GlobLog - August 2005
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

15:54 - KLAPP PÅ HUVUDET, LILLE GUVERNÖR: 

I Chydenius fotspår formulerar exakt vad jag också tänkte när jag läste Stina Dabrowski Lundbergs uttalande om Schwarzenegger.

09:07 - ON SOCIALISTS, SUBSIDIES AND SECRET PLANS: 

A copule of years ago, when I was editor of the magazine Nyliberalen, we applied for subsidies from the government. We had a great, secret plan. The idea was to take the money - a couple of tens of thousands, I think - and change it all into one SEK coins. Then we would stage a highly publicised event on Sergels Torg in Central Stockholm, where we gave these coins to people as they moved by. We would literally throw small bags of money around the place.

Like Robin Hood, we would give the money back to those from whom it was stolen - a symbolical protest against a system which forces people to fund political views they might hate.

Unfortunately, we never got the funding. So this never took place. But I come to think of it now, when the decision is made that Johan Ehrenberg´s socialist paper ETC receives two million SEK annually in support from the government. ETC claim to speak for the people, but they don´t mind forcing it to pay for their propaganda when they can´t find readers.

22:43 - SUBSIDISING HIGHER OIL PRICES: 

11:19 - DE NYA SOCIALDEMOKRATERNA: 

10:07 - DN CORRECTS - ALMOST: 

Today there is a correction in Dagens Nyheter about China and the WTO. But what a strange correction:

08:26 - UPDATE FOR HENRIK BRORS: 

DN:s political commentator, Henrik Brors, doesn´t normally write about trade policy, so it was quite interesting to see his attempt to defend the EU´s decision to reintroduce quotas against textiles from China this morning (not yet on the web). His argument is that China doesn´t follow the rules of the trading game, and one of his proofs is that:

11:58 - PROTECTIONIST OF THE MONTH: 

10:34 - OK, EN DEL VAR BÄTTRE FÖRR: 

10:10 - BOKBUBBLAN: 

16:54 - MPS REPORT IV: 

At the session on globalisation and tax competition I explained why I think that we need a long-term historical perspective to see the benefits of institutional competition – the ability for individuals to choose between different rulers, rules and taxes, by voting with their feet. The reason why Greek philosophy, overseas exploration and economic liberalism survived in Europe, and not in the Muslim and Chinese civilisation, who were superior 1 000 years ago, was that there were always hundreds of different sovereign entities in Europe, separated by mountains, rivers, language and religion.

When innovators and entrepreneurs were stopped in some places, they could go somewhere else, so this forced cities and states to a race to the top in institutional quality and tolerance. In the more homogenous civilisations, however, the establishment could say stop, and hundreds of years of stagnation followed.

David Friedman challenged my view of how centralised this process was in the Muslim world, since there is no central authority in Islam. We just don’t know why reason, science and Aristotelian ideas were abandoned, he said.

But I insist that we do, at least we know important parts of the story. Since I didn’t have the time to develop my answer at the session, I’ll do it here:

Despite the fact that there is no central authority in Islam, there has always been a hierarchy of interpreters and schools that are more important than others. In early Islam, the Mutazilite school, inspired by Aristotle, was very influential. It held that we have a free will, that we understand Allah and the world through reason, and that religious doctrines and laws should be critically interpreted.

On the other hand, the Ashari school denied the power of reason, wanted to stop critical interpretations of the religion and said that law should be imitation, not interpretation. They won the debate in late 9th century, partly because of outrage against the Mutazilites’ abuse of power. Three caliphs had tried to enforce Mutazilite as state ideology, and a popular arch-conservative leader had been imprisoned and tortured for his anti-reason views (“the Muslim Inquisition”). Because of anger over these authoritarian policies, the successor caliph stepped back from these views, and began to dismantle the Mutazilite doctrines.

Aristotelian and Mutazilite ideas could live on for a while, and produce excellent results in science and technology, but without the support from a coherent philosophy, and without support from religious scholars, it began to fade away.

And then the popular Ashari philosopher Al-Ghazali purged Islam of all remnants of Aristotelianism and pro-reason ideas. The lack of insurmountable geographical and linguistic barriers guaranteed that these ideas could spread throughout the region. And the Mongolian invasion in the 13th century made Muslim culture even more inward-looking and pessimistic. When the Ottoman Empire took control over the Muslim world, Ashari became state ideology.

