Pigou and the Anthropophagi

Why does the salmon here cost more than the chicken? There ought to be a tax on chicken.

Why?

On chicken and meat and eggs and dairy products.

Why?

Because farm animals are bad for the environment.

How?

They contribute to global warming.

How?

They produce methane, which gets in the atmosphere and adds to the greenhouse effect.

People produce methane, too, you know.

That's why I think there should be a tax on people also. Cannibals need more vegetables in their diet anyhow.

Efficiency Wages?

`It's only once a year, sir,' pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. `It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.'

`Now, I'll tell you what, my friend,' said Scrooge,' I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore,' he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into the Tank again;' and therefore I am about to raise your salary.'

How to Solve the National Debt

Intellectual Beauty

Tyler Cowen points us to a photo of the person he claims is (according to RateMyProfessors.com) the hottest female professor in the US. Due to the critical importance of this subject, I feel compelled to comment. Possibly the source has been updated since yesterday, but my research indicates that Myriam Mongrain is only the second hottest. The hottest is Dacia Charlesworth (a Communication professor at Robert Morris University), of whom I can find no photo.

As Prof. Cowen notes, most of the professors on the overall hot list are men. I’m not sure if this indicates that a greater fraction of the hottest professors are men or that a greater fraction of raters are women (or gay men).

Of the 50 hottest professors, 13 are in the field of psychology. Based on my own empirical observations, this doesn’t surprise me, but I have no theoretical explanation for why it should be. The second most well-represented field, which does surprise me, is mathematics, with 8 out of 50. (Oooh, prove that theorem, Baby!)

But…it appears that none of the hot 50 are economists. Can it be? Oh, surely something is wrong with the rating system….

Life Expectancy

By way of Battlepanda: