Monthly Archives: October 2011

Stopping to Smell the Roses Creates Income Inequality

Posted on October 31, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From Tyler Cowen, The funny thing is this: For years, many cultural critics in and of the United States have been telling us that Americans should behave more like threshold earners. We should be less harried, more interested in nurturing … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 15 Comments

Reason to Be Skeptical About Stimulus

Posted on October 29, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From Econtalk.org Valerie Ramey of the University of California, San Diego … finds a multiplier between .8 and 1.2. (A multiplier of 1 means that GDP goes up by the amount of spending–there is neither stimulus nor crowding out.) She … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 22 Comments

High Income Households Don’t Just Earn More, They Work More

Posted on October 28, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From Mark Perry, here is an interesting graphic on what factors underlie household income inequality. It’s not just that higher income households have higher income earners, although that’s part of it, too. They also have more workers per household than … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 3 Comments

Awesomely Bad Herman Cain Ad

Posted on October 26, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

This is paid for by the Friends of Herman Cain. As the old saying goes, with friends like that…

Posted in Politics in General | 7 Comments

Occupy Wall Street, and Keep Occupying It

Posted on October 26, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

I’m not in sympathy with the OWS folks, but… Recently I saw on a blog someone more or less obliquely criticizing those who applauded the Citizens United decision that struck down limits on independent campaign spending and applaud the crackdowns … Continue reading →

Posted in Laws-Damned Laws-and Statists | 18 Comments

Tunisian Elections

Posted on October 24, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

From Foreign Policy Magazine’s morning email briefing. On Sunday, millions of Tunisians cast votes for a 217-seat assembly that will re-write the constitution, appoint an interim government, and set dates for parliamentary and presidential elections. Yesterday’s vote is widely seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Spontaneous Order

Posted on October 22, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

This is the type of thing that makes me believe a more libertarian society is possible, despite–or perhaps because of–how small the scale is. It’s also the type of thing that reveals my own professional hazard, seeing political lessons in … Continue reading →

Posted in Analyzing Libertarianism | 10 Comments

Corrupting Students

Posted on October 21, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Several years ago I had a student who wanted to do an independent study, and knowing he was very interested in political theory, I had him read some Hayek. He wasn’t that impressed. Today he happened to be in town … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching | 1 Comment

The Never-Wrong Method for Predicting Presidential Elections?

Posted on October 20, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

There’s been a little bit of attention given to a political science prof, Allan Lichtman, who’s correctly predicted each presidential election from 1984 through 2008. U.S. News called him the never-wrong pundit. So what’s his methodology?

Posted in Politics in General, Research Blogging | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Is Student Loan Debt Unfair?

Posted on October 19, 2011 by J@m3z Aitch

Heard on NPR tonight, from an Occupy Wall Street protestor: It’s unfair that someone has to graduate from college with so much debt, and then not even have a job. I’m sympathetic. I dropped out of college, and with enough … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics in General | Tagged , | 8 Comments