I’ve been spending a wonderful week diving and relaxing at Harbour Village, in Bonaire. I have just a few unorganized observations: This is a day destination for Royal Caribbean. The Horreure of the Seas was in here yesterday. The whole … Continue reading
This isn’t my usual fare, but I get confused by the posturing condemnation of Zero Dark Thiry: Which is the harder-won morality, eschewing torture because it’s useless, or despite its usefulness? The real issue is the human rights of the people who … Continue reading
Naturally, the economics blogosphere is afire with talk of the minimum wage. One of the obvious arguments opponents make is “if a minimum wage hike is so great, why not raise it to $100/hr”? Rhymes with Cars and Girls … Continue reading
Glenn makes a reasonable point about the pseudo-proposal for universal pre-k: “There’s another way of looking at this: as an overt sop to the teachers’ unions. What a great way to expand the ranks of the credentialed, licensed, and dues-paying … Continue reading
Chris Dillow suggests a rational paradox in attitudes towards the inheritance tax: who are the sort of people who expect to get big inheritances and so are deterred from working? There are two (extreme) possibilities: 1. The rich have high … Continue reading
Adam Ozimek is his typically perceptive self on the minimum wage (emphasis mine): The impact of the minimum wage on unemployment is a divisive issue among economists. Simple labor economics might seem to predict that a wage floor would necessarily lead … Continue reading
Matt Yglesias posts yet another chart of government spending and claims that its point is so obvious that no further comment is required. This is just one in a long series of supposedly killer graphs going around the blogosphere. In … Continue reading
In another Facebook back and forth, friend Mark asked about manipulation of chained CPI through the elasticity/substitution adjustments and whether they could be manipulated. In response I brought up my favorite opaque contributor to CPI, “Owner-Adjusted Rent”. I went to … Continue reading
Grantham reflects on the investing era I grew up in. The longer the engineered rates stay below true market rates, the higher asset prices become until, yes, you’ve got it, corporate assets begin to sell way over replacement cost. Then, … Continue reading
I haven’t paid much attention to the Blogroll here, but today I added Arnold Kling’s newish blog, Askblog. I’ve read him for years, but I particularly want to endorse his attempt to be additive in dialogue: I want to model … Continue reading