Monday Links Do The Twist

Enough links to keep anybody happy for at least an hour:

Personal Finance: Sonya Smith-Valentine says that auto loans are a better idea than home-equity lines of credit if you want to buy a car, even if they carry a higher interest rate. It's a question of discipline, you see. I'm not convinced: the important thing is how much interest you pay in aggregate, on all your debts, rather than how much interest you pay on your car payments specifically. And the extra money you make in car payments could be better used to pay down more debt at a lower interest rate.

Development: Marc Andreessen finds an old Q&A with Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, who wants we in the West to stop sending aid to Africa. I'd be interested to know whether there's much of a difference between Shikwati's views and those of Andrew Mwenda.

Economics I: These two arguments follow a similar argument: sometimes cheaper (or free) isn't always a good thing. Steve Waldman, with an assist from Dani Rodrik, teases out the argument further:

If the best thing a teenager could do with a couple hundred thousand dollars is to turn it into a four-year annuity for college, the utility maximizing teenager will do that. If she chooses to do something else, by revealed preference, that must be the better choice. Right? No.

Economics II: Alex Tabarrok, riffing on a proposal from John Edwards, likes the idea of prizes for healthcare research, but says that "in fact, optimal prizes must increase the profits of US drug companies". Why is it that whenever an economist uses the phrase "in fact," one must always be on one's guard against crazy and baseless assertions?

Economics III: Tabarrok's co-blogger Tyler Cowen, blogfather at GMU, uses the incentive of a prize to get people to buy his book at Amazon and propel it up the sales charts there. The trick seems to be working: it's #236 in books, and it doesn't even come out until August! The prize is very bloggy indeed, and quite clever in the way Cowen trusts his readers.

Economics IV: Brad DeLong vs Paul Krugman, who's moonlighting at the essential-for-highbrows new website Vox EU.

Cities: The falling dollar means New York is cheap! Or cheaper than 14 other world cities, anyway.

Banking: Can US Trust's Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa maintain her brand's reputation now that it's being renamed U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management? Or USTBOAPWM for not-very short, I guess.

Technology: John Heilemann on Steve Jobs. It's long, I haven't read it. But Paul Kedrosky is unimpressed.

Media: The Wall Street Journal's cover price is going up by 50% to $1.50. Subscribers are not affected, except that now the Journal gets to trumpet Even! Bigger! Savings! for people who take out a subscription.

Private Equity: The Epicurean Dealmaker has a one-two punch on tax rates in the private equity industry. Well worth reading.

Closures: Andrew Leonard bemoans the fact that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has moved from twist-off to pry-off caps. Apparently this is better for the beer and more environmentally friendly to boot. But it's less convenient. Not to worry, Andrew, sooner or later the entire wine industry will move to twist-off caps, which are similarly better for the wine and more environmentally friendly to boot. The loss of beer convenience will then be made up for with the gain of wine convenience.