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Politics and Economics
A Category Archive (168 entries)
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November 8, 2008
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, If our next president seems flip or overconfident, observers will be skeptical above all else. Tyler mostly talks about idea traps, a notion that I think of as Bryan's. Let me make some remarks that are sufficiently... MORE
November 6, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Paul Krugman writes, for the past 14 years America's political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. ...Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people. You can see how mellow Krugman has become... MORE
November 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
David Henderson
In the presidential election of 2000, all of the major networks but Fox News Channel blew it. Not by declaring Gore the winner too early or, later in the evening, Bush the winner too early. Those are predictions and you... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Yesterday my RA, Brian Blase, made the smartest point about political strategy that I've heard all year. In fact, if Blase were McCain's right-hand man instead of mine, the Republican candidate's probability of victory would be about 40% instead of... MORE
October 31, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Call me crazy, but I think that McCain and Obama are basically the same. You might like to persuade me otherwise, but you've got to understand where I'm coming from. First, when I classify people's politics, I think in terms... MORE
October 30, 2008
Behavioral Economics and Rationality
Arnold Kling
I recommend this lecture from Bill Bishop. By the way, I am finding an incredible amount of interesting videos these days. I think that somebody who is motivated to learn and has some good sources of recommendations could get do... MORE
October 28, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Below is a list of Ten Proposals for the next Administration, which came from a talk by Juan Enriquez. I thought that the main point of the talk is that politicians are dealing in unreality. Certainly, in the debates, every... MORE
October 25, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Until recently, the nice thing about American democracy was that it was hard for policy to rapidly get worse. What happened? Robin Hanson points to the amazing epidemic of deference to doom-saying economists. Is that the real story? If it... MORE
October 23, 2008
Finance: stocks, options, etc.
Arnold Kling
The Hill Reports, An independent financial oversight committee should be established to examine what led to the economic meltdown, House Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Wednesday. The National Journal's Congress Daily (subscription required) reports, Democratic leadership... MORE
October 21, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've previously said that I'll count myself lucky as long as Obama doesn't turn out to be the next FDR. Now the affable Paul Rubin's arguing that my luck won't hold:Barack Obama is one of the most liberal members of... MORE
October 13, 2008
Energy, Environment, Resources
Arnold Kling
I would love to see this question asked at a Presidential debate: If half of the troubled mortgage loans are for non-owner-occupied homes, that is for houses owned by speculators, do your proposals still make sense? My understanding is that... MORE
September 29, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Is the public fur it or agin it? The major surveys conflict:A poll by Rasmussen Reports early in the week found that 44% of Americans opposed the plan and 25% supported it. However, a USA Today/Gallup poll released Thursday showed... MORE
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
I am getting ready to take a couple days off from blogging. If I could count on Congress to leave town now, I would put in an order to increase my holdings of stock index funds. But I'm going to... MORE
August 28, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Thanks to Gerald Gaus' critique of The Myth of the Rational Voter (part of a full forthcoming issue of Critical Review on the book), I've discovered a fun passage from one of my least-favorite thinkers, J.S. Mill. I knew that... MORE
August 22, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
If you haven't heard, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has commissioned a survey of professional economists. His explicit hope is to raise the quality of policy:So how does a voter decide which candidate would be best for the economy? [...]... MORE
August 5, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Andrew Gelman, King of Charts and Graphs, and author of Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, has prepared an exclusive set of statistical pictures just for Econlog readers. Gelman's graph shows CNN's exit poll data, broken down by... MORE
August 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Andrew Gelman has turned his eagle-eyed research on the American voter into an excellent book, Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State. (The book's website is here). If you ever doubted the value of empirical research, this book will... MORE
July 25, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Sudhir Venkatesh writes Introduced with much fanfare in 1993, HOPE helped municipal governments demolish dilapidated public housing projects and revitalize their inner cities. To receive program money, mayors agreed to move families from the projects to low-poverty neighborhoods and build... MORE
