Weekend Links

1) Federal, state and local governments in the US have debt crises. In Michigan, the state has 

changed the law, creating "emergency managers." So, if the Michigan governor declares a 

financial emergency in a locality, he can appoint an emergency manager, who will have broad 

powers, including the power to break contracts: http://bit.ly/fFIg7K.

2) Ethics of rewarding whistleblowers: http://bit.ly/gyjN4U.

3) More on Libya connections: http://bit.ly/gy4QJN. Some compare Chile-Friedman & 

Harberger. 

4) GE's tax strategies: http://nyti.ms/h3w5Mm.

5) GAAP & IFRS "convergence": http://bit.ly/iktJsy.

6) Education as a positional good: http://bit.ly/eLwyez. “Positional good" is a new term for me. 

Here's a lawsuit regarding education as a positional good: http://bit.ly/fyxhi8.

7) The late Julian Simon, an economist: http://bit.ly/hJqnFG. Simon is widely reviled by 

environmentalists.

8) GRAPHic! Justin Wolfers versus John Taylor regarding a GRAPH: http://bit.ly/erMH8I.
Niall Ferguson slides and GRAPHs from a talk on sovereign debt: http://read.bi/dJvPSR.
US census data in GRAPHs: http://bzfd.it/eh6ILV.

9) Tech companies are hoarding cash: http://read.bi/fTRYS9. I don't know why.

10) April 1st, or April Fool's Day, is a day for pranks. I don't know how big this is outside the US, 

but here expect someone to try to pull a prank on you. Google tried. If you want to pull prank: 

http://lifehac.kr/hCjyqi.

11) Executive pay at Transocean: http://bit.ly/ggynAP.  

12) Unusual friendships: Gorilla: http://bit.ly/fQT4L7. Goose: http://bit.ly/h0LJ7d.

Have a good weekend,

Brad