It is the male of the species that refers to our early evolution as "hunters-gatherers". They did the hunting, but that activity only accounted for a small percentage of the food humans ate. Most of their food came from the gatherers, the women. The food that humans have eaten the most of in their history, prior to the 19th century was....(drum roll...) acorns. Just a corrective note to this, otherwise, good piece. :-) Dik
On Jun 20, 8:01 am, bruce majors <[email protected]> wrote: > The Latest from Cafe Hayek <http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/> > <http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds2.feedbu...> > ------------------------------ > > - People Choose (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=js&name=js&ver=zseE3VFFtTY.en....> > - Lying Hypocrites (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=js&name=js&ver=zseE3VFFtTY.en....> > - Markets and Rationality (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=js&name=js&ver=zseE3VFFtTY.en....> > - I talk about the proposed financial reform (by Russell > Roberts)<http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=js&name=js&ver=zseE3VFFtTY.en....> > > People Choose (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2009/06/people-choose.html> > > Posted: 19 Jun 2009 12:58 PM PDT > > Carpe Diem's Mark Perry asks important questions about health-insurance > coverage<http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/06/almost-4-out-of-10-uninsured-hous...> > . > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=bLu0uGhIQ5M:i4r6fO4DoeA:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=bLu0uGhIQ5M:i4r6fO4DoeA:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=bLu0uGhIQ5M:i4r6fO4DoeA:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=bLu0uGhIQ5M:i4r6fO4DoeA:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=bLu0uGhIQ5M:i4r6fO4DoeA:...> > > Lying Hypocrites (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2009/06/lying-hypocrites.html> > > Posted: 19 Jun 2009 10:27 AM PDT > > Politicians have no shame. None. Here are the first two paragraphs of Betsy > McCaughey's article in today's *Wall Street > Journal*<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124536864955329439.html> > : > > Last September Sen. Barack Obama promised that under his health-care > proposal "you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of > Congress give themselves." On Monday, President Obama repeated that promise > in a speech to the American Medical Association. It's not true. > > The president is barnstorming the nation, urging swift approval of > legislation that is taking shape in Congress. This legislation -- the > Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's > staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push > Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It > specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the > exemptions are in section 3116). > > Lies. Special privileges. > > Par for the course. > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=tgM7RZIWmAs:6Jzegw-U8v8:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=tgM7RZIWmAs:6Jzegw-U8v8:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=tgM7RZIWmAs:6Jzegw-U8v8:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=tgM7RZIWmAs:6Jzegw-U8v8:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=tgM7RZIWmAs:6Jzegw-U8v8:...> > > Markets and Rationality (by Don > Boudreaux)<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2009/06/one-of-the-few-quotations-that...> > > Posted: 19 Jun 2009 08:58 AM PDT > > One of the few > quotations<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2004/06/trade_and_civil.html>that > I have posted on my office door is from Will Durant's 1939 book > *The Life of > Greece<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567310133/qid=1086290037/sr=2...> > *: > The crossroads of trade are the meeting place of ideas, the attrition ground > of rival customs and beliefs; diversities beget conflict, comparison, > thought; superstitions cancel one another, and reason begins. > > I'm pretty sure -- a la the important research of Leda Cosmides and John > Tooby<http://www.amazon.com/Adapted-Mind-Evolutionary-Psychology-Generation...>-- > that the human mind is not naturally reasonable or rational in any > general sense. We are evolved to survive, and then evolved to survive in > environments drastically different from the expansive commercial society > that today spans the globe. Evolved from apes and hunters-gatherers, > there's simply no reason to flatter ourselves that we, as a species, are as > "rational" and as dispassionate and as enlightened and as aware and as > educable as some economic models are sometimes interpreted to make us out to > be. > > But not to worry too terribly much: competitive, decentralized markets -- > commerce -- generally manage to produce results that make us seem to be more > rational and smarter than we really are. This interesting paper by John > List and Daniel Millimet, winner of the 2008 Arrow Prize for Senior > Economists, uses experiments to make this point. Here's the abstract of "The > Market: Catalyst for Rationality and Filter of > Irrationality<http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol8/iss1/art47/> > ": > Assumptions of individual rationality and preference stability provide the > foundation for a convenient and tractable modeling approach. While both of > these assumptions have come under scrutiny in distinct literatures, the two > lines of research remain disjointed. This study begins by explicitly linking > the two literatures while providing insights into whether market experience > mitigates one specific form of individual rationality—consistent > preferences. Using field experimental data gathered from more than 800 > experimental subjects, we find evidence that the market is a catalyst for > this type of rationality. The study then focuses on aggregate market > outcomes by examining empirically whether individual rationality of this > sort is a prerequisite for market efficiency. Using a complementary field > experiment, we gathered data from more than 380 subjects of age 6-18 in > multi-lateral bargaining markets at a shopping mall. We find that our chosen > market institution is a filter of irrationality: even when markets are > populated solely by irrational buyers, aggregate market outcomes converge to > the intersection of the supply and demand functions. > > (Here's Steve Horwitz's blog post, over at The Austrian Economists, on the > List & Millimet > paper<http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/weblog/2009/01/smith-from-a-to-...> > .) > > Now in light of current events, there are at least two takes on the > List-Millimet findings. One take is that these findings cast doubt on the > widespread belief that irrationality and excessive exuberance are root > causes of today's economic woes. A second, and very different take, is that > today's economic woes cast doubt on List's and Millimet's findings. (A note > for those persons sympathetic to the latter take: List's and Millimet's > findings are not the product of armchair theorizing; they are the result of > controlled experiments with real people. So it would be illegitimate to > assert that the real-world event that we call today's financial meltdown > automatically disproves these scholars' findings and arguments.) > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=omBkP3FkqGw:RofcB5iXJl4:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=omBkP3FkqGw:RofcB5iXJl4:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=omBkP3FkqGw:RofcB5iXJl4:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=omBkP3FkqGw:RofcB5iXJl4:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=omBkP3FkqGw:RofcB5iXJl4:...> > > I talk about the proposed financial reform (by Russell > Roberts)<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/2009/06/i-talk-about-the-proposed-fina...> > > Posted: 19 Jun 2009 06:43 AM PDT > > On Minnesota Public Radio. > Here<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/18/midmorning1/> > . > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=C5yJWdmz-xc:vlR1Ma2plXo:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=C5yJWdmz-xc:vlR1Ma2plXo:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=C5yJWdmz-xc:vlR1Ma2plXo:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=C5yJWdmz-xc:vlR1Ma2plXo:...> > <http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~ff/CafeHayek?a=C5yJWdmz-xc:vlR1Ma2plXo:...> > You are subscribed to email updates from Cafe > Hayek<http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/> > To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe > now<http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=RD87GWo2xMyNcdDv2...> > . Email delivery powered by Google Inbox too full? [image: Add to > Google]<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds2.feedbu...> > Google > Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
