykteristorganisationer trakasserat småbutiker genom att låta 17-åringar som ser ut som 25 köpa folköl och se till att butiken blir av med tillståndet. Nu har taktiken äntligen givit resultat, meddelar Preventionscentrum i Stockholm. Minderåriga fd folkölsköpare har i stället gått över till insmugglad starksprit.

21:44 - GOOD GENES: 

"...we have a conviction in our genes about free trade."

- Social democratic finance minister Pär Nuder summarises the Swedish position in FT.

15:53 - EXPENSIVE SHOES: 

Today the economics section of Svenska Dagbladet rehabilitated itself by explaining who has to pay for the new clothes and shows quotas. Swedish stores have already increased the price of some goods by about 10 percent, and Swedish shoe customers lose almost 6 million euro per year.

01:17 - AFTER THE MYTHS, SOME ECONOMIC SENSE: 

"Immigrants do not take American jobs. The American economy can create as many jobs as there are workers willing to work so long as labor markets remain free, flexible and open to all workers on an equal basis. [...]

Immigration is the greatest anti-poverty program ever devised. The American dream is a reality for many immigrants who not only increase their own living standards but who also send billions of dollars of their money back to their families in their home countries—a form of truly effective foreign aid."

- More than 500 economists from left and right (including 5 Nobel Laureates) in an open letter to President Bush and the Congress.

00:53 - PEEK-A-BOO: 

Sometimes I feel that I do not get my message across in mainstream media. And a new study from Hill & Knowlton of the op-ed pages in the four big newspapers from Stockholm in 2005 confirms that external articles are mostly written by leftists. So I keep that impression, until I see who has written most articles on those pages - a certain classical liberal listening to the name Johan Norberg... (in a tie with the chairman of folkpartiet, Lars Leijonborg)

(Thanks Marcus)

16:00 - MY KIND OF SMUGGLERS: 

Today the economics section of Svenska Dagbladet accuse European clothing companies of breaking the law, cheating and smuggling, because they buy Chinese clothes with false labels of origin (based on a report from the National Board of Trade).

But who is the real criminal? Those who reduce poverty by buying from China and give European families the opportunity to buy the best and cheapest clothes - or those who force them to do this in secret because they want to protect inefficient European textile companies?

And if Svenska Dagbladet doesn´t want to be the spokesman of South European protectionists this is the kind of headline they should have chosen:

"Heroic European clothes companies defy protectionists - still sell cheap clothes."

Or:

"Re-introduction of quotas lead to smuggling - as usual"

14:47 - MER ÄN TUSEN ORD: 

Apropå att förra fotbolls-VM ökade svenska mäns sjukskrivningar med 55 procent skickar Jakob mig denna bild.

12:04 - WHEN DOHA FAILS: 

When the second best solution fails, the best one remains, Daniel Ikeson points out in a new Cato study.

09:55 - JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THAT THE MARKET CAN´T SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS: 

In my Dagens Industri-column today I write about how globalisation of football has made the championships more exciting, and about why the only obstacle to the free movement of people should be the offside rule.

Tonight Sweden will beat England. But there is something English football fans can do about that: Get an insurance. British Insurance Ltd. insures fans against the risk of England doing miserable this year. One fan pays $195 to protect himself from "mental trauma" from the first-round games against Sweden, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago (which would make him a millionaire).

British Insurance Ltd. has also insured 30 000 Californian residents fearful of being abducted by aliens...

(Via Marginal Revolution)

10:32 - JUSTICE DELAYED: 

"...we cannot say that the quantum of punishment imposed upon him was wholly disproportionate to his act of misconduct."

- India´s Supreme Court allows a company to sack an employee who repetedly slept at work - after 17 years of legal proceedings. (via PSD)

11:22 - IT´S BAD ENOUGH AS IT IS: 

In Financial Times David Ibison summarises McKinsey Global Institute´s latest Sweden report. It concludes that Sweden´s real unemployment is 15 percent, if we include those in government programs and on sick-leave who could and would like to work. That estimate does not sound unreasonable. But the last one does, however, since it claims that Sweden has dropped from 5 to 112 on OECD´s welfare ranking. That is one ´1´ too much.

08:39 - THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT: 

"Most people would probably be quite happy to retire after having helped to create the communications network for a single planet, but not Dr Cerf."

- Technology Quarterly about Vinton Cerf, who developed the internet protocol, and is now trying to build an interplanetary internet to make connections between space probes and planets possible.

13:01 - NARCISSIST POINTERS: 

Here are some recent articles about me in English:

- Andrew Norton interviews me in the Australian magazine Policy.

