Following Larry and Frank, here are my observations:

1. I'm more optimistic about the future of the social sciences after APEE. The ratio of good papers to bad papers was higher than at a lot of conferences I've been to.

2. Apparently some Guatemalan tobacco shops are set up to disguise your Cuban cigars as Dominican cigars (no, I didn't smuggle any contraband stogies into the US). I was about to say that this illustrates the folly of law, but it doesn't. It illustrates the folly of legislation. Trying to prevent people from enjoying gains from trade will almost always be ineffective, counterproductive, or both. Since Cuba trades freely with the rest of the world, the US embargo has been both ineffective and counterproductive. It has been ineffective in that it has had little impact on the Cuban economy and on the Cuban government. Recently, Deirdre McCloskey pointed out to me that during an experiment in which people were allowed to spend dollars in Havana, Havana prices were almost the same as Miami prices. It has been counterproductive in that it has given Castro a golden opportunity to blame the evil capitalist United States for the failures of communism.

3. Speaking of Castro, I wonder how he, Che Guevara, and Salvador Allende have gotten a free pass from twentieth century history. Jose Pineiro, one of the architects of the Chilean reforms of the 1970s, gave a plenary lecture contrasting the Cuban Revolution with the Chilean Revolution. In doing some work on human rights violations, economic liberalization, and the Chilean experience, it is hardly clear that Allende's human rights record would have been superior to Pinochet's. The association of Milton Friedman and libertarianism with the human rights abuses of the Pinochet regime is a grave intellectual error, and one that deserves to be corrected. More on this later.

4. Universidad Francisco Marroquin is inspiring and uplifting. Their slogan, "Veritas, Libertas, Justitia" embodies the foundational principles of a society of free and responsible people, and their educational philosophy of teaching principles rather than practice will, I expect, pay large dividends in the 21st century.

5. I wonder how an "end the drug war" petition from economists would be received. Groups like the Cato Institute and the Independent Institute have been circulating petitions about free immigration, free trade, and the stimulus package. I wonder how a similar petition from economists to end the war on drugs would do.

6. Via Facebook, I was able to meet up with Colleen Haight of San Jose State and Debi Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute for an early dinner at DFW. The cheese and spinach dip at Reata in Terminal D was pretty good.

7. The search for the Great American Novel is over. As far as I'm concerned, "Atlas Shrugged" is the Great American Novel until something better comes along.

8. Congratulations are in order for Rhodes seniors Jill Carr and Dustin Sump, who did excellent jobs presenting their honors research at the conference.

9. I prefer Coke to Pepsi, but sugar-sweetened Pepsi tastes better than HFCS-sweetened Pepsi. If consumer advocates are looking for a cause that isn't counterproductive, ending sugar protectionism would be a good one.