Italian economist and engineer Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) conjectured that for any population, income naturally follows a log-normal distribution. The normal, or Gaussian distribution ranges from negative to positive infinity with a central mean. Because logarithms are always positive, the log-normal distribution ranges from zero to positive infinity with a positive mean, consistent with there being no upper bound for the highest incomes. Pareto’s approximation describes the distribution of … [Read more...]
What’s Wrong with a “Carbon” Tax?
James Baker, chief of staff to Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under George H.W. Bush, and George Schultz, secretary of state under Reagan, have endorsed a "carbon" tax plan that is just plain wrong from the git-go. Stephen Moore explains why in "The Carbon-Tax Scam," but here's the gist: Even if it succeeded in ending all United States carbon-dioxide emissions (and it's only designed to reduce, not end, them), it would fail to accomplish the end used as its justification: … [Read more...]