- On the Guardian blog, David Boaz writes about my National Interest article on Sweden, and a lively discussion has followed.

- Nima Sanandaji writes about my new book on LewRockwell.com.

- And my latest book before that one is reviewed on London Book Review.com.

12:14 - SHUTTING ALLIES OUT: 

"While Islamists are granted political asylum almost automatically, we are closing the door to people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali… This is a big mistake. Because if all the Hirsi Alis of the planet were allowed to become Danish, French or Dutch citizens, I can assure you that we would have no more problems with Islamic fundamentalism in Europe.”

- Caroline Fourest, French left-wing feminist and anti-Islamist, explain why Europe´s restrictive immigration policies let extremists in and shut secularists, moderates and normal Muslims out. Interviewed by Jyllands-Posten.

02:29 - AT LAST THEY WILL TREAT US LIKE DOGS: 

For a long time Swedish free-marketers have made a drastic comparison between what happens when a human being and a dog gets ill. The dog gets treatement right away at a private veterinary, but the human being has to be prepared for a long waiting period, since the hospital is public and its services rationed.

It´s not a joke any more. Aftonbladet reports that the region of Skaraborg in south-western Sweden will probably begin to send human patients to the veterinary to get magnetic x-ray, since the hospital can´t help all in time.

16:02 - MICKEY MOUSE TO THE RESCUE: 

"If Venice were owned by the Disney Corporation, the city would not be in peril. Venice is threatened by crumbling infrastructure and rising sea levels and by inexorable growth in the number of visitors. With effective management, one problem solves the other. Gates that let the tourists in pay for gates that keep the water out. [...]

The problems of Venice are not problems of technology or finance, but problems of politics, organisation and management. A sad series of accidents has placed so many of the jewels of western European culture and civilisation in the hands of western Europe’s most dysfunctional political system."

- John Kay in Financial Times.

16:06 - ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PHILOSOPHERS: 

"And what if we´ve picked the wrong religion? Every week we´re just making God madder and madder?"

- Homer Simpson, the true heir of Aristotle and Camus.

15:30 - GLOBALISATION VS SWEDEN´S FOOTBALL TEAM: 

Swedes are still depressed after 0-0 against Trinidad and Tobago in the first World Cup football game. And I must confess that globalisation is to blame. A freer market and increased mobility mean that players from more countries play in other countries and for the best football teams, and this exposure to competition and the best management means that they improve and close in on the best countries. Just like in world economics, in other words.

And for those who don´t have the time to follow the games, I can reveal that Italy will win, according to an economic model from UBS, and that the winner gains on average 0.7 percent of growth the year they win, and its stock market will rise around 10 percent.

More soccernomics studies here.

09:40 - ESSAY COMPETITION: 

Now my new book has soon been in print a second week and two thirds of the 3 000 copies have been sold. But I hear that it´s not the only book doing well. Och världen skälvde - the Swedish translation of Ayn Rand´s Atlas Shrugged has sold 8 000 copies since February last year.

Timbro celebrates this with an essay competition about Rand´s novel, with a first prize of SEK 10 000. Mattias Svensson writes about it.

14:24 - JAG HAR I ALLA FALL ROLIGT UNDER TIDEN: 

"Till Norbergs försvar kan sägas att han antagligen är världens lyckligaste intellektuelle."

- Katrine Kielos förundras över min optimism och "nästan religiösa mission" i dagens Expressen. 

12:02 - THE ROARING 00´S: 

"For the first time since 1969 not a single country in the world has had negative year-over-year growth."

- Bridgewater Daily Observations on the present global boom, via James Glassman.

11:24 - THE FIRST BLOG BOOK: 

Yesterday I was at the crowded launch of Läs mig!, the first blog bok I am familiar with. Linda Backman, Johannes Forssberg and Jonatan Fried has collected blog posts on four main subjects from 24 different Swedish bloggers, mainly from the liberal, libertarian and center-right perspective. A fascinating diversity, accompanied by great illustrations by Karin Hagen.

The result is an excellent way for beginners to find their way in the blogosphere. But it´s also interesting for those of us who are more familiar with blogs. Personally I found it most interesting to read the presentation of the bloggers. I read and follow many of them, but in most cases I had no idea who they were, where they come from and what they do - a healthy sign that blogs might help us to focus more on views, arguments and facts than on persons and positions. 

It would be fascinating to see the same kind of anthology from a leftist perspective.

