After a lot of travel (Los Angeles to Tokyo, followed by swine flu inspection; Tokyo to Singapore, followed by swine flu inspection; Singapore to Penang, followed by swine flu inspection), I’m comfortably seated in my nice little hotel in Penang, working on various projects. Among other projects, I’m working on finishing up my lectures for the “Akademi Merdeka” (here it is in English), which will focus on Ayn Rand’s thought; my contributions will be on the economics of mutual benefit, the foundations of prosperity, and the psychology of envy, on the one hand, and of accomplishment, on the other. (Just as background, I’ve found very helpful Helmut Schoeck’s Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior, and Envy: Theory and Research, ed. by Richard H. Smith. Thanks to Tatiana Kryzhanovskaya for her help in locating the latter book, as well as related readings!)
