The Unbroken Window

Much has been made recently of economic findings that seem to refute the Easterlin Paradox. The paradox is simple - in research done in the 1970s, there was no apparent connection between wealth and happiness (in cross-country or within country average data). Critics of “greed-seeking”, “soulless” capitalism have used this for decades to push for […]

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The mean center of population for the United States has moved steadily southward and westward since our Nation’s founding. For example, in 1790, the center of U.S. population was in Kent County along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. By the start of the Civil War it had moved to Pike County in South Central Ohio. The center […]

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Registar at Florida State charges professors $10 per late grade. I am a fan of using the price system to align incentives. However, I wonder what some of the unintended consequences of this policy might be? Especially when you are reading your 100th essay in a row on the same exact topic …

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And I am not the only social scientist either! It appears that the order of appearance on the show for the contestants matters. The last to perform appear to have an advantage. I have little to add aside from my public admission of being an Idol idolator.

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On my way into work this morning I was nearly killed by a woman who was drinking coffee and who appeared to be changing the radio station as she swerved into my lane. She was driving a brand new Volvo station wagon.

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My neighbor’s wife has one of those sun tans which looks like she could be sliced up and sold as an expensive accessory for Gucci. Who am I to judge? I’m not. I am only interested because her husband is the area’s most well-respected oncologist.

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It is very easy for survey respondents to say that they are not happy, or to take positions which seem “out there,” the reason being that people rarely have the proper incentives to reveal how they actually feel about various policies and positions. For example, Robert Frank (e.g. author of Luxury Fever among others) has […]

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“Men harasas women precisely because they are not discriminating between men and women.”
From the Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature.

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