links for 2010-10-31

Most economists, Bennett contends, would concede that “the degree of wealth equality that the study's respondents identified as ideal would be disastrous, because it would seriously retard growth—sapping incentives to work and innovate, perhaps even requiring coercive measures mandating that the poor save rather than spend their money on necessary consumption.”

Right—that’s clearly why Sweden, which by Bennett’s own account is the poster society for gray egalitarian social engineering, ranked third in the 2008 global innovation index, and has powered all manner of successful global technological breakthroughs, from IKEA to Skype.