Reading

This blog post by Alex Tabarrok revisits Ayn Rand's philosophy and arguments for laissez-faire capitalism.

via The source of this content is Marginal Revolution, as evident from the page title and the Marginal Revolution logo at the top of the page.

Jeffrey Friedman and Wladimir Kraus argue in Causes of the Crisis that flawed compensation practices at financial institutions did not contribute to the financial crisis, and instead point to regulations that incentivized investment in mortgage-backed securities.

via Causes of the Crisis

Jason Kottke shares a photographic metaphor about feeling overloaded.

This blog post examines F. Scott Fitzgerald's tax returns and his surprisingly interesting financial strategy for writing "The Great Gatsby". via kottke.org

Christopher Hitchens reflects on his experiences debating religious people around the world in this Slate article.

via kottke.org

Intriguing finding - participants in a sensory deprivation experiment experienced hallucinations after 15 minutes in a dark, soundproof chamber.

via kottke.org

Charles Bukowski found that seeing his words on a screen helped him write better and more efficiently.

This preface is from Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's economics textbook, *Modern Principles: Microeconomics.*

via The source of this content is Marginal Revolution.

Intense footage shows a skier's experience being caught in an avalanche and the four and a half minutes it took for him to be rescued. via kottke.org

Articles on the Mises Institute website discuss Austrian economic principles and criticize government influence on the economy. via Mises Institute

Reason Magazine gives a quick rundown of topical news stories, including rising unemployment and natural disasters. via Reason.com

Robert Barro and Charles Redlick argue in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that stimulus spending is ineffective. Mario Rizzo critiques their work on the ThinkMarkets blog.