July 22, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Should you have to pass a test to be allowed to vote? People tend to freak out when I sympathetically consider this possibility. It not fair! Who would write the test? Wouldn't it be discriminatory?! The funny thing is that... MORE
June 10, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Alex Tabarrok has just written the perfect blog post. Don't miss it. P.S. Here's my only post that's arguably in the same league.... MORE
June 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Voters should read this speech by Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. It includes things that excite me and things that concern me.... MORE
May 11, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
My guess is that Barack Obama just casually made this remark. I believe in our ability to perfect this union because it's the only reason I'm standing here today. I suppose that to most people, this is just another nice,... MORE
May 10, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
From Fatal Misconceptions:And why did organizations that proclaimed family planning as a human right fail to oppose increasingly coercive policies in India and China? Why, instead, did they provide friendly advice and support, and defend them to all the world?... MORE
May 6, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
A while back I argued that trade policy would be better under Hillary than Obama:My assumption is that neither candidate would actively promote free trade, so the greater evil is the candidate who can "get things done." Given Obama's winning... MORE
May 5, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
One of my favorite footnotes in Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism:Patri Friedman, grandson of Milton and son of anarcho-theorist David, is even today actively planning to launch artificial sea platform communities, which he's calling seasteads, currently hoping to start one... MORE
May 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
According to Reuters, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday dismissed the "elite opinion" of economists who criticized her gas tax proposal..."I'm not going to put my lot in with economists," Clinton said when asked to name an economist who... MORE
May 3, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Matthew Connelly's outstanding Fatal Misconceptions: The Struggle to Control World Population nearly brought a pro-democratic tear to my elitist libertarian eye. Trotsky once wrote that:In a country where the sole employer is the state... [t]he old principle: who does not... MORE
April 26, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Mark Steyn's graciously accepted my latest Euro bet, along with David Henderson and EconLog reader Rafiv. (Rafiv, I will need to know your full name and location to seal the deal with you; just let me know and we're on).... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Here's an especially specific claim in Mark Steyn's America Alone:The U.S. government's National Intelligence Council is predicting that the EU will collapse by 2020. I think that's a rather cautious estimate myself. Ever since September 11, I've been gloomily predicting... MORE
April 8, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I don't know how I got on Hillary's emailing list, but it's not without some entertainment value. It looks like she's trying to get Austan Goolsbee fired for privately avowing what I've called "felicitous hypocrisy" about NAFTA. Will Hillary succeed... MORE
April 6, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Don Boudreaux raises a deep question I've often asked myself:But if I were a pro-regulation and high-tax kinda guy, why would I dispute the claim that America's economy has performed remarkably well for everyone even since 1973? Why would I... MORE
March 27, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
You all know what Brad DeLong thinks about George Bush. Well, that's what I think about politicians in general. Even so, politicians almost never make me angry. I expect them to be atrocious, and I'm rarely disappointed. When I hear... MORE
March 12, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Here's a neat piece on the peculiar status of John McCain in Poole and Rosenthal's ambitious empirical analysis of Congress:Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal, the two authors of the most widely used estimates of the ideal points of members of... MORE
March 10, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Tyler is upset. It seems the Barack Obama campaign is distancing itself from Austan Goolsbee, who is indeed a first-rate economist...Which kinds of advisers will flourish best in a "message consistency" environment? Independent and critical minds, able and willing to... MORE
March 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Bhagwati says Hillary's worse than Obama:[W]hereas Mr Obama’s economist is Austan Goolsbee, a brilliant Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD at Chicago Business School and a valuable source of free-trade advice over almost a decade, Mrs Clinton’s campaign boasts of no... MORE
March 1, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Jeremy Horpedahl argues that you can make most public support for bigger government vanish simply by mentioning that more spending means higher taxes. I'd like him to be right. But I'm not convinced. First, overall government spending passes Jeremy's Mueller... MORE
February 29, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I just noticed that my former student Jeremy Horpedahl penned an awfully clever critique of my work almost a year ago. Highlight:I would encourage you to read Eva Mueller's 1963 QJE article "Public Attitudes Toward Fiscal Programs." Mueller's survey design... MORE
