It’s been a while since I posted a book review, as I’ve been busy with teaching and various research evaluation activities (this year I’m a panellist for both the Royal Society’s Marsden Fund, and the Health Research Council). However, recently I did manage to finish reading Information Rules, by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian. The…
Book review: Information Rules
Book review: Information Rules
13 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information
Anti-Israel Statements After the Massacre Trigger Free Speech Fights in Higher Education
12 Oct 2023 1 Comment
Universities and colleges across the country have become embroiled in a debate over free speech in the aftermath of the massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists this week. Various student groups have expressed support for Hamas or their cause while condemning Israel. Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapters have even shown the image below of one […]
Anti-Israel Statements After the Massacre Trigger Free Speech Fights in Higher Education
How uber-Woke colleges respond publicly to the horrific slaughter, rape, and kidnapping by Hamas
12 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
Now that the horrors committed by Hamas in Israel are being revealed in detail, colleges and universities are issuing statements about the Israel/Palestine war. As I adhere to the University of Chicago’s Kalven Principles of institutional neutrality, I don’t think any such statements should take sides, even though I think that there’s a clear right-and-wrong […]
How uber-Woke colleges respond publicly to the horrific slaughter, rape, and kidnapping by Hamas
Ronald Coase part 2: Markets Don’t Fail, They Fail to Exist
12 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, property rights, Ronald Coase, Ronald Coase, theory of the firm
How to Make *Defending the Undefendable* Defensible
12 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, Austrian economics, history of economic thought
When the truth is ugly, people lie. Psychologists call this “Social Desirability Bias.” Human beings exaggerate their patriotism and piety, their altruism and loyalty, their intelligence and their tolerance. Social Desirability Bias (SDB) is embedded in language itself: When someone asks, “Would you like to come to my party?,” you refuse with “Sorry, I can’t”…
How to Make *Defending the Undefendable* Defensible
Harvard weasels on the Israel/Palestine conflict; many of its scholars push back
12 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
At this link you’ll find two letters from Harvard administrators about the war. The first, from October 9, is signed by virtually all Harvard administrators and is what the tweet by Pinker below, with the linked letter, is aimed at. Harvard faculty have taken severe issue with what the Harvard administrators said. The second statement, […]
Harvard weasels on the Israel/Palestine conflict; many of its scholars push back
Nobel Prize for Claudia Goldin
11 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
I was very excited to read that Claudia Goldin (Harvard University) was awarded the 2023 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (aka the Nobel Prize in Economics) on Monday, “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”. There are several reasons I was excited. First, it is welcome…
Nobel Prize for Claudia Goldin
Another reason why Palestine is largely responsible for its own plight: its leaders get rich taking money from the people
11 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
While I’m by no means an uncritical worshiper of the Israeli government, neither will I blame the war and its carnage on Israel’s “apartheid” policies. If there is an apartheid state among the two, it’s surely Palestine, which won’t allow Jews to live there (in contrast, I was just in Israel and saw that Jerusalem […]
Another reason why Palestine is largely responsible for its own plight: its leaders get rich taking money from the people
The Neutron Prosecutor: How Special Counsel Hur May Prove the Ultimate Punchline in Washington
11 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
Below is my column in the New York Post on reports that Special Counsel Robert Hur has finally interviewed President Joe Biden on allegations that he removed and retained classified material going back to his time as a United States senator. The problem facing Hur could be what to do if he actually finds evidence […]
The Neutron Prosecutor: How Special Counsel Hur May Prove the Ultimate Punchline in Washington
Women Working: What’s the Pill Got to Do With It?
10 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, health economics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: economics of fertility, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
The Biden Family Tree: How Investigations are Exposing the Bidens’ Influence-Peddling Dynasty
09 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
Below is my column in The Hill on the exposure of the Biden family and its long-standing business of influence peddling. Newly released evidence from the House Committee on Ways and Means reveals over $20 million coming from 23 separate countries on four continents to at least nine Biden family members. Not only are the […]
The Biden Family Tree: How Investigations are Exposing the Bidens’ Influence-Peddling Dynasty
“She was a detective. She has inspired many researchers to study these questions
09 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel
09 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
Claudia Goldin wins the Nobel! Goldin is an economic historian, she was inspired to go into economics by Alfred Kahn (later the architect of airline deregulation) and later became a student of Robert Fogel at the University of Chicago. Goldin pioneered the historical analysis of the labor market and gender. If you want to read […]
Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel
Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics
09 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Sniper One: The Blistering True Story of a British Battle Group Under Siege by Sergeant Dan Mills (2007)
09 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
‘Why are we always fighting Arabs?’ (One of Danny Mills’s platoon on a visit to the ruins of Al Amarah’s Commonwealth War cemetery, Sniper One, page 93) ‘Fucking get some, you wankers!’ (Attitude of the British squaddie to his Shia Muslim militia opponents, p.142) Americans need no encouragement to start shooting at things. (Astute cultural commentary, […]
Sniper One: The Blistering True Story of a British Battle Group Under Siege by Sergeant Dan Mills (2007)
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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