Unfortunately, the Muslim world stagnated. Luckily, before it did, it found the time to influence Thomas Aquinas, who spread Greek philosophy throughout Europe, and Aristotle’s logic gave European scientists a system of reason, with which they could build upon the knowledge of others.

A first step on the road to Renaissance.

(The Aristotle Adventure is a wonderful story about this process.)

14:05 - VI 5: 

Jag och fyra andra liberaler recenserar Utbildningsradions The Corporation i smedjan.com i dag.

16:32 - MPS REPORT III: 

The most interesting speech at the conference has been held by Andrei Illarionov, President Putin´s outspoken and classical liberal chief economic advisor. I have rarely heard such an informative and powerful description of the Russian economy (here is an article about the same subject).

Illarionov explained that the rise in oil prices has led to massive government revenues, which strengthens centralisation and encourages rent-seeking rather than entrepreneurial activity. Therefore, Russia is in danger of catching "the Venezuelan disease" - nationalisation of the biggest and most succesful companies, exlusion of private investments (especially in oil and mineral), government intervention throughout the economy and less rule of law.

Worst of all, the Rusian people begin to adapt to these new circumstances. Since 1997, the number of young Russians who say that they want to have a career in business and management has been reduced from 78 to 42 percent, whereas those who want to go into government, law and administration has risen from 30 to 51 percent. They can see where the opportunities and the power is.

If Russia is to avoid a future of more centralisation and less entrepreneurship, it needs more brave liberals like Andrei Illarionov.

13:43 - DAGENS PUBLIC CHOICE-BEVIS: 

Linus mailar:

17:59 - : 

Apart from "How are you?" this must be the question I have been asked most often in my life. At last there is an answer.

17:23 - MPS REPORT II: 

One of the best sessions so far was about fellow travellers - Western intellectuals who excused or defended monstrous dictatorships. Hannes Gissurarson gave a fascinating analysis of Halldor Laxness, the famous Icelandic author and Nobel Prize winner who defended Stalin and denied starvation in the Soviet Union, despite the fact that he had seen it with his own eyes, which he later admitted.

The Danish Professor Bent Jensen presented an interesting hypothesis. He thought that these pro-communist Western intellectuals never really believed that communism could work. Why? Because when they went to Stalin´s Russia, they were impressed, and wrote home about trivial things - for example that they had seen trains operating, or a bridge over a river.

In other words, they liked the planned economy in theory, but didn´t even think that it could produce trains and bridges, and when they saw that it could, they were incredibly impressed. Low expectations might have produced positive surprises.

15:43 - LYSSNA: 

Det är sällan man hör en svensk författare som vågar utmana de vänsterintellektuella. Desto roligare när det görs så vältaligt av Torbjörn Elensky i P1:s Obs i dag.

16:54 - MPS REPORT: 

The Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Iceland started off this morning with speeches by two impressive former prime ministers who liberalised their countries rapidly in the 1990s, David Oddsson (Iceland), and Mart Laar (Estonia). Both examples really show that ideas matter. Oddson explained that the visit of liberal economists (Hayek, Friedman, Buchanan) in the early 1980s gave Iceland important input on how a dismal economy could be turned around.

And Laar told us that as a young, inexperienced politician he read Milton Friedman´s Free to choose, and was impressed by ideas like flat tax and free trade. People told Laar that this couldn´t be done, and that the Estonian economy would be ruined, but since he he had more experience from the books than from practical politics, he went ahead and did it anyway. All Estonian tariffs were abolished, agriculture was deregulated and a flat tax was introduced - and Estonia became an economic miracle.

Not understanding what is considered politically possible and impossible seems to be one of the most important traits in a political leader.

13:51 - ON THE ROAD: 

Now I am going to Iceland for almost a week. Don´t sit up waiting for responses to your email.

By the way, Iceland has one of the most successful and one of the freest economies in the world.

13:33 - CONSENSUS ON NIGER: 

This morning on Godmorgon, världen! I explained why I think that Niger is starving. Primitve subsistence agriculture dependent on rain water is always extremely fragile, and has caused regular famine throughout history - Niger has had about one a decade. And agriculture in Niger has not developed beyond this stage partly because of widespread corruption in the economy and extreme regulation of businesses (if you want to start a business it costs you four year´s income). And I also explained how EU protectionism and dumping has destroyed the market for livestock, and that the US cotton subsidies has halted development among the neighbors.