13:08 - THE MDGS REACH ONE GOAL AT LEAST: 

"the worst designed incentive scheme for public policy seen in my lifetime”

William Easterly on the UN´s Millennium Development Goals, a monumental aid project without priorities or accountability, loved by everyone. (via PSD)

12:28 - BLOGGRECENSION: 

Jag tänkte mig aldrig min nya bok som en polemisk debattbok, utan mer som den berättelse om vår historia och vår vardag som jag aldrig fick lära mig när jag var liten. Därför är det kul att det är precis så Sven Otto Littorin uppfattar den. Här finns andra kommentarer, som uppdateras löpande.

12:06 - GUD - EFTER EN HÅRD ARBETSDAG: 

Den bästa diskussionen om teodicéproblemet efter mitt citat om Gud och lejon finns hos the Libertarian in room 101.

09:15 - SPEAKING OF SULLIVAN: 

He has just made the first podfisk ever - responding to someone sentence by sentence, but via audio. And Bush is honoured with being the first one who gets his statements (on the gay marriage ban) dissected in this way. Must say that I prefer text where you can go back and forth in the text to compare and evaluate the criticism, but I like it and so does my iPod.

08:56 - AT LAST SOMEONE HELPS ME UNDERSTAND ANN COULTER: 

"But the problem with Coulter is that she is a form of camp, is she not? The minute you take her seriously, you lose grip on her reality. She´s not a social or political commentator. She´s a drag queen impersonating a fascist. I don´t even begin to believe she actually believes this stuff. It´s post-modern performance-art. I think of Coulter in that sense as more at home on the pomo-left than the Christianist right (which is why the joke, ultimately, is on the Republicans who like her). Devoid of sincerity, detached from any value but performance, juggling rhetoric for its own sake, she is Stanley Fish´s* model student."

- Andrew Sullivan on Ann Coulter, soon after she explained that "I´ve never seen people enjoying their husbands´ deaths so much" about 9/11 widows who protest against Bush´s policies. (Thanks Stefan)

* Deconstruction "relieves me of the obligation to be right . . . and demands only that I be interesting"

00:00 - BOOKMARK THIS: 

One of the most insightful and well-written books on globalisation is Open World by the British journalist Philippe Legrain, who has a background from The Economist and the WTO (you know, to me that´s a bit like being Christopher Lee and starring in Lord of the Rings and Star Wars simultaneously).

And I am looking forward even more to Philippe´s forthcoming book on migration. Until then we can read him regularly on his new blog, which I really recommend. Right now, he´s giving NGOs a hard time.

15:27 - ABOUT NATIONAL PROBLEMS IN NATIONAL INTEREST: 

Why is Sweden so successful despite its cradle-to-grave welfare state? And what kind of effect does it have on Swedes today? I try to answer these questions in an essay in the new edition of National Interest - the magazine Margaret Thatcher said was "essential reading for all those who follow international affairs".

11:08 - THE COSTS OF RELYING ON DIVINE INTERVENTION: 

"God will save me, if he exists"

- A man who lowered himself by a rope into a lion´s enclosure at Kiev Zoo, and was immediately killed by the lions (Via Reason)

10:20 - THE HARM OF A LOST CAUSE: 

As predicted, the federal ban on gay marriage did not have a chance in the US Senate. Does this mean that the suggestion was just some cynical but harmless PR for the republicans, as some defenders of Bush claim? Not at all, because ideas and symbols have consequences and influence mentalities. In this case it has two results: 

- The very suggestion makes the view that gays should not have the same rights more legitimate, which strengthens prejudices and forces more liberal politicians to accept discrimination at the state level.

- Republicans used to be the party of federalism. Now they have shown that they are only interested in states´ rights when states act as they want them to. Why should democrats behave differently? The next time the republicans oppose federal intervention they have no legitimacy.

09:26 - FOOTBALL IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH: 

During the World Championships in Japan/South Korea in 2002 (when the games were on daytime television), the number of days of short-term sick-leave for Swedish men increased by more than 55 percent compared with the same dates in 2001 and 2003...

15:51 - HYPOCRISY IN THE UK: 

Britain is usually relibale when it comes to liberalisation of agriculture. But they confirm to Financial Times that they will continue to oppose a ceiling on the EU subsidies an individual landowner gets. Sure, a £300 000 cap would only affect about 0.04% of the EU farms, and it would do nothing against the subsidies to huge food companies. But it would be a step in the right direction, remove a glaring injustice and take a way an argument that the French often use: That reformers are also only promoting their national interests.

They´ve got a point. France has only 30 farms that would be affected, Britain has 330. So the British fight for free trade and liberalisation - as long as it doesn´t hurt weak groups, like Queen Elisabeth, Prince Charles, the Duke of Westminster and the Duke of Marlborough.

