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Category Archives: Perverse Incentives
Strategic Analysis of the Sequester
One of my Political Behavior students wrote a nice strategic analysis of the sequester and its failure. His theoretical basis was the concept of brinkmanship, originally devised by Thomas Schelling, and concludes that the sequester is a good example of … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives, Politics in General
Tagged Brinkmanship, Congress, Fiscal Cliff, Sequester, Spending Cuts, Tax Increases, Tea Party
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The Subsidization of Rural Life
Wil Truman’s blog entry about rural medicine and Russell Saunders’ subsequent comment about “the need to subsidize medical care in rural and underserved communities” led me to wonder whether the U.S. has too large a rural population due to such … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
15 Comments
Sign This Pledge
I’m calling on all political candidates to sign the following pledge (for the sake of their electoral careers, we will not call it the Bawdy House pledge): I pledge not to sign any interest group pledges. I understand the urge … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives, Politics in General
1 Comment
Proud to Be an American
U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan admit to cutting off fingers for war trophies. Not that this is anything new.
Posted in Perverse Incentives
9 Comments
Paul Krugman Is Right
Krugman hates the anti-science attitude of the Republican presidential candidates. Only Huntsman gets his approval, while Romney gets much scorn for pandering. Let’s not forget to notice, though, that Romney has a serious chance at the nomination, while Huntsman did … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
4 Comments
Tax Expenditures as Indulgences?
Duke political scientist Michael Munger (an eminent public choice theorist), compares tax expenditures to the Catholic Church’s selling of indulgences. Indulgences were “get out of purgatory free!” cards. Of course, it was the church that had created the idea of … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
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Narcissism?
Over at Philip J. Berg’s birther website, obamacrimes.org, where the masthead proudly says “By the Law Offices of Philip J. Berg”, there is a post titled “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PHILIP J. BERG, ESQUIRE.” My birthday’s coming up soon. Be on … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
7 Comments
Paul Ryan–Half Right, Half Very Wrong
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has proposed major structural changes to Medicare and Medicaid. That’s good. Medicare in particular is one of the major drivers of increasing deficits, due to the unfunded prescription drug plan. But he only gets … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
16 Comments
NCLB and Critical Thinking
This is purely anecdotal evidence based on casual observation, but I’ve had a number of friends who teach college argue that they’ve seen a sharp downturn in student performance in the last few years, particularly in critical thinking skills. Simple … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
9 Comments
The Egyptian Military’s Incentives
Alex Tabarrok points out that the Egyptian military “is an oligarchy which controls huge swaths of the Egyptian economy.”* He quotes the San Francisco Chronicle reporting that: It owns companies that sell everything from fire extinguishers and medical equipment to … Continue reading
Posted in Perverse Incentives
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The Bawdy House Provisions 