Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Tribalism, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Aug 23rd, 2017
Via an old friend: it has been the alt-right that has most effectively used postmodern ideas to “deconstruct” what it sees as a distinctly liberal hegemony That was always the major criticism of postmodernism I was familiar with, that there is no reason the very ideas could not be turned on themselves, especially if they […]
Posted in Tribalism on Aug 23rd, 2017
Via Jerry Coyne, 1305, William Wallace (FREEEDOM!) was executed for high treason; and by “executed” I mean hanged until he was nearly dead, emasculated, disemboweled with his intestines burned in front of him while he was still alive, and then decapitated. People were cruel in those days.
Posted in Environment, Politics, Tribalism on Jul 27th, 2017
Steak demand seems to be positively correlated with how red your politics are (HT: Jason Lusk and his Food Demands Survey).
Posted in Dynamism - Not, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Special Privilege, Tribalism on Mar 12th, 2017
THE highlight, among many: when Bill Gates talks about taxing robots, does he mean taxing the Microsoft software that is doing things that a lot of people used to do?
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Disingenuous, Education, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Innovation, Special Privilege, Tribalism on Mar 5th, 2017
Well, I can’t talk about it. But let me suggest one or two things to keep in mind. I feel like some part of the campus conservative movement is, itself, to blame for this. I know, I sound like blaming the victim, but my sense is that they are inviting controversial speakers to campus not […]
Posted in Behavior, Disingenuous, Government Gone Wild, Tribalism on Jan 31st, 2017
President Donald J. Trump is your Nudger in Chief. Here are some glowing endorsements. “For generations paternalism has had a bad odor, and individual autonomy has reigned supreme. Sarah Conly’s book will change all of that. She argues in favor of paternalism with rigor and gusto, and persuasively shows how shedding our reflexive aversion to […]
Posted in Economics Problems, Employment, Tribalism, Welfare State on Dec 19th, 2016
Ezra Klein calls this piece powerful. There is a lot of telling information in it. Brad DeLong’s take on “You Didn’t Build That!” Worthy of a reply by me, but I’m retired and no one cares anyway!
Posted in Competition, Economics Problems, Tribalism on Nov 20th, 2016
26.2 + ε
Posted in ethical foundations, Tribalism on Nov 12th, 2016
Intentions and results are not the same thing. Now, this should seem pretty obvious to most people, but it gets lost in the popular fervor that explodes around most contentious issues. In class we try to discuss some sort of innocuous versions of this application so as to not get people too angry. For example, […]
Posted in Disingenuous, Economists, Methodology, Tribalism on Oct 27th, 2016
Arnold Kling relaying Noah Smith relaying the state of the economics profession. I do not disagree. In a related essay, Smith argues that the current debate in economics is between the center-left and the radical left. The New Center-Left Consensus is attractive to academics and policy wonks. It draws on an eclectic mix of mainstream […]
