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First Tuesday After the First Monday in November
I have my eleven spreadsheets. I have my three computers with their dozen open browser windows. I have the television I bought specially for this occasion. I have my XM Radio. I have my 20,000 calories...
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Is Obama a Keynesian?
I realize everybody else in the world has already posted this, but just in case mine is the only blog you read: Hat tip to our frequent commenter Ken B., who pointed me to this before everyone else had...
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Hope and Change
I well remember the last time the Republicans rode into town to get our fiscal house in order and curb the growth of government. That was in 1994. Twelve years later, when our Republican heroes were...
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Thaler on the Estate Tax
Dick Thaler, writing in the New York Times, says so many wrong things about the estate tax that I don’t know where to begin. But let’s begin here: First, it is incorrect to say the estate tax amounts...
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Law School Admissions Test
Here I have a couple of urns. The one on the left contains 70 red balls and 30 black. The one on the right contains 30 red and 70 black. While you weren’t looking, I reached into one of these urns and...
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Reasonable Doubts
Yesterday, I posed these questions: Here I have a couple of urns. The one on the left contains 70 red balls and 30 black. The one on the right contains 30 red and 70 black. While you weren’t looking, I...
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Reasoning About Reasonableness
Two days ago, we asked whether lawyers (or anyone else) can recognize reasonable doubt (or its absence) when they see it. Yesterday we stepped back to ask the question: What is the right standard for...
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Blinded Justice
It’s been “reasonable doubt” week here at The Big Questions. We’ve talked about recognizing reasonable doubt when you see it, about what the standard should be, and about what the standard for...
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Weekend Roundup
We started the week with a few words about estate taxes. Then it was on to the justice system. On Tuesday I offered a little quiz on recognizing reasonable doubt (or its absence) in an exceptionally...
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Yes, It Really Is This Easy
The New York Times invites you to eliminate the federal deficit by picking and choosing among 16 options. I agree with Arnold Kling and David Henderson about the takeaway message: It’s really really...
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Did the Stimulus Work?
Did the stimulus create jobs? Daniel Wilson of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank has just released what might be the first real evidence-based effort to resolve this question. One apparent problem...
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Quantitative Easing Explained by Cartoon Characters
I can’t really endorse the content, but I like the presentation: (Original here .)
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QE2
Some Q&A about quantitative easing, with a somewhat higher ratio of economics to cartoon characters than we had yesterday: What is this quantitative easing stuff? What exactly is the Federal...
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Police News
My favorite news story of 2010, from the “Police News” section of the Hudson Hub Times: Hudson — A Sullivan Road resident called police to report a “suspicious package” on his front porch Nov. 2 at...
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Keep the Mortgage Interest Deduction
Greg Mankiw endorses the Bowles-Simpson recommendation to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. I am not convinced. Here’s why: I start from the position that capital income (including interest...
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Thanksgiving Break
Along with half of everyone else who works at a University, I’m starting my Thanksgiving break a little early. I’ll see you all after the holiday weekend, hoping to find you well fed, healthy, and...
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Thanksgiving
When I review the blessings of my extraordinarily blessed life, this one always appears near the top of my list: I am an adult male who has never been to war. I have always assumed — without thinking...
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How to Decide
Many years ago, when I was teaching at Cornell, my then-colleague Nick Kiefer kept me endlessly amused with the creative assignments he dreamed up for the students in his Decision Theory class. I’m...
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