Ursula Berge from the leftist think-tank Agora also gave her explanation. I expected the usual attack on capitalism, but imagine my surprise when she blamed blamed Niger´s hunger on domestic corruption and oppression and external protectionism! It was almost like hearing myself speak a second time... =)

Here is some more interesting information on the crisis, from The Economist:

13:20 - STOCKHOLMSKÄNNARE, JA, MEN MÄNNISKOKÄNNARE?: 

11:56 - DICK DUELLERAR: 

Dick Erixon har en kul idé: På sin blogg publicerar han en serie tänkta dueller mellan sittande statsråd och tänkbara utmanare från den borgerliga alliansen. Man håller inte alltid med (Hur kan biståndsminister Carin "Det ska bli kul att få arbeta med omfördelning på en global nivå" Jämtin få oavgjort mot ett av de verkliga liberala hoppen, Tove Lifvendahl, t ex?), men att kickstarta våra egna spekulationer och synpunkter är ju en av poängerna med en sådan tankeövning.

23:53 - HOW 18TH CENTURY...: 

Since the expansion of the EU, the Swedish trade union´s protectionism becomes more unabashed by the day. On the LO blog, we are now warned not to buy meat from Brazil, Ireland or Denmark, or milk from Germany or the Czech Republic, because the money and jobs will go to foreigners... (via броненосец)

21:10 - IF IT POLLUTES, IT LEADS: 

On Aktuellt right now, I just saw an example of why people who follow the news will always think that things get worse. The first story was about a "growing environmental threat" - transports by sea. Shipping is rapidly becoming the biggest emitter of sulphur dioxide in Europe. But how did that come about?

Not because of growth of emissions from shipping - it did grow but very modestly - but because of a rapid reduction in emission from other sources. Total sulphur dioxide emissions in Europe (including shipping) has been reduced by about 60 percent in 15 years, something Aktuellt´s own graph showed (below). So the real story was one about a dramatic improvement in environmental conditions - but the angle they chose gave the viewers an impression of growing environmental problems.

12:26 - SVENSK ÖVERSÄTTNING: 

Mario Vargas Llosas artikel om Sverige och Mauricio Rojas publiceras i dag av Expressen.

10:58 - WORTH BOOKMARKING: 

I think that the World Bank´s sophisticated research and know-how is much more beneficial to the world than its aid and loans. So therefore I am thrilled about the World Bank´s new Private Sector Development Blog, which discusses the topics of the day in developing countries (trade liberalisation, non- vs pro-profit doctors, microlending, starvaration in Niger etc), from a private sector-friendly perspective, with links to important facts and studies.

For example, it just explained why free lunches cause hospitalisation and deaths.

17:26 - SURPRISE: 

Today I agree with Stefan Jonsson. To call the school subject that studies ethics and existantial questions "Religion", is like calling the study of economics "Keynesianism".

15:03 - WHERE LAISSEZ-FAIRE COMES FROM: 

Once in a while, there is a discussion about the origin of the classical liberal phrase ”laissez-faire” (leave us alone/don´t interfere). One is going on at Roland PM’s web page right now. A common mistake is to think of it as a 19th century slogan. But here are some earlier examples:   

16:14 - WHAT PUBLIC SERVICE THINK THAT EVERY STUDENT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE ECONOMY: 

Could you imagine the public service company Utbildningsradion (Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company), airing an "educational" documentary in three shows, which argues for a libertarian perspective on the government, put forth by Milton Friedman and confirmed in the film by Murray Rothbard and Robert Nozick - concluding that the government is a psychopath?

I am just wondering, since UR just started to show the socialist version of that, The Corporation, an anti-business film with Chomsky, Klein, Moore and other leftist gurus who say that corporations are evil psychopaths. UR even chose a less neutral title than the original: Bolagen som styr oss ("The corporations that rule us").

14:03 - NIGER - A VICTIM OF FREE MARKETS?: 

Why is Niger starving? Some blame free markets (see here and here). When price controls were abolished recently, traders bought the food and waited for prices to rise.

But if this recent policy shift is the cause of Nigers starvation, how come 41 percent of the population of Niger were undernourished in 1990 and 42 percent in 1995 (FAO)? The problem is not modern markets, it is unmodern and mostly government-run agriculture which produce too little in a country where only 15 percent of all land is non-desert.

Price controls only make such problems worse, since they stop farmers from making profits on investing and producing efficiently. That creates food shortages and leads to the rise of black markets. Abolishing the controls is a step in the right direction. When governments try to help, they should do so by buying food and distributing it, not by imposing a penalty on producing food.

