Mass Intelligence

There is an interesting debate that just finished on the Economist - topic is Mass Intelligence. The debate topic is: "This house believes that in its appetite for culture, the world is wising up more than it is dumbing down." See the link for the entire debate - an interesting topic and in many ways, relevant in our day and age, while many of us try to define what is best for our children - from 'enforcing choices' like TV vs. reading vs. computer games etc.

Economics of Begging?

More on the Economics of Begging - as usual, there seems to be quite a complex set of incentives that drive begging. The most interesting analysis is from Tyler Cowen (Discover your Inner Economist), who also runs an interesting blog: www.marginalrevolution.com

Also, see a discussion on this topic on:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/freakonomics-quorum-the-economics-of-street-charity/