What I'm Listening To
Latest TTC course was Thinking About Capitalism by Jerry Z. Muller. Not about economics, it's more about the social and philosophical effects of capitalism. Goes through various thinkers, roughly in chronological order

As often happens, found the first few lectures a bit too basic as I've already read a certain amount about them. So, it doesn't come as a great shock to learn that Adam Smith wasn't actually an extreme small-government market fundamentalist as he's sometimes portrayed. This quote from his "Lectures on Jurisprudence" was new to me though:

We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that the one country is farther advanced in improvement... There are many expenses necessary in a civilized country for which there is no occasion in [one] that is barbarous."

A lot of the time it seems the same debates about capitalism have rumbled on for centuries. One big question is how it affects peoples' characters. Some argue that by forcing people to deal with those that are different, and to consider the other's point of view, it makes us better and more sociable people. Others say that it degrades character by making us more acquisitive of luxuries. It's interesting to see how the lists of luxurious items changes though. In the 18th Century Justus Moser complained that peddlers were encouraging the peasantry to desire: silk kerchiefs, linen, leather gloves, wool stockings, metal buttons, mirrors, cotton caps, knives and needles.

Found the later lectures much more interesting as they had new information to me. Hayek comes across much better than I expected: Muller thinks that "The Road to Serfdom" was one of his weaker works and he made stronger arguments elsewhere. I thought he had a good insight that the market doesn't just coordinate just "economic values" as there's no such thing: the market is what allows us to prioritise all our values. So any attempt to plan the whole market means planning all our values for us.

Ernest Gellner views on Capitalism and Nationalism seemed interesting too. He reckons that multi-linguistic empires were more practical before capitalism, but when there's more trade a single language is much more useful. It's also suggested that the creative destruction of capitalism weakens local emotional ties, leaving nationalism more emotionally important.

Muller mentions the "Fertility Transition" which wasn't new to me. As societies develop economically, at first there's a surge in birth rates as people keep having children despite low infant mortality. This then fades away as people gradually realise they don't need a load of kids to work on the farm anymore, and they have to be educated to be of any use. What was new was the way he pointed out that fertility rates have oscillated since then. In the Thirties there was a panic about low birth rates, with some on the left blaming Capitalist selfishness, which led to child/parent benefits. From the late Forties to the early Sixties however birth rates bounced back into a baby boom, by the end of which there were scares over overpopulation "Make Room! Make Room!" was published in 1966 and filmed as "Soylent Green".

Also found the categorization of the different types of Welfare State interesting.

A. The first model is the liberal welfare state, such as the one in the United States, which tends to minimize the role of the state in keeping with a market-oriented political culture.
B. The second model shows the influence of social democracy, the sort of paradigm that exists in the Nordic countries. It tends to provide comprehensive government coverage of risks, a generous level of benefits, and egalitarian tax policies.
C. The third model is the conservative (or Catholic) model, which shows the influence of Catholic social teaching. It is primarily found in Germany, Italy, and southern Europe and is characterized by familialism.

I think that explains a bit about the German response to the recession: that kind of welfare system emphasizes keeping a family breadwinner in work, rather than supporting them while unemployed.

Muller's view, which he makes convincingly, is that there's no one single Best Way to run capitalism or a welfare system: that different cultures have different priorities. He also suggests that internationally these can be complementary: if you live in a low-risk, low-reward society, you can choose to invest your money in a high-risk, high-reward economy overseas if you prefer.

Overall, a good course, pretty thought-provoking once you get past the basics.

What I'm Watching
Saw Dead Snow on DVD. Pretty decent horror/comedy, with a bunch of students in an isolated ski holiday cabin under attack by Nazi zombies.

Thought it started off well with some good suspense, but dissolves a bit later on though into silly gross-out humour. Others might like that sort of thing more though.

Overall, not bad, worth a look if you like Evil Dead type movies.

Me
Driving up to see the family for the Bank Holiday weekend. I think I still need the driving practice as still find city traffic a bit nerve-wracking, and my mother's out of the country so they might find a car handy as my brother and father can't drive.

Dreading the bank holiday traffic though.

City Car Club seem to have retired the Kia C'eed, so I'm taking the Vauxhall Corsa: automatic so should be easier.

Links
Socioeconomics. IFS confirms ConDem budget hits poor hardest: BBC, long PDFs, graph. Canadian cops attempt to discredit safe-injection-centre study (via)

Video. John Cage on TV in 1960. Taiwan news animation: Bright ideas to cut budget from the British Public. Cyriak Simon Cowell mashup. Early colour film tests, about via.

Prurience. These Euronutters are claiming William Hague is gay. Mail mentions the advisor but doesn't say anything about that. Just a rumour or is there an injunction?

Politics. Redstate and Frumforum response to the New Yorker Kochtopus article. Gordon Brown’s legal landmines may slow the Coalition’s advance.

Random. Metafilter's most-deleted domains. Draw-the-snow skiing game.

Pics. Racy mending from early 20th century, phwoaar, check out the ankles on that. Hungover owls.