Michael Huemer’s Progressive Myths is the best book on wokeness. One of its many strengths is its focus on basic facts. As the author explains:I have selected beliefs that can be debunked fairly quickly and forcefully. Many other progressive beliefs require long argumentation and subjective judgment calls to assess. About these more difficult issues, I…
The Royal Commission concluded: The case for vaccine requirements of all kinds weakened in early 2022 with the arrival of the Omicron variant since vaccination was now much less effective in preventing COVID-19 transmission and immunity waned over time. While beneficial to the individual concerned, vaccination now offered less protection to others and the public […]
NewstalkZB report: Santa and his elves must wear seatbelts for Christchurch’s Christmas parade following new health and safety advice – a move labelled by some city councillors as “woke nonsense” and “over the top”. Christchurch’s Christmas Show Parade director Jason Reekers said an audit of the parade’s floats recommended installing seatbelts on some of them. …
This paper examines how unauthorized immigration affects the fiscal health of local governments in the United States. Using detailed data on unauthorized immigrants’ countries of origin and arrival dates from the Syracuse TRAC database, we isolate immigration flows driven by social, economic, and political conditions in source countries. We predict local immigration patterns using a […]
Six months ago, I’m not sure that I’d ever heard of demographer Lyman Stone. Now, people in my circles randomly drop his name on a weekly basis. His favorite topic, in case you haven’t heard, is global fertility decline. As a longtime natalist, I share his concerns. One of Stone’s top takeaways: Instead of talking…
The Australian Green party has proposed cancelling all student debt in Australia, as part of an aim for government to provide “free education for life”. However, free education is not free. In an article in The Conversation earlier this month, Bruce Chapman (Australian National University) makes a case against the claim that cancelling student debt…
Before the fictional musical Borjas-Caplan immigration debate of 2024, there was the non-fictional non-musical Borjas-Caplan immigration debate of 2019. It was an unusual format: Both of us had the floor for over hour each. Borjas:Me:If you pay close attention to my opponent’s presentation, you’ll discover that he’s quite unlike every other critic of immigration. In…
Does the entry of a large employer to a local labor market increase welfare for residents? To answer this question, I analyze the local effects of the dramatic expansion of Amazon’s fulfillment center (FC) network from 2010 onward. I exploit the staggered roll-out of FCs across large U.S. metros in a difference-in-difference framework. I find […]
New research finds couples are more likely to move for a job when it benefits the man, even when the woman’s career stands to benefit more by movingBy Dalvin Brown of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Couples are moving again for better job opportunities. They are more likely to make those moves when the husband’s earnings stand to…
The United States has has a nationwide childcare program at one time in its history: a temporary program during World War II. Tim Sablik of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond tells the story and summarizes some economic research on the topic in “When Uncle Sam Watched Rosie’s Kids: To support women working on the…
In total size, Japan’s economy is fourth-largest in the world, just behind Germany for third-largest. In per capita GDP, Japan is ahead of Spain and South Korea, although well behind Italy and France. With a life expectancy at birth of 84 years, ,Japan has one of the highest levels in the world. Clearly, Japan has…
Opening statements at my Steamboat Institute debate on open borders versus Sohrab Ahmari were so brief that I failed to even finish my slideshow. Since the audience didn’t get to see the whole thing, I’m sharing it here. Remember: This is the only immigration debate I’ve ever done where the resolution was explicitly about “benefit…
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
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