Daily Economy
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California’s Dreaming
“AB 2088 could break the back of the Donkey party or unleash another dangerous wave of mostly peaceful protests throughout the land. This time, though, the fatal arrogance comes not from London but Cali you-know-what fornia.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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Should K-12 classrooms teach from the 1619 Project?
“We need not indulge the bombastic posturing of Trump, or unlikely legislative efforts to strip funding from schools, to conclude that the 1619 Project is still ill-suited for K-12 education. That is a judgement we may make on its scholarly shortcomings alone.” ~ Phillip W. Magness
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The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy
“Business responses to corona have shown us that unused items – from chairs and tables to urinals – still have value; they are still in use, even when nobody seems to be occupying them. Most importantly, government spending has little ability to raise that utilization. For this age-old economic fallacy, free lunches remain elusive.” ~…
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Defund, Defund, Defund
“It is unclear how many grant competitions remain to be adjudicated at ED and other agencies, or how much money is at stake. But when schools, colleges, corporations, mayors, and governors say that ‘health and safety are our highest priorities,’ we should take them at their word. None of them should make any fuss when…
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The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook
“‘People vote their pocketbooks’ is a misleading and potentially insidious approximation of voter behavior. A better approximation for modern times is ‘People vote for the candidate or party that provides a better story about themselves.’ That can be problematic itself, but when we bring economic performance along for the ride the problems only multiply. Putting…
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The Sturgis Bike Rally, Sensationalist Reporting, and Broken Disease Models
“By reevaluating the methodology used to report on the Sturgis rally, Black Lives Matter protests, anti-lockdown protests, Trump rallies, and so on, we can reach some more productive conclusions. There are certain things that are so significant and the tradeoffs favorable enough that they are worth braving a pandemic, such as Woodstock.” ~ Ethan Yang
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The Great LARP
“Even more distressingly, 2020 is getting even deadlier. Violence, even murder, has increased of late, portending a potential shift from civil war games to actual civil war. And of course our civil liberties and what little fiscal and monetary discipline the federal government had left also died in 2020.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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The New Normal Is Wrecking New York
“This collective fight against the coronavirus, which was supposed to be two weeks to flatten the curve, has to be one of the most socially destructive impositions our country has ever faced.” ~ Taleed Brown
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Coase and Covid
“An implicit assumption undergirding the mandated NPIs is that ordering people to be confined at home and ‘socially distant’ from each other, despite the resulting massive disruption of economic and social activities, is the lowest cost means of protecting individuals from covid. But even if we grant here that mandated NPIs are an effective means…
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What Would We Do without Experts?
“Experts have been responsible for eugenic policies in the past and forced sterilizations in the United States until relatively recently. It is hard to imagine a more intrusive and life-altering event than forced sterilization. All in all, while politicians are the bane of any democracy, there are lots of reasons to think it better to…
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•
California’s Dreaming
“AB 2088 could break the back of the Donkey party or unleash another dangerous wave of mostly peaceful protests throughout the land. This time, though, the fatal arrogance comes not from London but Cali you-know-what fornia.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
Should K-12 classrooms teach from the 1619 Project?
“We need not indulge the bombastic posturing of Trump, or unlikely legislative efforts to strip funding from schools, to conclude that the 1619 Project is still ill-suited for K-12 education. That is a judgement we may make on its scholarly shortcomings alone.” ~ Phillip W. Magness
-
•
The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy
“Business responses to corona have shown us that unused items – from chairs and tables to urinals – still have value; they are still in use, even when nobody seems to be occupying them. Most importantly, government spending has little ability to raise that utilization. For this age-old economic fallacy, free lunches remain elusive.” ~…
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•
Defund, Defund, Defund
“It is unclear how many grant competitions remain to be adjudicated at ED and other agencies, or how much money is at stake. But when schools, colleges, corporations, mayors, and governors say that ‘health and safety are our highest priorities,’ we should take them at their word. None of them should make any fuss when…
-
•
The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook
“‘People vote their pocketbooks’ is a misleading and potentially insidious approximation of voter behavior. A better approximation for modern times is ‘People vote for the candidate or party that provides a better story about themselves.’ That can be problematic itself, but when we bring economic performance along for the ride the problems only multiply. Putting…
-
•
The Sturgis Bike Rally, Sensationalist Reporting, and Broken Disease Models
“By reevaluating the methodology used to report on the Sturgis rally, Black Lives Matter protests, anti-lockdown protests, Trump rallies, and so on, we can reach some more productive conclusions. There are certain things that are so significant and the tradeoffs favorable enough that they are worth braving a pandemic, such as Woodstock.” ~ Ethan Yang
-
•
The Great LARP
“Even more distressingly, 2020 is getting even deadlier. Violence, even murder, has increased of late, portending a potential shift from civil war games to actual civil war. And of course our civil liberties and what little fiscal and monetary discipline the federal government had left also died in 2020.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
The New Normal Is Wrecking New York
“This collective fight against the coronavirus, which was supposed to be two weeks to flatten the curve, has to be one of the most socially destructive impositions our country has ever faced.” ~ Taleed Brown
-
•
Coase and Covid
“An implicit assumption undergirding the mandated NPIs is that ordering people to be confined at home and ‘socially distant’ from each other, despite the resulting massive disruption of economic and social activities, is the lowest cost means of protecting individuals from covid. But even if we grant here that mandated NPIs are an effective means…
-
•
What Would We Do without Experts?
“Experts have been responsible for eugenic policies in the past and forced sterilizations in the United States until relatively recently. It is hard to imagine a more intrusive and life-altering event than forced sterilization. All in all, while politicians are the bane of any democracy, there are lots of reasons to think it better to…