Dos excelentes editoriales del NY Times (Cowen y Landsburg)

¿Que hemos aprendido en los últimos doce meses? Tyler Cowen señala algunas formas en que el conocimiento económico progresó el último año.

Aquí el artículo. Aquí un fragmento:

It's not just the lenders. There has been plenty of talk about “predatory lending,” but “predatory borrowing” may have been the bigger problem. As much as 70 percent of recent early payment defaults had fraudulent misrepresentations on their original loan applications, according to one recent study.

¿Que esperar cuando un país reduce sus barreras y obstáculos a la libertad comercial? Steven Landsburg reflexiona sobre el libre comercio, sus implicaciones y consecuencias.

Aquí el artículo. Aquí dos fragmentos:

I doubt there’s a human being on earth who hasn’t benefited from the opportunity to trade freely with his neighbors. Imagine what your life would be like if you had to grow your own food, make your own clothes and rely on your grandmother’s home remedies for health care. Access to a trained physician might reduce the demand for grandma’s home remedies, but — especially at her age — she’s still got plenty of reason to be thankful for having a doctor.

One way to think about that is to ask what your moral instincts tell you in analogous situations. Suppose, after years of buying shampoo at your local pharmacy, you discover you can order the same shampoo for less money on the Web. Do you have an obligation to compensate your pharmacist? If you move to a cheaper apartment, should you compensate your landlord? When you eat at McDonald’s, should you compensate the owners of the diner next door? Public policy should not be designed to advance moral instincts that we all reject every day of our lives.