Austrian Economics

"In the 1990’s, a call went out for the F.A.A. to stop letting air-traveling parents carry young children in their laps, making them buy a ticket for their children instead, so that every person could wear a seatbelt. The F.A.A. refused, saying that the cost of an extra ticket could force parents to travel by car instead. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children. On the other hand, the problem of child safety in air travel, the F.A.A. said, “barely exists.” Yet another example of how terrible we are at assessing risk, especially when it comes to our children." - Alex Scrivener from Bookmarklet

on JAL they won't let you buy a ticket for a child under 2 years of age even if you want to. - Joe Silence is not dead

There is no doubt that in just 10 short minutes Richman completely dominates with his clear and concise thinking on this issue (as he did in Sheldon Richman on Intellectual Property versus Liberty). Pongracic and Cwik just re-hash the standard arguments, which are full of holes (as Cwik did in his presentation at the 2008 Austrian Scholars Conference, on the IP panel on which I was a discussant; Cwik's argument was incredibly weak (as several audience members noted to me), as the IP argument has to be; Cwik's working paper, "Is There Room for Intellectual Property Rights in Austrian Economics?", is available here)." - Alex Scrivener from Bookmarklet