Jord Leffrey Amherst
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Jan 26th, 2016
Here is the statement from our Board Chair. My favorite line of the entire thing: the real world is NOT a philosophy class.
Category Archive for 'Flotsam and Jetsam'
The Thanksgiving Gift
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Nov 26th, 2015
Today I reprint a slightly edited piece I put together several years ago. I’d change a lot of it if I were to do it over. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Four centuries after the celebration of the first Thanksgiving, there is still widespread disagreement about the reason for the Pilgrims’ feast. But whether it was […]
Uninvited from Polite Company – Global Warming Mitigation Edition
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Nov 19th, 2015
Can someone do the following calculation or at least ask the question? How much political capital and actual resources have been dedicated over the last 20 years in promoting ethanol, wind, solar, electric cars, green jobs, etc.? How much political and propagandic energy has been expended in discussing signing on to major climate agreements? What […]
Weekly Research Roundup – No Surprises Here
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Oct 19th, 2015
Shocker – an author that I know writes lots in support of unions finds evidence in support of unions. In this case, Richard Freeman, et al, suggest a link between unions, a successful middle class and mobility. To be fair, Freeman’s seminal book is more even-handed than you might think. However as far as this […]
Monday Morning Roundup
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Oct 12th, 2015
Within the black population, having an African-American name seems to be related to living one-year longer than if you did not have a uniquely African-American name. The revival (and labor market prospects) of Economic History? My colleague Stan Engerman could rightly be credited with some of this through his innovative work in Cliometrics. Low income […]
Early democratic Democrats? and Other Items
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Sep 21st, 2015
In my inbox, a few items of interest: The race of your Teaching Assistant matters for your subsequent class performance. Note that my courses select undergraduate TAs prior to the semester beginning. I wonder where administrators would go with this information – recommending more racial sorting? Yikes? There has always been a very close relationship between the […]
Sacred Cows in the Intensive Care Unit
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Sep 14th, 2015
In this week’s research, top choices include: Caroline Hoxby and George Bulman address the question of whether federal tax deductions for college tuition payments promote college attendance. In their words: Although many eligible households take nearly the maximum deduction allowed, we find no evidence that it affects attending college (at all), attending full- versus part-time, attending four- versus […]
Toilets, Schools and Social Insurance
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Sep 8th, 2015
Wished I were clever enough to write a post combining those topics, here are a few papers that caught my eye: Toilets CAN work. Lest you think that is a trite observation, note that one of the most puzzling aspects of development and global charity for decades has been the understanding of the importance of […]
Happy Labor Day Weekend
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Sep 5th, 2015
Imagine we celebrated, “Entrepreneur Day,” in celebration of the risk taking, passion and drive of thousands of entrepreneurs who contribute to our remarkable existence. But in the spirit of the holiday. ..
Feynman’s Epilogue
Posted in Economics 108, Education, Flotsam and Jetsam on Aug 25th, 2015
Going through all of the famous Feynman lectures may not be for you, though I do recommend many of them, but reading some of Feynman’s popular work is highly recommended as is learning a little bit more about him. I very much appreciated his comments to close his few years of teaching “Intro” physics at […]
