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Moral Hypocrisy

Brad Delong got me interested in the details of a few of these cases You can sleep easy if you play by the rules even if you think the rules are non-optimal, as long as you point that out. That’s...

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Skepticism and Cynicism

One of the things I have noticed on the blogosphere, Facebook and other outlets where I have access to popular opinion is that skepticism goes out the window when it collides with cynicism. In an only...

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Paul and I

Paul Krugman makes the case for a higher inflation target But what really stands out, if you assume that discretionary fiscal policy won’t be there when you need it, is that this makes the case for a...

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News You Can Use

File this under Economics is Not a Morality Play I’ve reading and writing most of today, but I opened my browser a few minutes ago to see the following headline Who was the first person I contacted, a...

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Science, Society and Epistemic Humility

Adam posts on epistemic humility and consistency. Jim Manzi responds I think that Ozimek’s demand for consistency is fair, and as I said at the start of this post, important. My upcoming book is...

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The Dangers of Radiation

Via Robin Hanson is an article on the exaggerated dangers of radiation exposure: In fact, radiation is a far less potent carcinogen than other toxic substances. Studies of more than 80,000 survivors of...

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Catch Me Doing Wrong

In an earlier post Arnold Kling says Ordinarily, my philosophy is "catch them doing something right." If you try to correct people when they do something wrong, they just take offense, and you...

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Sebelius on Dying Sooner

Via Jamelle Bouie, via Paul Krugman I see that Glenn Kressler doesn’t like this quote by Kathleen Sebelius “I think there’s no question if you take a snapshot, people will run out of money, very...

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Strategies for overcoming bias

Here are some related and powerful insights from Robin Hanson over the past few years where he identifies a bias that motivates much more of our thinking that we’d care to admit. The general theme is...

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Ron Paul and David Henderson on Manufacturing Jobs

Two comments on this, starting backwards. David Henderson building off of Ron Paul’s – admittedly mixed up – answer on manufacturing jobs. The other candidates did a poor job too. All of them seemed to...

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Truth in Blogging

Arnold Kling David Henderson revisits his claim that Social Security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes based on a comment by John Seater. John’s point was that Ponzi schemes are necessarily insolvent...

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The Minimum Wage, Ctd

Kevin Drum doesn’t like my take on the minimum wage This kind of stuff bothers me on a bunch of different levels. Let’s count the ways: You either believe empirical studies or you don’t. If you have...

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Blues and Greens; Red State, Blue State

John Goodman has a nice post on political disagreement. The key line for certain intellectuals is this: For example, a conservative’s support for pro-growth tax cuts becomes “tax cuts for the rich” to...

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I’m cashing out my 401k and putting all my money into lotteries

Here is a data point you may want to keep in the back of your mind when discussing financial literacy: In a recent consumer study, 21 percent of individuals surveyed – including 38 percent of those...

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How To Lose A Debate

I was roundly defeated by Bob Murphy in our (initial?) debate. At the opening I had five supporters to Bob’s 130+. By the end, only one was still willing to stand with me. To make matters worse I’ve...

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Virus Ideas: Supply-Side and Otherwise

Paul Krugman highlights one of his old Slate pieces taking on Supply-Side economics. Its interesting overall, but there is a particular point I want to pick up on. Krugman says Biologist Richard...

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When Does a Baby Gain Human Rights

As is often the case this deserves a better treatment than I am about to give it. Still, with several folks bringing up Ron Paul’s odd paleolibertarian positions I thought a few notes on this might be...

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More Procrastination and Mouthing Off About Things I Haven’t Looked At...

Erica Grieder points me to this post on stats use in Psychology. Key point When you drop the chemical on the mutant mice nerve cells, their firing rate drops, by 30%, say. With the number of mice you...

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Now Less Than Ever

A recent back and forth between Paul Krugman and Russ Roberts on Keynesian economics reminded me of something I discussed briefly on twitter some time ago and wanted elevate it blog post level. Here’s...

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Probability Question?

Greg posted this question The answer seemed obvious to me but I may be missing some deeper point. My answer  under the fold.     .25*.5+.25*.25+.25*.25+.25*.5 = .375 = 37.5% If I had to guess it seems...

