Amit asks:

“This leads me to wonder why people in jails should not be allowed to throw parties and suchlike with their own money, if they disturb no one else in the process. Sure, jails are meant to confine criminals, but besides free movement, should all the other rights that an individual normally enjoys also be suspended?”

Umm.. as long as he is talking of convicted criminals, is “Because we want criminals to suffer” a sufficient answer?
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The debate on the whole regulation thing has gone its predictable course, i.e. we libertarians have asked “Are you in favour of free-markets or are you in favour of regulations?” and we’ve got the answer “Being pro-markets does not mean being against regulations” to which we’ve replied “What about the license-quota-permit raj? Do you think the free market could have flourished under those regulations” to which again we’ve got the answer “So are you saying that there is no need for laws at all? If someone does wrong, shouldn’t we punish them?” to which we’ve screamed back “Where have we said that there shouldn’t be laws? We are against regulations. Completely different thing.”

I think the fault is on both sides. We FMSs have never made it clear what we mean by the laws we support and the regulations we oppose, and the NHBs constantly claim that “some regulations are needed” without specifying which ones are.

I had in fact thought of remedying this problem some time back. I will still do it in more detail, as a post on the Indian Economy blog. But in the meantime, let me propose a way to distinguish between “good” regulations and “bad” regulations. We libertarians tend to call those good regulations “laws” but let me drop that terminology for clarity. Also, I must caution you that this is not the only distinction. These “good” and “bad” regulations form the extremes – good ones are unambiguously good for the market, bad ones are unambiguously bad for the market, but there are others in between which are not so clear.
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The Longest Comment In The Indian Blogosphere draws a parallel between the left and libertarians. It is not a particularly original parallel; many others have drawn it before. He is saying that just as the left was saying that “true” communism has not been really tried anywhere, it cannot be said to have failed, we libertarians are saying that just as there is no “true” free market anywhere, it cannot be said to have failed. I don’t think that parallel works, and here is why.
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I think I do need to post more on The Longest Comment In The Indian Blogosphere.

Some 2000 words down the comment, he says that Don Boudreaux “dismisses the phenomena of global warming” and then Chetan launches into a tirade on how Global Warming is in fact occurring. Except, of course, that Don wasn’t saying that global warming was not occurring. He was saying that even if it was occurring, we should not get the government involved in solving the problem, because the government will invariably make things worse.
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Once again, we’ve been accused of condescension – this time it is by The Longest Comment Ever In The Indian Blogosphere. As the condescendingest Cartelian, I am tempted to simply link to what I had said on the subject some time back.
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So continuing from where I left off in the last post, I wanted to tell you why there were no sting operations in “those times”. Actually, I don’t want to be unfair to those times. There was a lot of fine investigative journalism. When I started reading newspapers, it was exciting times, because the Indian Express under Arun Shourie was taking on Rajiv Gandhi’s government. But no, there were no hidden camera stings, and the few who were taking on the government were some exceptionally brave souls.

Let me go over the reasons why there were no hidden camera stings at that time. Some of them apply even today.
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Firstly, you’re welcome. I still remember those days when you interviewed a famous personality, but you couldn’t get the trashy newspaper you were working for to carry that interview. From there to a prominent blogger, you’ve come a long way.;) (Note to others: Inside joke. Please ignore)

Having said that, I must confess that I am utterly baffled by the point you are making. Completely, utterly baffled. Here’s why.
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Abi points to a study which finds that the average Wikipedia article contains four errors while the average Encyclopaedia Britannica article contains three. Abi thinks that the study vindicates Wikipedia, and if you think that Wikipedia is ridden with errors, then indeed it does. But if you, like me, expected Wikipedia to be better than EB, then it must be a bit of a disappointment.

So here is a question. There are two ways to measure the quality of Wikipedia. One is to take a sample of articles in Encyclopaedia Britannica, take their corresponding articles in Wikipedia, and compare the two on quality. The other is to take a sample of articles in WP, take their corresponding articles in EB and compare the two in quality.

Is there a difference between the two methods? If so, why and which is the better way?

To clarify, I don’t mean that he has the other good qualities of Chandrababu Naidu. I am referring to Chandrababu Naidu’s complete takeover of the party from the other more “legitimate” heirs of NTR. My impression is that Raj is much more popular among the Sainiks than his cousin. The question is, is he so popular that after Bal Thackeray, the whole of the party will simply gravitate to him?

Discuss

J Alfred Prufrock, the pseudonymous civil servant of the blogosphere takes exception to Amit’s generalisation of a government servant’s attitude, not because the generalisation is inaccurate, but because it hurts his feelings and will discourage those few who do not fit into that generalisation.

Well sorry about those hurt feelings, but a generalisation doesn’t have to be 100% accurate to be useful. If they were, we’d call them laws of nature, not generalisations. When I say that the traffic police are corrupt, I don’t mean that every single policeman is corrupt. It simply means that if I am stopped by a cop for jumping a red light, I can safely assume that he is out looking for a bribe and he is not out to fine me.
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Now that the weather department has decided to name cyclones hitting India too, I think that we should insist that they follow the Americans’ lead completely and name them keeping in mind the region they are hitting. Tamils and Bengalis should insist on assigning Tamil and Bengali names for the cyclones, not boring ones like Baaz and Agni. Haven’t we heard those before? I for one, would like to hear “Cyclone Kalaiselvi has moved further north and it looks like it will give Chennai a miss” or “Cyclone Priyaranjan has further intensified and will hit Kolkata”.

There aren’t many cyclones hitting the west coast, but of course the ones that do should be given Maharashtrian names. I would love to reel under a cyclone named Dhurander Bhatwadekar.

Now of course, when I had observed that the good blog names are all taken, I had not reckoned with the creativity of some smart people. I am referring, of course, to Aadisht’s blog, “Majorly shadymax arbit fundaes” which gives me a smile whenever I think of it. And he writes some amazing stuff too. Great analysis and great humour, all in one blog.

Then Kunal Sawardekar’s blog is named Ceteris Paribus which is Latin for “Other things remaining constant”. Good name too, especially if you are doing your masters in economics. He too is very very smart and writes engagingly.

What’s common between the two? Yes, they are smart, libertarian, and members of the Cartel. The moral of the story is that if you turn libertarian, your IQ will increase by 50 points. You will have a cool blog name and you will attain merit in this world and next.

Oh, and those who are wondering where and if I am writing non-nonsensical stuff, please head over to
Indian Economy, where I am arguing against regulation.