Dia: 5 de outubro, 2007

economia · guerra russo-japonesa

Raciocínio econômico

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Eu lia uma interessante matéria sobre a guerra russo-japonesa quando me deparei com isto:

At the time, there were many more Qing students in Japan. In 1896, soon after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty started dispatching students to Japan. By 1905, some 10,000 were studying on these shores.

I visited Tianjin to see Li Xisuo, a Nankai University professor who is well-versed in the situation of Qing students who came to Japan toward the end of the Qing Dynasty.

“Why did Qing lose the First Sino-Japanese War to Japan? Qing started sending students and missions to Japan to find out the answer to this question,” Li said.

The Chinese apparently thought it would be more efficient to learn from the Japanese experience than to study modern Western thoughts and systems from scratch. Another more realistic reason is that it cost less to travel to Japan than to Europe and North America. The abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 also led to the idea that Japan would serve as a new place of learning, according to Li.

Não é bacana como pessoas pensam em Economia mesmo que não sejam economistas e descartam argumentos vagos?

direitos de propriedade · economia · magia · mágica · teorema de coisa · truques

Abracadabra: Coase vira coelho

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O Philipe me enviou esta interessante dica:

Secrets Revealed: How Magicians Protect Intellectual Property without Law

JACOB LOSHIN
Yale Law School

July 25, 2007
Abstract:
Intellectual property scholars have begun to explore the curious dynamics of IP’s negative spaces, areas in which IP law offers scant protection for innovators, but where innovation nevertheless seems to thrive. Such negative spaces pose a puzzle for the traditional theory of IP, which holds that IP law is necessary to create incentives for innovation.

This paper presents a study of one such negative space which has so far garnered some curiosity but little sustained attention – the world of performing magicians. This paper argues that idiosyncratic dynamics among magicians make traditional copyright, patent, and trade secret law ill-suited to protecting magicians’ most valuable intellectual property. Yet, the paper further argues that the magic community has developed its own set of unique IP norms which effectively operate in law’s absence. The paper details the structure of these informal norms that protect the creation, dissemination, and performance of magic tricks. The paper also discusses broader implications for IP theory, suggesting that a norm-based approach may offer a promising explanation for the puzzling persistence of some of IP’s negative spaces.

   

Será que Coase vira um coelho? ^_^

economia · harry potter · Sushi

Harry Potter e certos e-books…

claudio1 comentário

Ontem eu tive o prazer de rever um baita sujeito: Jorge Vianna Monteiro. Um dia destes eu conto como eu o conheci. Mas o que importa é que ele me deu uma dica de um artigo cuja referência eu não me lembro. Péssimo, né? Mas pelo menos eu achei algo similar. Aí vai um trecho:

The Economics and Public Choice of Harry Potter

Megan McArdle has this interesting point about opportunity costs in the Harry Potter series. The (un)fortunate habit with economists is that they are forever looking for economics in everything. I used to think it happens only to people like Pete and Fred who have been in economics forever, but then I was rudely awoken when I found myself unconsciously applying my economic knowledge to every little thing in my life, when I am shopping, during a recent midlife crisis and while reading Harry Potter. The first four Potter books were plain fun to me. I love fantasy and since JKR follows a Tolkien style narrative it was easy cozying up with a Potter book all night. All that changed with the Order of the Phoenix. Here the plot became very economic to me. It was all about bureaucratic interference and the public choice arguments surrounding it. Bottom line, when the government interferes in education it screws it up. It also clarifies that when there is a shortage of something a black market always springs up. Dumbledore’s Army or the DA was a black market of sorts. There was a demand for learning and using magic spells at Hogwarts, and since there was shortage of the same due to regulation, an entrepreneur (Hermione Granger) came along and took advantage of the situation to start a club to learn magic secretly. The power of vested interests also comes out. Fudge’s aim was to keep his post and so he mistakenly believed that Dumbledore was after the Ministry and refused to believe the truth about U-No-Hu.

O que mais eu gostei foi este trecho: “I was rudely awoken when I found myself unconsciously applying my economic knowledge to every little thing in my life, when I am shopping, during a recent midlife crisis and while reading Harry Potter.”

Ou seja, o e-book do sushi e a nova idéia do Adolfo, sobre ditos populares poderiam ser complementadas com esta outra, que busca enxergar a economia em obras literárias. Há uns 14 anos atrás, eu fiz isto em uma turma, usando um livro do Jorge Caldeira (Mauá, Empresário do Império), mas isto é outra história…