Read more here.

13:29 - ABANDONING A SOURCE OF ADRENALINE : 

Every time I read a defence of Castro, Chavez, Islamist terrorists or Iran´s nuclear weapons program in DN Kultur, I am torn between two reactions: 1) I must immediately explain why this is absurd and why the article misrepresents the facts, and 2) Wait, a minute, why should I spend a minute of my time on them when I could explore a whole world of informed and intelligent analysis in other papers? Why do I even read this, when I could be reading leftists who share some of my basic beliefs in democracy and anti-fundamentalism instead? Who cares about this anyway?

For a long time, Michael Moynihan at Stockholm Spectator has followed strategy 1 in an excellent way. He just switched to 2. His last post on DN Kultur ends with this very relevant question:

14:52 - WITH HELLS LIKE THAT, WHO NEEDS PARADISES?: 

"Why should people accept that life is hell while they live so that it could possibly become a paradise when they are dead?" That´s Göran Rosenberg´s argument against Thomas Friedman´s positive view of globalisation. Do you get it? I don´t.

Friedman´s point is that people in developing countries do not accept that life is hell, and that´s why they work hard, start businesses, produce and sell and demand that we open our borders to their goods. And that is the way out of hell, that´s what has doubled incomes in developing countries and cut the proportion in absolute poverty in half, in 25 years.

What´s Rosenberg´s take on that? Nothing. He doesn´t confront Friedman´s arguments, facts or figures in any way. He just qoutes Keynes and the Bible.

13:08 - CORRUPTION - WHOM SHOULD WE BLAME?: 

On Dagens Nyheter´s editorial page, Jenny Jewert (not on the web yet) suggests that we don´t know the causes of corrpution in Africa, and says that we should perhaps blame multinational corporations rather than governments, because, after all, corporations pay the bribes.

But wait a minute, if I am going to my job in the morning as usual, and am stopped by a government official who says that I have to pay a bribe to pass, and I pay him, should I be blamed for encouraging corruption? Or should you send a thought of gratitude to persons who continue to work in such awful circumstances? I think the answer to that question reflects your attitude to the effect of work and business on a country.

In four days, a truckload of Guinness in Cameroon faces 47 roadblocks where policemen demand bribes. Should we blame Guinness for operating in such circumstances or should we blame a government that creates rules, regulations, license requirements, road blocks and other things that give policemen complete control of anyone who tries to do honest work?

10:50 - NÄR FRIHET OCH STÖD BLEV SYNONYMER: 

"ICA vill ha statligt stöd i glesbygden."
- DN Ekonomi rubriksätter ICA:s önskemål om att få sälja vin, magnecyl och spel i glesbygden.

09:56 - EFTER PERSSONS GARDINUPPSÄTTARTAL: 

Nu har jag fått mitt första mail undertecknat av en "fil mag, samt blivande gardinupphängare".

20:38 - SPEAKING OF VARGAS LLOSA: 

And when I say that Mario Vargas Llosa is a great writer, I am not just referring to his fiction. Here is one of his great articles on globalization, and here is one on liberalism.

19:11 - JUSTIFIED PRAISE: 

One of the best writers in the world, Mario Vargas Llosa, praises Mauricio Rojas´ excellent report on the Swedish model, in his El Pais article.

21:46 - SPEAKING OF VIDEO GAMES: 



- The Economist

12:39 - BOOKS I´VE READ THIS SUMMER VII: 

  Steven Johnson: Everything Bad is Good for You ($$$$$ of 5)

Often you get the most satisfying reading experience when you read a book arguing for something you have already suspected, but which explains it in detail, eloquently, grounded in science, with fascinated examples - and at the same time manages to surprise you on almost every page. Johnson´s book does that in this polemic against cultural conservatism. It is a very well-written exploration of popular culture, which, far from dumbing us down, contributes to making us smarter.

Johnson explain that modern video games is all about learning the rules and objectives of the game, which teaches us analysis and problem solving, and that modern tv-series increase in complexity and intelligence, partly because repeated viewing via syndication and dvd make producers more interested in creating something sophisticated you want to watch several times, rather than something smoothed-out that captures a huge audience once. Steven Johnson has managed to do the same with this book - I´d like to read it again and again.