February 28, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold quotes two sentences by Ken Silber. I can't recall the last time that one sentence was so sensible, and the next so wrong-headed. The sensible:The idea that people should be, say, lying down in front of police cars to... MORE
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Without peeking at this Washington Post story, try to fill in the blank. Criticism of creating a new ______ came from all sides. Many Democrats expressed fears that the new body might lead to a sharp increase in frivolous --... MORE
February 19, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
The gist of CNN's story is that Castro's resignation makes little practical difference. But the market says otherwise:The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, which aims to profit from the resumption of U.S. trade with Cuba, surged the most in its 13-year... MORE
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Brad DeLong writes I think Paul Krugman simply has this completely wrong. He is referring to what seems to be an obscure sparring point on health care reform, going back to her failed reform effort of 1994. One narrative, which... MORE
February 11, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In my view, that is what we can expect from the next Administration. From a tax perspective, the Democrats will be constrained. All of their beloved "middle-class tax breaks" will be inoperative unless the Alternative Minimum Tax is curtailed. The... MORE
February 7, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
I conclude, None of the leading contenders for President in 2008 has the humility factor going for them. You just have to close your eyes and hope that whoever we elect does only minimal damage. I continue to view elections... MORE
February 6, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
CNN reports, Sen. Hillary Clinton can thank Latino and Asian voters for her projected victory in California. Early exit polls indicate that Sen. Barack Obama carried white voters in California because of his overwhelming support among white men. White women,... MORE
February 4, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Krugman-bashing has become a cottage industry, but you'll have to search long and hard for a better workmanship than this piece by Dan Klein and Harika Barlett. Klein and Barlett inventory all of Krugman's NYT columns, and find a curious... MORE
January 18, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Here's what Chris Hayes wrote about Ron Paul last month:But even if the Paul campaign doesn't point the way toward some lasting, powerful, paleo-cosmo libertarian coalition (and, really, let's hope it doesn't), he is at least providing libertarians with a... MORE
January 8, 2008
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Folks have dug up some newsletters from the 1980's and 1990's put out under the Ron Paul brand. They do not sound so good. "[O]ur country is being destroyed by a group of actual and potential terrorists--and they can be... MORE
January 7, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Ron Paul is highly unlikely to be the next president. But could he become the Republicans' Nader? Suppose after being knocked out of the primaries, Paul runs on the Libertarian Party ticket. He's got a big war chest, and enthusiastic... MORE
January 5, 2008
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold already quoted my favorite section from my Sunday editorial in the Washington Post, so let me quote my second favorite part:Pundits love telling us that voters are "fed up" with politics as usual. Candidates follow suit, insisting that --... MORE
December 30, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen writes, David R. Henderson asks me to list three policy areas where my views are uncertain. Since this blog (or at least this author) has been streaming uncertainty for over four years, this strikes me as an odd... MORE
December 26, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Tyler, Megan, and Bryan have been discussing Ron Paul. My opinion is closest to Megan's. I view the Ron Paul phenomenon as a successor to the Ross Perot phenomenon or the Pat Buchanan phenomenon. His supporters are expressing alienation and... MORE
December 22, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Douglas Hibbs is famous for his Bread-and-Peace election forecasting model; Andrew Gelman produces some nifty graphs to boil down Hibbs' results. Growth is clearly a very strong predictor of incumbent party vote share - though I suspect that Achen and... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
What would happen if Ron Paul actually became president? First, I'd have to write a $200 check to Walter Block. But what would happen next? There are some major changes that Paul could make unilaterally. He really could recall U.S.... MORE
December 20, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Politicians in a democracy face truly crummy incentives: No matter how good or bad their performance, they receive the same salary. What would we expect from a CEO who faced the same reward structure? As soon as you start talking... MORE
December 10, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Some call Putin a dictator, yet few deny that he would win a fair election. If you look around the world, how many bona fide dictators could say the same? Let's start with: Castro Kim Jong Il Mugabe Mubarak The... MORE
