I'm in the middle of studying for my upcoming qualifying exams, and one of the environmental policy books that I'm being forced to read comes to me courtesy of the CATO Institute. The argument the author builds is so laughably simplistic that I'm actually embarrassed for both him and whomever it was inside CATO who wanted it published. Let me give you one example of what I'm talking about.
In an effort to prove that institutions matter as much as resources in shaping economic growth, the author - Richard L Stroup - compares Ethiopia to the Netherlands. Ethiopia, it seems, has far more arable land than the Netherlands, but they export far less agriculture. And the reasons, according to M. Stroup? Ethiopia is a) socialist, and b) fights unnecessary wars.
There are so many things wrong with this argument that I'm not even going to bother to begin trying to detail them. But I have to ask: Is this what passes for serious analysis over at CATO?
UPDATE: Forgot to include the link to the book. Sorry.
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