11:42 - AMAZING SALES FIGURES: 

Wow. The Swedish edition of my new book has now been in print for a week, a first printing of 3 000 copies. I just learned that more than half of it has already been sold. That´s more than most books on these subjects ever sell.

10:30 - GUNNAR EKELÖF VS ÖVERHETEN: 

Efter min post om Pet Shop Boys skickar Fredrik mig ytterligare ett tips på poetiskt motstånd mot makten, Gunnar Ekelöfs dikt Till de folkhemske, och det råkar faktiskt vara en av mina favoriter. Och det påminner mig om ett boktips som jag borde ha skrivit om för länge sedan. Det gäller David Anderssons bok Poeten och sophelikoptern (Atlantis, 2004), en intelligent och intressant studie i ett försummat ämne, Ekelöfs motstånd mot folkhem och socialingenjörer.

Om du har läst Ekelöfs diktning känner du säkert till hans individualism och motvilja mot ”en jämlikhet som stympar allas vingar”, men visste du att han förklarade sig vara fiende till ”det s.k. välfärdssamhället”, att han var en av de få som angrep de statliga tvångssteriliseringarna redan på 1930-talet, att han ansåg att kollektivism bara passade ”myror och termiter” eller att han tyckte att ”socialismen är ett opium för folket”?

Knappast, för det har inte varit ett populärt tema bland litteraturvetarna. Men David Andersson har lyft fram Ekelöfs frihetliga engagemang i ett fascinerande pionjärarbete. Om du är ens en gnutta intresserad av Ekelöf, köp boken nu.

01:22 - SWEATSHOP ARGUMENT OF THE DAY: 

"Mr. Shaanika and the other young men [in Namibia] noted that the construction jobs were dangerous and arduous, and that they would vastly prefer steady jobs in, yes, sweatshops. Sure, sweatshop work is tedious, grueling and sometimes dangerous. But over all, sewing clothes is considerably less dangerous or arduous — or sweaty — than most alternatives in poor countries. [...]

Some of those who campaign against sweatshops respond to my arguments by noting that they aren´t against factories in Africa, but only demand a ´living wage´ in them. After all, if labor costs amount to only $1 per shirt, then doubling wages would barely make a difference in the final cost.

One problem — as the closure of the Namibian factories suggests — is that it already isn´t profitable to pay respectable salaries, and so any pressure to raise them becomes one more reason to avoid Africa altogether. Moreover, when Western companies do pay above-market wages, in places like Cambodia, local managers extort huge bribes in exchange for jobs. So the workers themselves don´t get the benefit."

- Nicholas D Kristof, once a convinced opponent of sweatshops, in New York Times. (Thanks Gunilla)

16:52 - A NEW ANTHEM: 

On the whole I think that Pet Shop Boys´ new album is a disappointment. But it also includes one of the best songs they´ve ever done, Integral, which is like a dark, forceful version of It´s a sin. And the ironic police state-lyrics should turn it into an anthem for civil libertarians and pro-privacy advocates everywhere:

"Long live us, the persuaded we, intregral, collectively, to the whole project. It´s brand new, concieved solely to protect you

(One world, one reason, unchanging, one season)

If you´ve done nothing wrong - you´ve got nothing to fear
If you´ve something to hide - you shouldn´t even be here

You´ve had your chance, now we´ve got the mandate
If you´ve changed your mind - I´m afraid its too late

(We´re concerned, you´re a threat, you´re not integral to the project)

Sterile, immaculate, rational, perfect"

10:31 - LAGOM HOLIDAY: 

Today is Sweden´s national day. But it´s not much to celebrate. Sweden has no recent wars of independence to celebrate, so instead a national day was created by the strangest combination. June 6th is both the day in 1523 when Gustav Vasa was coronated and began to centralise and terrorise Sweden, and the day in 1809 when Sweden got a new and more liberal constitution after the revolution against Gustav IV Adolf (of which you can read in my history of Swedish liberalism).

As a typical Swedish compromise, we celebrate both liberty and oppression. How very lagom.

09:36 - THE TWO FUNNIEST QUOTES ABOUT MY NEW BOOK: 

"Congratulations on the new book! (I hope God isn´t pissed about the title.)"

- Paul

"A funny detail is that the presentation of the author clearly states that Johan is an author: ´Johan Norberg is a historian of ideas, author ...´. Well, yes, you are usually an author when you write books."

- Daniel Hedblom

15:07 - TECHNOLOGY VS COVER-UPS: 

The massacre of unarmed civilians by American marines in the Iraqi town of Haditha in november last year is a horrible crime, and the worst part of it is that some marine officials must have known about it and tried to cover it up. As The Economist points out, the positive lesson is that cover-ups like that are much harder than they used to be, thanks to modern communications.