November 26, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Despite his army of detractors, Murray Rothbard was a master of the reductio ad absurdum. In Power and Market, he out-did even Bastiat:Suppose that Jones has a farm, “Jones’ Acres,” and Smith works for him. Having become steeped in protariff... MORE
November 25, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
When the Washington Times announced that libertarianism is trendy, I couldn't help but think "It would be a lot trendier if libertarians had been against the Iraq War from the start." Plenty of libertarians were against it, of course. But... MORE
October 1, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
A recent Gallup poll confirmed the continuation of a 30-year trend: The median voter believes in himself! The question: More generally, how much trust and confidence do you have in the American people as a whole when it comes to... MORE
September 14, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
If you attended my debate with Donald Wittman, or wish you could have, here are some additional links, including the full text of my opening statement. I continue to be surprised by how much Wittman has moved away from the... MORE
September 11, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
All of this is off topic as far as economics goes, but this day still reverberates with me. 1. I understand that if you look at history, the probability of being killed by a terrorist is low. But if you... MORE
August 24, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Remember the political power survey that Ilya Somin and I pre-tested last year? Since then, we've added a third co-author - Wayne Grove of Lemoyne College - done extensive revisions, and been given access to 25 questions worth of space... MORE
August 9, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
One insight I've gleaned from reading a lot of presidential debate transcripts (see here, here, and here): Democrats and Republicans have radically different demonologies. Both sides see evil forces behind the world's troubles, but their lists have only one overlap.... MORE
August 3, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
The latest issue of Reason cites a study by economic consultant Gary Shilling. More than half of all Americans--53 percent--now depend on government for their income. In 1950 the figure was just 28 percent...Shilling totaled up federal, state, and local... MORE
August 1, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
This didn't make it into the book, but one of my favorite remedies for voter irrationality has long been to simply clone John Stossel. His column today just reinforces my support for the clone-Stossel solution: More practically, [Caplan] thinks that... MORE
July 25, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
I suggest political debate would be more enlightening if we asked proponents to focus on their assumptions. When you say that your policy proposal would be an improvement, what are the key assumptions behind that statement? For example, suppose that... MORE
July 11, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Austrians have strong philosophical objections to the application of probability theory to most of the real world, but that didn't stop Walter Block from publicly offering to bet at 200:1 odds that Ron Paul will be elected president:Can't happen? Give... MORE
June 19, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The well-educated have relatively reasonably beliefs about policy. Puzzle: If you look at voting behavior, education does little to make people more Democratic or more Republican. So what difference does it... MORE
June 14, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
More educated people think more like economists; in fact, more educated people pretty much have more reasonable views across the board. Furthermore, by a happy coincidence, more educated people are more likely to vote. Once my book gets to policy... MORE
May 8, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Russ Roberts, in this speech, offers a theory of political pandering. He suggests that politicians know that they are exaggerating problems, because the solutions they offer are so pathetic. If you really thought that all the gains in the economy... MORE
May 2, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Quite possibly, it's this guy. He's straight out of last night's rerun of the Twilight Zone. HT: Eric Crampton... MORE
April 4, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Tyler's piece on Europe also lays down a challenge to American social democrats: They [social democrats] think that enough changes would make America enough like Europe; I do not understand their underlying model of the differences between America and Europe,... MORE
March 21, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold writes: Starting with the Carter Administration, deregulation reigned in transportation, communications, and--eventually--energy. These victories for market-oriented policies stimulated growth and allowed us to have the luxury of an enlarged welfare state without crippling the economy. "Crippled"? By historical standards,... MORE
March 15, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Quoth Patri Friedman: Old definitions: Liberals: Favor social freedoms, but not economic freedoms. Conservatives: Favor economic freedoms, but not social freedoms. New definitions: Liberals: Believe in evolution, but not biology. Conservatives: Believe in biology, but not evolution.... MORE
March 14, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I'm not sure if Tyler Cowen's advice to libertarians is the worst any serious thinker has ever given us. But it's up there. I'd like to give my dear friend and benefactor a charitable reading, but I just can't. Stripped... MORE
