Posted in Paternalism, Politics, Regulation on Nov 18th, 2009
As opposed to using pricing mechanisms to achieve goals is no better illustrated than in this pathetic excuse for a law: “Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators Wednesday adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand.” Let’s see …we want consumers to reduce electricity use, so rather than [...]
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Posted in Methodology on Nov 18th, 2009
Some of my favorites: 3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations. 96.9% of all Communist sympathizers [...]
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Posted in Constitution on Nov 18th, 2009
Didn’t we fight a war 200+ years ago to rid ourselves of this sort of thing? 56 years and 320 days in the Senate. Impressive. That probably also means he has stolen more money from Americans than anyone in the history of the Republic. I am sure he’ll be proud to have that on his [...]
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Posted in Education, Religion on Nov 18th, 2009
Gruber and Dynarski report in a recent NBER Working Paper: The effect of vouchers on sorting between private and public schools depends upon the price elasticity of demand for private schooling. … We exploit a unique and previously undocumented source of variation in private school tuition to estimate this key parameter. A majority of Catholic [...]
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Posted in Macroeconomics, Taxation on Nov 17th, 2009
It would be desirable anyway, but if we are talking about how to deal with the unemployment problem, my colleague Mark Bils and coauthors show that: that cutting the payroll tax by six percentage points (of the 12.4% Social Security component) would, under standard assumptions, increase employment by three million to four million workers—an amount [...]
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Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 17th, 2009
My favorite is the piano staircase. Too bad the real nudges we will get are not so innocuous. How do you spell Farvegnugen? HT to Zach S.
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Posted in Taxation on Nov 17th, 2009
Federal income taxes that is. The picture would be different if you included all taxes. Anyway, here is a terrific picture. And folks want the “rich” to pay even more. I guess the rich can’t buy their way out of that one. Is there any limit to one’s moral obligation to society? If I engage [...]
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Posted in Education on Nov 17th, 2009
That appears to be an apt description of the size of the educational establishment that has a clue about how to teach math to K12 students: A distinct lack of interest in allowing mathematicians a major voice in determining the content of the high school mathematics curriculum isn’t confined to educational research publications or presentations. [...]
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Posted in Price System on Nov 17th, 2009
What follows is a slightly edited version of an e-mail exchange I had with a former colleague of mine. I learn more economics by talking to him and thinking about his questions than I do from virtually any other source. Here is an e-mail a former colleague of mine sent me recently: Finally, I was [...]
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The President is calling on all citizens to participate in our nation’s recovery and renewal by serving in our communities. Well, everyone but the Boy Scouts: In pursuit of an Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, 17, has toiled for more than 200 hours hours over several weeks to clear a walking path in an east [...]
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