The idea that, if you mitigate the consequences of a particular type of accident, then that type of accident will necessarily occur much more frequently, more than negating the initial benefit.
The CF assumes that human nature is perverse and seeks to equalize consequences. Hence, improved automotive technologies such as air bags, ABS, space frames, etc. will be offset (or more than offset) by careless driving, leading to increased highway fatalities.
FALSIFICATION: Empirical evidence shows that, while reducing consequences increases risky behavior, overall safety/health outcomes are better. Insurance companies with a stake in reducing claims verify this.
More generally, the CF confuses all forms of risk-taking, such as faster highway speeds, with fecklessness. Increased speed and convenience (for motorists) has utility; and there is no principle in welfare economics that says risk-taking will increase by an amount sufficient to offset the safety measures.
The CF assumes that human nature is perverse and seeks to equalize consequences. Hence, improved automotive technologies such as air bags, ABS, space frames, etc. will be offset (or more than offset) by careless driving, leading to increased highway fatalities.
FALSIFICATION: Empirical evidence shows that, while reducing consequences increases risky behavior, overall safety/health outcomes are better. Insurance companies with a stake in reducing claims verify this.
More generally, the CF confuses all forms of risk-taking, such as faster highway speeds, with fecklessness. Increased speed and convenience (for motorists) has utility; and there is no principle in welfare economics that says risk-taking will increase by an amount sufficient to offset the safety measures.
The massively overrated book *Freakanomics* (Dubner & Leavitt) includes many examples of the curmudgeon's fallacy.
by Abu Yahya October 16, 2008
Get the curmudgeon's fallacy mug.(ECONOMICS) situation in which demand confidence in banks or borrowers is so low that monetary policy (i.e., lowering interest rates) has no positive impact on the economy. A characteristic of an economic depression.
When the economy contracts, or is in a recession, it is occasionally sufficient for the authorities to lower the discount rate or the federal funds rate. This lowers the cost of borrowing money, so more people do so, more stuff is bought, and the economy recovers. But in a depression, people will hoard cash (if they have any); if the interest rate is lowered, they still won't borrow, and the banks won't lend (because they want to restore their balance sheets).
When this happens, only fiscal policy has any chance of restoring economic growth.
When the economy contracts, or is in a recession, it is occasionally sufficient for the authorities to lower the discount rate or the federal funds rate. This lowers the cost of borrowing money, so more people do so, more stuff is bought, and the economy recovers. But in a depression, people will hoard cash (if they have any); if the interest rate is lowered, they still won't borrow, and the banks won't lend (because they want to restore their balance sheets).
When this happens, only fiscal policy has any chance of restoring economic growth.
In the fall of 2008, the failure of so many major banks caused a global liquidity trap. For two quarters, the world economy suffered a very severe contraction, and millions of people lost their jobs.
by Abu Yahya April 18, 2010
Get the liquidity trap mug.(IRANIAN HISTORY) (1882-1967) Democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953. Ousted by coup d'etat organized by MI-6 and the CIA after he nationalized the assets of the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (BP, p.l.c.).
Mossadegh was involved in the 1924 Constitutional Revolution that was supposed to have ended autocracy in Iran and replaced it with a democratic republic. Instead, Reza Khan (Shah Reza) replaced the Qejars as as monarch. Later, Mossadegh rose to power because of rising anger at colonial deal between AOIC and Iran. His nationalization of AOIC triggered a balance of payments crisis for the UK, and two years later he was ousted by Operation Ajax. After he was overthrown, Shah Muhammad Reza was a dictator, and dependent on the USA to remain in power.
Mossadegh was involved in the 1924 Constitutional Revolution that was supposed to have ended autocracy in Iran and replaced it with a democratic republic. Instead, Reza Khan (Shah Reza) replaced the Qejars as as monarch. Later, Mossadegh rose to power because of rising anger at colonial deal between AOIC and Iran. His nationalization of AOIC triggered a balance of payments crisis for the UK, and two years later he was ousted by Operation Ajax. After he was overthrown, Shah Muhammad Reza was a dictator, and dependent on the USA to remain in power.
Muhammad Mossadegh was a true Iranian patriot whose overthrow in a British Petroleum-instigated coup poisoned relations between the USA and the Islamic world.
by Abu Yahya July 19, 2010
Get the Muhammad Mossadegh mug.(FINANCE) a person or entity that lends money to someone else by creating securities and selling them. In commercial milieux, this is investment banking, and the most famous investment bank is Goldman Sachs. Another major investment bank is Morgan Stanley.
Most major countries have a ministry of the treasury, or ministry of finance, that issues bonds for the government and is responsible for selling them to raise money for government borrowing. These are treasury securities.