March 7, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Acemoglu and Robinson have recently done much to academically revive the view that democratization is a struggle between pro-democratic masses and anti-democratic elites. If elites accept democracy, they do so to forestall even worse outcomes like revolution. (Here's a readable... MORE
February 28, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
With his characteristic fatalism, Tyler tells us:If they put me in charge of a Latin country, I don't think I could deliver superior growth performance. At best I would avoid some of the really stupid mistakes, but I couldn't turn... MORE
February 2, 2007
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
The most intellectually serious proponents and fellow travellers of anarchism are, paradoxically, a bunch of stodgy economists. That's one of the lessons of Ed Stringham's new 700-page anthology, Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice. This volume brings... MORE
January 22, 2007
Cross-country Comparisons
Arnold Kling
Shortly before he died, Milton Friedman gave the Wall Street Journal an email interview. China has maintained political and human collectivism while gradually freeing the economic market. This has so far been very successful but is heading for a clash,... MORE
January 18, 2007
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In this essay, I say that it should be 1. Increase the proportion of children who are schooled outside of the public school system. 2. Increase the proportion of health care spending that is paid for directly by consumers. 3.... MORE
December 4, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
The Brink Lindsey essay that everyone is talking about is here. Allow me to hazard a few more specific suggestions about what a liberal-libertarian entente on economics might look like... Shift taxes away from things we want more of and... MORE
November 29, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
According to Robert Whaples, the overwhelming majority (87.5%) agree that the U.S. should eliminate remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade. Even more (90.1%) disagree with the suggestion that the U.S. should restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries.... MORE
November 14, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
In the '70's, Naderites put forward various "deconcentration" bills that e.g. capped firms' market shares at 12.5%. Get bigger, get trusted-busted. Brian Doss at Catallarchy has a modest proposal for electoral deconcentration: [W]hy not require that an incumbent’s margin of... MORE
November 6, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Since its inception, the slogan of Marginal Revolution has been "Small steps toward a much better world." It turns out, however, that MR's prolific Tyler Cowen doesn't think that policy would improve much even if everyone knew as much economics... MORE
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
As Bryan just said, he has a new essay summarizing his forthcoming Myth of the Rational Voter. I agree with some of his diagnosis: if you underestimate the benefits of immigration, or the evidence in favor of the theory of... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've written the lead essay for this month's Cato Unbound. I've got a habit of laughing at my own jokes. My favorite from the Cato Unbound essay: As long as elites persist in unmerited deference to and flattery of the... MORE
November 5, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
It's called "Why Some People Shouldn't Vote." And if you think you've anticipated his whole argument, you're probably wrong. At least I was.... MORE
October 29, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Seeing Greg Mankiw's reference to the World's Smallest Political Quiz put me in a puckish mood to tweak the questions. Alternative versions (Arlo's versions?) are in parentheses. Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet (People should be allowed... MORE
October 19, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
A few months ago, readers of this blog gave helpful comments on the first draft of the Caplan-Somin survey about who in government has power over what. Now we're ready to pre-test. If you've got the time, please take this... MORE
October 18, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen wants to means-test Medicare, get rid of farm subsidies and other corporate welfare, legalize more high-skilled immigrants, join Greg Mankiw's Pigou Club (meaning a tax on the use of evil fossil fuels) and get rid of the corporate... MORE
October 13, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Near the end of "Is There a Free-Market Economist in the House?," Dan Klein and Charlotta Stern say: "Economists, then, are free-market compared to other social scientists. What about compared to ordinary Americans? Unfortunately, no one has a good handle... MORE
October 11, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Daniel B. Klein and Charlotta Stern write, Supporters of free-market principles, we maintain, would score at least a 4.0 on the 18-question policy index presented here, and strong supporters would score at least a 4.5. By contrast, the mean for... MORE
September 28, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
My latest essay says, I travelled the route from Far Left to libertarian. I think that quite a few libertarians have travelled that route, and yet I cannot think of anyone who has gone the other direction. This leads me... MORE