10:03 - DAGENS E-POST: 

00:27 - OM DU KÄNNER ATT DU HAR FÖR MYCKET TID TILL ATT LÄSA: 

Energiknippet Dick Erixon har lagt upp en mycket användbar guide till samtliga svenska dagstidningar som publicerar sina ledarartiklar gratis på nätet.

22:06 - ICE-CREAM AND HANDJOBS: 

Wow. Swedish socialism defined, by The Daily Show with John Stewart. (Thanks Phil)

21:19 - AKTUELLT - ORGAN FÖR LO?: 

Kinesiska byggarbetare som tillfälligt arbetar i Sverige tjänar på ungefär två månader in vad de hade tjänat in på ett år hemma. Aktuellt kallade det just för "slavlöner".

10:58 - AT LEAST UNTIL EVERYTHING IS ON-LINE: 

I love the smart design and all the stuff at the Apple stores, But I really don´t like their campaing "The only books you´ll need", and I couldn´t agree more with Virginia Postrel´s view, including her recommendation:

22:02 - BOOKS I´VE READ THIS SUMMER VI: 

   Niall Ferguson: Empire ($$$$ of 5)

I haven´t read this book until now, and it was quite surprising. I had expected a staunch defence of the British Empire, but got it only in the introduction and in the epilogue, where Ferguson explains that the empire gave the world liberalism, free markets, representative government and team sports. The bulk of the book is a nuanced and very readable history of the British Empire, including its bad sides. Especially interesting is his explanation of the empire´s self-liquidating character - as the colonies were inspired by British liberalism, they began to demand freedom, and in the end the British public refused to force them, even if they had the means.

13:21 - "DET KANSKE SPÅRADE UR EN SMULA": 

Jag har aldrig förstått mig på dem som klagar på kvällstidningslöpen. Med journalistik har denna konstform naturligtvis inget att göra, men det är ju stor humor. Jag skrattar högt nästan varje dag jag går till jobbet. Nu kan man få de senaste löpen från Expressen här - om och om igen. (Tack Peter)

11:38 - BLAME GAME: 

Systembolaget - the Swedish retail monopoly on alcohol - stops buying from several companies because they have paid bribes to get their bottles into Systembolaget´s stores. Since it is a monopoly it is a disaster for the companies, including Åkesson which has new owners and management, who were never involved in the scandals.

It is a bit strange, particularly since the main culprit, the company that forced others to behave in this way, isn´t punished in this way. I am talking about Systembolaget. It still has the same owner.

11:47 - CELEBRITIES WHO MAKE SENSE: 

09:57 - BUILDING BARRIERS: 

It is reported that Swedish employers and trade unions (Svenskt Näringsliv and LO) have agreed on how to deal with foreign companies with lower labour costs, who want to compete in Sweden. Not surprisingly the "two parties" have decided that the costs of competitors should be raised dramatically, to keep them off the market.

The two more important parties - Swedish consumers and foreign workers and businesses - could apparently not be reached for a comment.

00:13 - CAPTUS: 

One of the most encouraging things in Sweden recently is Captus - a group of young and independent liberals and libertarians who not just guide readers to freedom-oriented material on the web, but also contribute to it themselves. A new interesting edition of their e-zine has just been published, where they write about everything from discrimination and the welfare state to the individualist messages in heavy metal and The Simpsons.

19:21 - DN DELAR UT PROFESSORSTITLAR: 

09:19 - MÅSTE LÄSAS: 

Mattias Svensson om när makten minglar.

19:08 - BOOKS I´VE READ THIS SUMMER V: 

Adrian Wooldridge & Brian Micklethwait: The Right Nation ($$$$ of 5)

There are some classical partnerships, like Laurel & Hardy, Jeeves & Wooster, Lennon & McCartney and Batman & Robin. Wooldridge & Micklethwait  could very well rank among them in the future. In just a few years they have written one of the best books on globalisation, the best short book on corporations, and now the best book on the American Right - the unholy alliance between individualist free-marketeers and a moralistic Christian Right. And they still find the time to do their normal job at The Economist.

The Right Nation is an excellent and intellectual honest introduction to the ideas, methods and socioeconomics that has made America a republican country for better or worse. Above all, Wooldridge and Micklethwait understand and explain how think-tanks and long-term ideas change the world much more than short-term political tactics. In a few instances they get facts wrong, but they cover so much ground, and they get the big things right, so I am willing to forgive them for confusing Atlas Shrugged with The Fountainhead. I am already looking forward to their next book...

11:44 - DAGENS KONGRESS: