Vouchers para la educación

La semana pasada inicie el tema de los problemas de la educación en el país. Como alternativa al actual sistema educativo propuse un sistema educativo basado en vouchers. La propuesta genero una larga serie de respuestas sobre la posibilidad de tener un sistema de este tipo. Una de las príncipales críticas a mi propuesta era que se consideraba mi propuesta algo inadecuado para la realidad de nuestro país por ser algo que solo se ha discutido en Estados Unidos o países desarrollados.

Who is Charles Ponzi?

This is an interesting story from NPR that explains what is the story of Charles Ponzi. In my home country a Ponzi scheeme is called this "Piramidación" to make financial piramids using other people's money. That is what basically Ponzi did in the 1930's and made himself famous for that. To add an interesting twist to the story Ponzi died in Rio de Janeiro in South America, why did he went there? Listening to the story I could not stop thinking how many state institutions behave like a Ponzi scheme. Social security is the most close example. The government makes everybody pitch in, so when you are old you get in return a pension to sustain yourself. Now the problem is that as the population grows older the payments start kicking in and that is when you have a problem. Since the money that is collected was not enough to cover future desimbursements it turns out that the only way to support it is you either increase the contribution on the younger ones, break your promise of paying x amount to the older ones or start running deficits and wait until congress or the President try to salvage it so the people don't loose their savings. Why a Ponzi scheme is a crime if the government does that everyday? Check also this webpage to learn more about Ponzi

La educación del país

El Universo del día de hoy trae un editorial de Fausto Segovia sobre la importancia de brindar a los sectores mas necesitados una educación pública de calidad. El editorial habla en general de las fallas de la educación nacional, como incluso con el uso de 200 millones de dólares en ayuda internacional los problemas se han vuelto peores.

Are we better off?

Virginia Postrel author of the Book the Substance of Style has an interesting commentary on why we are better of today than 20 years ago, even if the macroeconomic numbers don't show much difference.  The key is variety and how modern world offers today more choices than before.  Just the fact of being able to choose not among 20 products but rather 100 products (what is called the consumer surplus) even if it doesn't means macroenomically speaking anything means that we are better off.  Check her commentary in NPR or on her blog where she has a transcript of the radio commentary.

Connections and all in the family

I was reading about the dead of Aaron Director, founder of Law and Economics, that is the use of economic thinking tools in Law. This last paragraph caught my attention:

He stayed at Chicago for several years as an instructor, also bringing his younger sister Rose to the University. There, she finished her undergraduate work and entered graduate school in economics, where she would meet her future husband, Milton Friedman.

It turns out that Aaron Director was also one of the great promoters of Hayek's Road to Serfdom and even convinced the editors at Chicago University Press to publish it. He also was the teacher of Supreme Court Justice candidate and legal schoolar Robert Bork.


What an influence a man can have into a movement (both through family and ideas).

Where in the world is RLC

For those of you that read my blog and have been wondering where I have been this last month let me explain it here. Around the same time I posted the last time in August I started with a group of friends a new weblog www.cambiemosecuador.com. (spanish, sorry for the english readers)

The blog done in collaboration with other friends tries to search solutions to my belaguered home country Ecuador. The people that write on the blog are not necessarily on agreement over the solutions, but we all agree that we have to change Ecuador. I don't know if this is going to trascend or not, and if this is going to be another story of a failed project on the net, but I am excited that this can lead to other things, personally and politically speaking. Nonetheless this is a lame excuse for not updating this blog. I will try to be more constant this time. My apoligies to my loyal readers, if I still have some after abandoning this site.