September 20, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Alex Tabarrok berates economists who signed a petition in favor of raising the minimum wage. He's willing to forgive them for disagreeing about the magnitude of the disemployment effect, but not for failing to check facts from the almanac: Nevertheless,... MORE
September 12, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Ryan Sager writes, Why, as activists and students and journalists gathered for CPAC, was there a distinct sense that something was amiss? Because the marriage at the heart of the conservative movement was falling apart. ...Will social conservatives continue to... MORE
September 10, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Laugh if you must, but I've always enjoyed the Journal of Libertarian Studies. Last week, I came across another great read in a recent issue: John Payne's "Rothbard's Time on the Left." It's a fascinating account of Rothbard's "strategic alliance"... MORE
August 21, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
John Mueller's been very busy since I last looked. Here's one of the most interesting things I've seen about Iraq in months: The public gave substantial support to the military ventures in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq as the troops were... MORE
August 15, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold wonders if I've forgotten the Idea Trap I've talked so much about in the past: He has this theory of "idea traps," in which bad ideas lead to bad outcomes which lead to populists with more bad ideas, etc.... MORE
August 14, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Winterspeak chides me for exaggerating the negative externalities of academic leftism: While I acknowledge that left-wingers are overrepresent[ed] in academia, I think this is an efficient market outcome and I think that Bryan's claims of the harm from leftist policies... MORE
July 8, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Speaking at the Public Choice Outreach seminar this afternoon, Robin Hanson repeated an hypothesis he's been entertaining for a while: Liberals are trying to show that they are caring; conservatives are trying to show that they are tough. Perhaps, but... MORE
June 30, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
The answer, according to an article in the latest issue of Political Psychology is: In absolute terms, no way: ...Bush is definitely intelligent. The IQ estimates range between 111.1 and 138.5, with an average around 125. That places him in... MORE
June 28, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've never written a serious survey before. Sure, I wrote the Libertarian Purity Test twelve years ago, but that was just for fun. But now I've written a first draft of a survey on which my co-author Ilya Somin and... MORE
June 15, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold's carved out an intermediate position about who's responsible for bad policies. Yes, the public currently opposes e.g. raising the retirement age. But: It depends on how the issue is framed. When Al Gore framed it during his acceptance speech... MORE
May 24, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Not much. A neat new paper in Political Psychology by Doherty, Gerber, and Green finds that winning the lottery decreases support for the estate tax. But there is only weak evidence that lottery winners favor less redistribution, or are more... MORE
May 22, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I saw United 93 today on Greg Mankiw's recommendation. It's well worth watching, especially the frenzied conclusion. But if you really want to understand terorrism and terrorists through art, you'll get far more out of Showtime's inspired Sleeper Cell (now... MORE
May 5, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've spent the last five years haranguing my fellow economists to abandon their faith in the self-interested voter hypothesis. One reply has been that modern U.S. politics is an outlier: People today may care more about gay marriage than income... MORE
May 2, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
My student, research assistant, and co-author Steve Miller defended his dissertation today. He's doing some very creative work on IQ, education, and political economy, including: a neat critique of Thomas Dee's well-known article on the civic returns of education, and... MORE
April 18, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Did the members of the Soviet bloc copy Stalin's economic policies after World War II because they were run by True Believers? Or were they just afraid of the Red Army? My knee-jerk reaction is to say "True Believers, of... MORE
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Scandinavian economists Henrik Jordahl, Niclas Berggren, and Panu Poutvaara are conducting a survey on Beauty in Politics. Do we judge politicians by how they look, and, if so, how? Go here to help them find out.... MORE
April 12, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Would a society made up of totally selfish human beings be worse than the society we have today? Could it even function? In last week's Inaugural James M. Buchanan Lecture, Deirdre McCloskey seemed to think that the obvious answers were... MORE
January 31, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
The Gallup poll that Arnold talks about seems to have a shocking result: even though American political discourse obsesses over liberal versus conservative, for every three people who fit these labels, there are two who do not. If you ask... MORE
January 27, 2006
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've been arguing for several years that more educated people have more sensible views about economics than less educated people. (No need to wait for my book; see here and here). Arnold is not the first to demur. Many economists,... MORE