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If I Were A Poor Black Kid

If by chance you don’t frequent the geekier side of the twitterverse you might have missed the outpouring of wit-in-140 that followed this post by Gene Marks If I was a poor black kid I would first and...

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Which Presidential Candidates Are Preparing For Disaster?

In a previous post I quoted a financial advisor who called Ron Paul’s portfolio “a half-step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and nine-millimeter rounds”, and I argued this reflected his crazy...

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Optimism and Prognostication

As I mentioned before, I am tickled at the people have taken to calling me an optimist. I can assure you that I am always up for a conversation on how this will all turn out very, very badly in the...

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Open Letter to Apple Shareholders

Dear Shareholder: We at Apple would like to thank you for standing by us all through the years. To our original investors we owe particular gratitude. If it were not for you, we of course, would not be...

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Being Wrong on the Internet

At least three controversies have caught me by surprise while blogging: stimulus, climate change adaptation and dividend policy. In each case I felt like I offered a pretty straightforward...

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Causality Is Superfluous

I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that something could arise without a cause. ~David Hume I on the other hand will assert something so absurd. This is motivated by a number of posts I have...

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The Illusion of Free Will

Will Wilkinson writes on one of my favorite topics Some say our sense that life means something is an illusion, or that it would be an illusion if there were no god. Some say free-will is an illusion....

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Paul Krugman and Mitt Romney: Honesty and Congeniality

Paul says So what the story of Romney and the auto bailout actually shows is something we already knew from health care: he’s a smart guy who is also a moral coward. His original proposal for the auto...

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Economics of the Absurd

Accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience: it should not become a dead end. It arouses a revolt that can become fruitful. ~ Albert Camus One of my long themes...

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One Damned Thing After Another, Ritholtz Edition

So in theory I am working towards a larger exposition on this issue, but as I get the chance I will shoot out various notes. Barry Ritholtz gives me such a chance. In other words, yes, we can figure...

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Fannie, Freddie and Chewbacca

Center-left intellectuals in America apparently have a serious problem comprehending the concept of Bullshit. The entire econ world has borne witness to Paul Krugman tearing out his hair over Zombie...

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The Deserving Poor

A few people have asked about my debate with Bryan Caplan on the issue of how deserving the poor are. I’ll try to give a sense of the case I wanted, though perhaps failed, to make. My thesis may be...

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Bullard: Smarter Than You Think

Felix Salmon reports: Bullard’s a career central banker who has never had a lucrative private-sector career, but he’s still doing OK for himself: his annual salary is $281,300, which should be more...

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Reason, GDP and Capital

My growing sense is that the core intellectual struggles surrounding the Great Recession have been practically resolved. There were three core things that needed to be understood. 1) That the near term...

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What Would You Like to Do Today?

Also, I see for the queue has to be address of what seems to a growing obsession with innovation. On one level I actually don’t think much will come of all of this talk, but its so widespread that just...

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David Brooks on The Prior Trap

David Brooks says I don’t care how many factory jobs have been lost, it still doesn’t make sense to drop out of high school. The influences that lead so many to do so are much deeper and more...

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Experiments Confirm: There Are Idiots

And, by idiots we mean not that people are of low intelligence necessarily but people who fail to leverage the knowledge and intelligence of others. Via Robin Hanson Next, we look at the final round...

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PWNED

Apple announced this morning a major dividend program that is set to transfer profits to shareholders at a significant rate. From the looks of it starting at roughly $10 Billion per year. Though that...

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It’s hard to escape labels

Will Wilkinson and Bryan Caplan have been going back and forth on the value of labels. In particular, Will is arguing that political labels are a detriment to clear thinking. Overall, I think both of...

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Steve Waldman and Intellectual Honesty

Steve Randy Waldman has a characteristically excellent post where he argues that the monetary policy we observe in Japan, the Eurozone and to a lesser extent America, is simply the result of the...

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Analyticity and Revision

This is more of a place holding note-to-self but if anyone has suggestions on some writing that has already be done down this line let me know. Can we explain the appearance of analyticity by...

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