Crimes like these have been committed in all wars, but never before have soldiers and civilians been equipped with digital cameras, e-mail and mobile phones, which means that incriminating pictures spread fast (Abu Ghraib-pictures, for example). In this case, an Iraqi student got video footage of the location the day after the massacre. Time Magazine got the film from a local human rights group and gave it to the American military in Baghdad, which forced them to start a formal investigation, and when that wasn´t credible, a criminal probe was launched.

11:55 - RESPONSE TO PER ERICSON: 

So far the reviews of my new book have been very sympathetic. In August I will review my reviewers in detail at a seminar in Stockholm. But I thought I’d say a few words about one line of criticism right now.

Per Ericson’s review in Svenska Dagbladet yesterday was also positive in the end, and he recommends the book, but he also writes that I am a bit too enthusiastic about capitalism and entrepreneurs, and more than half of the review is spent explaining that I am too positive to the Enlightenment and too negative to the Middle Ages. The search for knowledge and some defences of human rights and the market economy existed already back then, Ericson says, and thinks that my historical interpretation is “sketchy”.

I don’t understand that criticism.

I never say that these ideas did not exist until the enlightenment – on the contrary I explain in the book how Greek philosophy and ideas about rationality and freedom began to influence the Church in the 13th century, and that those ideas formed the necessary background to the scientific and philosophical revolution.

I also explain how capitalism and advanced trade was developed unintentionally during the Middle Ages because rulers were exposed to institutional competition. Far from “being blind” to the fact that the present is a result of the past, as Ericson thinks I am, I explicitly say that this development would not have taken place had it not been for this historical background.

What I do say, however, is that these embryonic ideas and developments did not begin to have a big and lasting influence on political liberalisation and economic development until the last 200 years. And those 200 years have meant an unprecedented revolution in living standards and human opportunities around the world.

And I don’t think I argue for that in a sketchy way. I spend most of the first one hundred pages of the book documenting this with statistics and examples from both the macro situation and ordinary people’s lives. And judging from Ericson´s writing I don´t think he would deny it. That´s why I don´t understand the review.

13:35 - 2006 ÅRS BIZARROPRIS: 

Bizarrovärlden är det universum där allt är tvärtom, där alla ord betyder motsatsen och där Stålmannen blev arresterad för att vara normal.

Jag vet att bara halva året har gått, men jag kan redan nu ge mitt just instiftade Bizarropris år 2006 till den här artikeln. (Tack Pär)

12:56 - THE DARK SIDE: 

"I would prefer a failure in these negotiations which jeopardise the CAP and its future"

- French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau on the WTO negotiations in Le Monde 31 May (via Open Europe)

11:46 - WHY IT´S DIFFICULT TO TAKE THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SERIOUSLY: 

HAX reports that the European Parliament didn´t dare to reject the report on globalisation I wrote about here. To make everybody happy, they adopted it, deleted some anti-trade positions, included a few pro-globalisation bits, so that it turned into a long, inconsistent good-for-nothing wishing list filled with slogans and misunderstandings.

Just another day in the European Parliament.

(Perhaps the MEP´s become dizzy by moving between Brussels and Strasbourg all the time. Sign the citizen petition to put an end to that circus - almost half a million signatures now!)

14:49 - TAKING ANTIDUMPING SERIOUSLY: 

Don Boudreaux is not the only one, Fredrik Erixon also faces harsh foreign competition in books about global issues, and he has an even more innovative solution:

"Peter Mandelson is very keen on using the antidumping weapon and I do believe I can persuade him to slap an antidumping tariff that prohibits Bill, Jeffry and Deepak to sell their books in Europe. If Peter rather prefer to force the Yankees to undertake a voluntary export restraint, that is OK for me.

Mind you, Peter is not going to introduce the tariff just for the silly reason to protect me. No, the real ground for a trade dispute is that these authors have received hidden subsidies that seriously undermine the principle of fair trade. They all work for universities and have possibly received government grants while doing the research."

12:38 - DAGENS REKLAM FÖR MIG SJÄLV: 

"Jag har slutat läsa Leijonborgs bok om globaliseringen (trots att den sågas av Greider). Orsaken är att Johan och Sofias reseskildring från Indien och Kina i senaste Neo handlar om ungefär samma sak, är kortare och ändå mycket intressantare. Dessutom har de (i motsats till Leijonborg) motstått frestelsen att bara ta kort på sig själva."

- Andreas Bergh om att välja läsning. (Kan bara tillägga att jag tyckte att Leijonborgs bok var riktigt bra, att Greiderreklamen var briljant och att det är trevligt att belönas när man motstår frestelser.)