January 3, 2006
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Speaking of miraculous political conversions, here is Greg Mankiw's wish list. Just repeat after me: • #1: This year I will be straight about the budget mess. I know that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. I know... MORE
December 20, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold writes: I think it's fair to say that one has to believe either one of the following statements: 1. The U.S. political system is fundamentally different from the Soviet system; or 2. The U.S. political system is only superficially... MORE
December 17, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold (see here and here) bundles together several distinct claims about government. 1. Society is better off if somebody - anybody - stops the "war of all against all": Once one warlord becomes successful, then it is easy for a... MORE
December 15, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Arnold writes: Warlordism means a situation in which there is no rule of law. A warlord rules by rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. and To break a warlord equilibrium, you need government. That is the Hobbesian solution--a Leviathan... MORE
December 12, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
When I teach undergraduate industrial organization and graduate public finance, I finish with the economics of anarchy - or, more specifically, of anarcho-capitalism. To call anarcho-capitalism a controversial proposal is gross understatement. But the most common objection voiced by the... MORE
November 29, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Philip Keefer writes, political competitors who are unable to make credible promises to most voters will, upon taking office, underprovide public goods, overspend on transfers to narrow groups, and engage in significant rent-seeking. That is, the behavior of such politicians... MORE
November 26, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
My latest TCS essay is built around one of my favorite Tyler quotes. I write, There are passionate Republicans and passionate Democrats. But I agree with Tyler Cowen that neither party is likely to seem attractive. I can give a... MORE
November 10, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In my latest essay, I write Under the welfare state, government usurps the role of the family in education, health care, and saving for retirement. As economic historian Robert Fogel has pointed out, these are the fastest-growing segments of our... MORE
November 7, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Gary Becker writes, Part of the hostility to campaign contributions reflects a general hostility to advertising found among intellectuals in all spheres, including many economists. This hostility greatly underestimates the importance of advertising in providing information, in helping new products... MORE
October 31, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
From an interesting profile of Ayaan Hirsi Ali in The Nation: As Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris have argued in their book Rising Tide, the true clash of opinions between Islam and the West is not about democracy but sex.... MORE
October 29, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I'm one of the staunchest defenders of descriptive accuracy of the Median Voter Model, and one of the harshest critics of the median voter. Democracy gives the people what they want, but what they want is based on systematically mistaken... MORE
October 25, 2005
Fiscal Policy
Arnold Kling
From my latest essay: The two viewpoints might be summarized as follows: --Conservatives: Cutting taxes will help reduce the size of government. --Liberals: Big government is not really so bad. In the face of overwhelming evidence over the past five... MORE
October 10, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Jane Galt drew my attention to a new push to bury Lenin's mummy. As usual in Russian politics, both sides are wrong. The economically sensible and morally beautiful choice would be to auction off Lenin's corpse on eBay, and use... MORE
September 19, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I'm convinced that economists have a lot to learn from personality psychology. For example, personality is a great predictor of occupational choice. Librarians are highly introverted, and salesmen are highly extraverted, just as you'd expect. Preferences matter, Becker and Stigler... MORE
September 18, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Among many posts, Virginia Postrel writes, Think tanks, unlike universities, are supposed to influence public policy, not to produce knowledge for its own sake. This discussion started with Daniel Drezner, and continued in other places. You might catch up by... MORE
September 14, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I came across these interesting thoughts from Soviet emigre Jamie Glazov in FrontPage magazine: [T]he governments of a people are a result of the neuroses of the people they rule. I was born in the Soviet Union. While I cherish... MORE
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Tyler Cowen suggests four problems for policy research to solve. In several cases, his constraints on the solution are significant. For example, he wants to see A good health care plan that is practical, not too far from politically feasible,... MORE
September 12, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Matthew E. Kahn writes, If economists would be such a useful addition to Congress as we remind our colleagues that there are “no free lunches” and that all actions have unintended consequences, why have we made so few inroads here?... MORE
