Crisis
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It Is Time To Call Shenanigans!
“If scientists truly knew nothing about SARS-COV-2 then they should have advocated doing nothing until it was well enough understood to proffer effective policies lest they inadvertently contribute to its spread.” ~ Robert Wright
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The Fatal Conceit of COVID-19 Epidemic Models
“The epidemiological world has published countless articles and studies warning against the tendency and ease with which one can overestimate Ro. We have fallen prey to this tendency once again.” Gregory van Kipnis
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Let the Unemployment Benefits Expire
“The bottom line is that everyone needs to take a deep breath and let the unemployment insurance expansions expire. People, sensible adults that they are, will then naturally return to their lives and jobs.” ~ Vernonique de Rugy
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Don’t Defund Police, Make them Part of the Market
“There is an argument regularly doled out by police unions which states that without the wide swath of protections that police officers face, they would be more reluctant to investigate, pursue, and apprehend wrongdoers. If so, there are ways to fix that problem.”~Peter C. Earle
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World Health Organization Walks Back Claim about Asymptomatic Spread
“It’s long past time to stop this pretend game. Go back to normal life. Let science take its course. And above all else, allow medical professionals to do their work without the reckless and dangerous assistance from politicians who seem to know less about disease mitigation than everyone else.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
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Masking Kids: Safety without Efficacy
“It is time to look beyond the symbolic measures we are taking to protect ourselves from the virus, and to start thinking about the costs and benefits of schools reopening more realistically. Come fall, schools should be open without any extreme social distancing measures in place.” Michael Thomas and Diana Thomas
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Professor Lockdown Now Claims to Have Saved 3.1 Million Lives
“Whether used by Imperial College or Trump, this line of argument falters as social science because it assumes the validity of the very same forecast it purports to demonstrate. Rather than testing the causal inference that lockdowns reduced the COVID death rate, it takes their own forecasted death rate as a given and then purports…
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The Environmentalist’s Dream Came True
“The environmentalists had a field day during the corona pandemic. The anti-human policies they have called for, protested for, disrupted societies and other people’s lives for, were suddenly implemented en masse, albeit on a temporary basis. Think of it as a trial for green policies.” ~ Joakim Book
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Tragedies of Our Time: Pandemic, Planning, and Racial Politics
“The magnitude and depth of what has actually been experienced in declines in production and rises in unemployment have one and only one primary and singular source: the federal and especially state government-ordered shutdowns across the country.” ~ Richard Ebeling
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Protest Also Against Police Unions and Qualified Immunity
Surprising myself, I write here about the murder of George Floyd. My surprise springs from my long-held belief that I, a professional economist who now specializes in studying trade and trade policy, likely have nothing useful to add to public discussions about race relations and police misconduct. It’s not that I have no opinions about…
-
•
It Is Time To Call Shenanigans!
“If scientists truly knew nothing about SARS-COV-2 then they should have advocated doing nothing until it was well enough understood to proffer effective policies lest they inadvertently contribute to its spread.” ~ Robert Wright
-
•
The Fatal Conceit of COVID-19 Epidemic Models
“The epidemiological world has published countless articles and studies warning against the tendency and ease with which one can overestimate Ro. We have fallen prey to this tendency once again.” Gregory van Kipnis
-
•
Let the Unemployment Benefits Expire
“The bottom line is that everyone needs to take a deep breath and let the unemployment insurance expansions expire. People, sensible adults that they are, will then naturally return to their lives and jobs.” ~ Vernonique de Rugy
-
•
Don’t Defund Police, Make them Part of the Market
“There is an argument regularly doled out by police unions which states that without the wide swath of protections that police officers face, they would be more reluctant to investigate, pursue, and apprehend wrongdoers. If so, there are ways to fix that problem.”~Peter C. Earle
-
•
World Health Organization Walks Back Claim about Asymptomatic Spread
“It’s long past time to stop this pretend game. Go back to normal life. Let science take its course. And above all else, allow medical professionals to do their work without the reckless and dangerous assistance from politicians who seem to know less about disease mitigation than everyone else.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
-
•
Masking Kids: Safety without Efficacy
“It is time to look beyond the symbolic measures we are taking to protect ourselves from the virus, and to start thinking about the costs and benefits of schools reopening more realistically. Come fall, schools should be open without any extreme social distancing measures in place.” Michael Thomas and Diana Thomas
-
•
Professor Lockdown Now Claims to Have Saved 3.1 Million Lives
“Whether used by Imperial College or Trump, this line of argument falters as social science because it assumes the validity of the very same forecast it purports to demonstrate. Rather than testing the causal inference that lockdowns reduced the COVID death rate, it takes their own forecasted death rate as a given and then purports…
-
•
The Environmentalist’s Dream Came True
“The environmentalists had a field day during the corona pandemic. The anti-human policies they have called for, protested for, disrupted societies and other people’s lives for, were suddenly implemented en masse, albeit on a temporary basis. Think of it as a trial for green policies.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
Tragedies of Our Time: Pandemic, Planning, and Racial Politics
“The magnitude and depth of what has actually been experienced in declines in production and rises in unemployment have one and only one primary and singular source: the federal and especially state government-ordered shutdowns across the country.” ~ Richard Ebeling
-
•
Protest Also Against Police Unions and Qualified Immunity
Surprising myself, I write here about the murder of George Floyd. My surprise springs from my long-held belief that I, a professional economist who now specializes in studying trade and trade policy, likely have nothing useful to add to public discussions about race relations and police misconduct. It’s not that I have no opinions about…