The Unbroken Window

Apparently, that is what you are if you dare question anything about the educational system. In a book review I am writing on Goldin and Katz’s Race Between Education and Technology, I dared to say: The existing K12 system cannot be improved until the political class recognizes the success of various school choice programs and [...]

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It’s hard to tell if it actually is the Onion or not. HT to Michael Thompson.  In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

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A trendy area of economics is in a field called “behavioral economics.” In a nutshell, it is the study of individual irrationality and what “we” can do about it. So while most economists like myself believe that individuals tend to make decisions that generally benefit themselves, the folks studying behavioral economics believe that individuals systematically [...]

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I was hired by an educational/research foundation a few years ago and part of the deal was that they would pay for my full moving expenses from Kentucky to Massachusetts. Do you know how much the bill was? $11,000! Ouch. But, at the margin, my cost to consuming additional moving services was zero. So, we [...]

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I am often asked questions from reporters and students alike if there is some special trick, short-cut, rule of thumb or tool they can use to make various decisions. Most often, they ask things like, “if I want to drive a green car how do I know the best one for me?” Or, “if I [...]

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Here was a note I put on my door back in the Spring (I had an extra lecture to give on campus so had to change my office hours): “Sorry folks, I will not be holding OH this afternoon, please come tomorrow if you need to meet with me.” And then heard outside my door [...]

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The Public Policy Institute of New York puts together a great deal of data on comparative economic statistics for New York. I enjoyed thinking about this one: the average salary for full-time government employees in New York State was over $57,000 in 2007. That is third highest in the nation, and it does not include [...]

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The major problem with government intervention in Money and Banking over the centuries has really been the fact that each new round of regulation is laid over the existing pool of regulations – themselves typically responsible for the crisis that triggered the call for new regulation. So while I was sure that whatever the Obama [...]

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Now the Executive Branch wants to step in and not just be the auto czar, but the executive pay czar for all companies. True liberals are regularly mocked for making slippery slope arguments. And what happens when we find ourselves wallowing in the mud at the bottom of the slope, after being demonstrably right for [...]

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George Will’s piece from last weekend got me thinking. Here is one excerpt” But one reason Amtrak runs on red ink is that legislators treat it as their toy train set, preventing it from cutting egregiously unprofitable routes. Will Congress passively accept auto plant-closing decisions? Rattner says that Washington’s demure vow is: “No plant decisions, [...]

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