September 1, 2005
Public Choice Theory
Arnold Kling
Lee Harris writes, To me, the looting came as no surprise: it was a completely natural phenomenon. It was exactly what my own theory of the social order would have predicted. What else should you expect when a civilized order... MORE
August 26, 2005
Social Security
Arnold Kling
Niall Ferguson and Laurence J. Kotlikoff, writing in The New Republic (subscription required), propose to tackle the fiscal mess three ways. First, they suggest replacing existing Federal taxes (personal income, corporate income, payroll, and estate) with a consumption tax that... MORE
August 4, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Many economists hold the view that constitutions don't affect policy. The argument goes roughly like this: "If most people want to do X, no sentence on a musty piece of parchment is going to stop them." Even if this argument... MORE
August 3, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
The latest issue of Econ Journal Watch features the second round of my debate with Donald Wittman. Here's me; here's Wittman.... MORE
August 2, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Michael Munger points out how a competitive marketplace gives greedy, impersonal merchants an incentive to behave as if they love him. Of course, I would prefer the "Everyone loves Mikey!" explanation. If I am treated well, it should be because... MORE
July 19, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Commercial speech does not currently enjoy the same protection under the Bill of Rights as other forms of speech. Donald Wittman has an interesting argument in favor of the double standard: The law of large numbers may explain the puzzle... MORE
July 11, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Brad DeLong keeps asking "Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Fools?" (see here, here, and here for starters). This makes me wonder whether he'd ask the same question if he came across the following passage from Jeffrey Cohen's... MORE
June 23, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In reaction to the Supreme Court's decision backing city seizure of property, Don Boudreaux writes libertarians reject the notion that the state is something other than a human institution deserving more credence, respect, deference, and trust than is commonly given... MORE
June 7, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In a rambling essay, I write I view economics as training in thinking. That does not mean that you lose your empathy with people. It means, however, that you pay attention to the consequences of policies, regardless of their motives.... MORE
June 2, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
Warren Meyer answers the question of why so many libertarians blog. Finally, since libertarianism is really about celebrating dynamism and going in a thousand different directions as each individual chooses, in some sense the Internet and blogging are not only... MORE
May 27, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
James Piereson offers an interesting history of the role of foundations in stimulating political ideas and debates. In the period running from the end of World War II down to the present, conservative philanthropy has gone through at least two... MORE
May 25, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Twenty five years ago, political business cycles were a hot topic. The idea is that incumbents artificially juice up the economy during election years to improve their chances of re-election. By the time I was in grad school, though, conventional... MORE
May 16, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
In this essay, I argue that what I call the Law of Proportionate Belief...states that one should believe in a certain proposition or policy prescription in proportion to the arguments for that position. ...What I most despair of is finding... MORE
May 8, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
New evidence confirms my suspicion that divided government leads to smaller government. The latest news: A policy analysis by Stephen Slivinski, director of budget studies at the Cato Institute, finds that: "Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s... MORE
May 4, 2005
Politics and Economics
Arnold Kling
What is it like trying to advise the President on economics? Russ Roberts interviews Greg Mankiw, who recently left the Council of Economic Advisers to return to Harvard. Roberts: What is your perception of the President as a consumer of... MORE
April 27, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
I've never seen a survey, but casual empiricism makes me think that economists are hawks. Arnold Kling calls himself a Jacksonian - "the patriotic fighters for whom the worst sin is not going to war, it's losing one." But even... MORE
April 21, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
What's the deal with terrorism? The Department of Homeland Security summarizes the views of 34 different teams of social scientists here. Recommendations range widely. The authors advocate everything from encouraging empathy to making it harder for terrorists to provide social... MORE
April 10, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Caplan
Voters aren't selfish. That's an important question where the political scientists are right and the economists are wrong. But I part company with the political scientists when they draw implications about how well democracy works. After they shoot down the... MORE
April 7, 2005
Politics and Economics
Bryan Cap |