Most major countries have a ministry of the treasury, or ministry of finance, that issues bonds for the government and is responsible for selling them to raise money for government borrowing. These are treasury securities.
by Abu Yahya May 05, 2010
Get the Underwriter mug.(ECONOMICS) Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force. Put another way, U-6 = U-3 (headline unemployment) + discouraged workers + part-time workers in need of full-time jobs.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly publishes six estimates of unemployment. The others are U-1, U-2, U-3, U-4, and U-5. Eurostat publishes one monthly estimate of unemployment for the European Union, which is approximately midway between U-3 and U-4.
The unemployment statistics for the USA are collected through a monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) (also known as the household survey) and an establishment survey.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly publishes six estimates of unemployment. The others are U-1, U-2, U-3, U-4, and U-5. Eurostat publishes one monthly estimate of unemployment for the European Union, which is approximately midway between U-3 and U-4.
The unemployment statistics for the USA are collected through a monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) (also known as the household survey) and an establishment survey.
U-6 is often referred to as "real unemployment" because it attempts to measure the total number of people who would like to have more work than they do have. Some have argued that U-6 is closer to historic measures of unemployment than U-3 is (we didn't have either during the Great Depression).
by Abu Yahya July 15, 2010
Get the U-6 mug.*noun*; generic term for economic thought developed from 1776 to 1930, which assumed the following basic concepts:
1. all types of goods, including factors of production, can be efficiently traded in markets;
2. given free markets, all goods available for purchase will, in fact, be purchased (including labor);
3. free markets include unlimited ability of prices of commodities to move upwards or downward to ensure the quantity supplied matches the quantity demanded.
*Subdivisions*
Adam Smith (1723-1790), auther of *The Wealth of Nations* (1776) is usually credited with compiling the critical ideas into a single theory.
Some historians regard the classical era as really beginning after 1817, with the work of David Ricardo (1772-1823) and Nassau Senior (1790-1864). Ricardo and David developed the concept of diminishing marginal utility to explain the idea of factor cost, and ultimately, market equilibrium.
After 1870, however, classical economics experienced the marginal revolution, in which the field adopted a much more systematic approach to addressing major research questions.
As a result of the Great Depression (1929-1939), classical economics generally faded from view until the late 1970's. At this time, the rational expectations hypothesis and real business cycle theory were refined in order to address problems that had crippled classical economics in the 1920's.
Textbooks addressing classical economic research since 1964 usually call it "New Classical economics." From 1982 to 2006, nearly all Nobel prizes in economics were awarded to New Classical economics such as
George Stigler, Ronald Coase, Robert Lucas Jr., Edward Prescott, and Edmund Phelps.
1. all types of goods, including factors of production, can be efficiently traded in markets;
2. given free markets, all goods available for purchase will, in fact, be purchased (including labor);
3. free markets include unlimited ability of prices of commodities to move upwards or downward to ensure the quantity supplied matches the quantity demanded.
*Subdivisions*
Adam Smith (1723-1790), auther of *The Wealth of Nations* (1776) is usually credited with compiling the critical ideas into a single theory.
Some historians regard the classical era as really beginning after 1817, with the work of David Ricardo (1772-1823) and Nassau Senior (1790-1864). Ricardo and David developed the concept of diminishing marginal utility to explain the idea of factor cost, and ultimately, market equilibrium.
After 1870, however, classical economics experienced the marginal revolution, in which the field adopted a much more systematic approach to addressing major research questions.
As a result of the Great Depression (1929-1939), classical economics generally faded from view until the late 1970's. At this time, the rational expectations hypothesis and real business cycle theory were refined in order to address problems that had crippled classical economics in the 1920's.
Textbooks addressing classical economic research since 1964 usually call it "New Classical economics." From 1982 to 2006, nearly all Nobel prizes in economics were awarded to New Classical economics such as
George Stigler, Ronald Coase, Robert Lucas Jr., Edward Prescott, and Edmund Phelps.
Proponents of classical economics are nearly always extremely conservative in their political views, and usually conclude that the sole legitimate role of the state is to defend property rights.
by Abu Yahya March 03, 2009
Get the classical economics mug.exceptionally prone to seeing the scurrilous, sexy, or kinky aspect of everything; obsessed with sex; prone to seeing sexual overtones to nonsexual behavior.
A dirty minded person may be hypocritical and unctuous, but read filthy motives into the acts of other people. For example, in the movie "American Beauty," the military officer wrongly assumes that his son's interactions with his neighbor are homosexual, rather than commercial--projecting his own repressed sexuality onto others (with deadly results).
A dirty minded person may be hypocritical and unctuous, but read filthy motives into the acts of other people. For example, in the movie "American Beauty," the military officer wrongly assumes that his son's interactions with his neighbor are homosexual, rather than commercial--projecting his own repressed sexuality onto others (with deadly results).
The dirty minded obscene person does not shamelessly exult in his bawdy language, nor does he use it without self-consciousness... The dirty minded person has only partially internalized the taboos that he violates...
Joel Feinberg, _Offense to Others_, p.267
Joel Feinberg, _Offense to Others_, p.267
by Abu Yahya February 22, 2010
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