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Category Archive for 'Paternalism'

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And then they came for … the baby formula. But the plan will see 27 of New York City’s hospitals implementing its policies on Labor Day, which include keeping formula in locked storage rooms and monitoring its use. The initiative will also discontinue the practice of hospitals distributing free infant formula at the time of […]

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And then they came for … the plastic water bottles. Among many, here is the "money" quote: Chiu's ordinance calls plastic water bottles "bad for the environment," unnecessarily taking up landfill space and causing greenhouse gas emissions when cheap tap water is available. San Francisco city departments have been barred from buying plastic water bottles […]

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And then they came for the … bath salts? Who knew you could make cocaine out of them? This legislation will get these extremely dangerous bath salts out of the hands of Alaska's children I think Colorado is debating the same thing today. Yes, to protect the children. Of course. Only the good lord knows […]

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And then they came for the large sodas: The proposal – expected to be announced formally on Thursday in a City Hall briefing – would take 20-ounce soda bottles off the shelves of the city’s delis and eliminate super-sized sugary soft drinks from fast-food menus. … The administration’s proposal would impose a 16-ounce limit on […]

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Another idea that seems to engender bipartisan approval is the passing of legislation to stop addictive behaviors from destroying our lives. The idea here being that even rational decision-makers are incapable now, at the time of choosing to consume something like heroin, of understanding what its current consumption will do to our future selves. Now […]

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I just finished reading a new NBER paper that talks about how subsidies for “green” products can be “welfare improving” if people have systematically biased beliefs or other misperceptions about how energy efficient their purchase of durables really is. Here is the paper. Here is the abstract: We show how the traditional logic of Pigouvian […]

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And then they came for the … salt, fat and fiber eaten by the … homeless. Richter has been collecting food from places like the Ohav Zedek synagogue and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently his donation, including a “cholent” or carrot stew, was turned away because the Bloomberg […]

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I just saw this via Alex Tabarrok: The Hill: Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a “Reasonable Profits Board” to control gas profits. The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a “windfall profit tax” as high as 100 percent […]

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Sledding and Liberty

One of my favorite places in western NY happens to be right by my home – Mendon Ponds Park. I especially love to cross-country ski, snowshoe, and ice-skate there in the winter. In any case, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find places to sled in Monroe County anymore. This is rather startling since the […]

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Sort of an ironic title for the plan of Professor Frank, no? I call it the 6-6-6 plan — an across-the-board 6 percent national sales tax (on top of any existing state and local sales taxes) in effect from 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving to 6 a.m. on Black Friday. This plan would leave both stores […]

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