Re: [tlug] Re: [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

[Shawn <javajunkie@example.com>]

> In fact, I really want Steve to be there so he can a) keep me honest,
> economically speaking, and b) provide his input on antitrust laws and
> competition from a Real Economist's perspective.
 
Beware of economists though.  One may be right from an economic
perspective but wrong in the big picture.

For example, economists may argue that:

H.I.V. would spread less quickly if relatively chaste people each took
on a few more sexual partners. At a given bar on a given night,
disease-free singles could make the pool of sexually active adults
safer. This is based largely on an academic paper by another economist,
Michael Kremer, theorizing that the spread of AIDS could be slowed in
England if everybody with fewer than about 2.25 partners got around a
bit more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Leonhardt.html

So as a society, a slowed rate of AIDS spreading is advantageous.  To
ask people not currently taking risks though to participate more doesn't
seem like sound public policy in my mind.

As such, I'd say there may be cases where a good economic argument is
not viable public policy. 

Shawn