It’s become such an article of faith that the private sector is better than the government at doing just about everything that those who want the government to take a more active role here and there are put on the defensive. But the using the private sector to promote public goals can be more costly […]
Read more...As we’ve discussed, in the UK there is a move afoot to include the concept of wellbeing in public policy debates. The Brits have recognized that alienation and anomie are on the rise and are willing to discuss whether government can be part of the solution, or at least not part of the problem. While […]
Read more...A Ministry of Defense team has been envisioning what the world might look like in 30 years (as an aside, no one in the private sector takes such a long view), and what it sees is not pretty. Terrorism will remain an ongoing threat, with intermittent, possibly coordinated attacks of greater intensity than now. Other […]
Read more...A post at Free Exchange, the Economist’s blog, which quotes and elaborates on one by Tyler Cowen, posits that Europeans are better at government because they have more homogeneous societies and talent pools, and therefore Europeans choose to consume more government. Americans are better at things like private sector innovation, and therefore its population demands […]
Read more...Paul Krugman’s current offering in the New York Times, “Distract and Disenfranchise,” seeks to connect the dots between the Bush Administration’s very successful (until recently) fear-mongering, voter disenfranchisement, and income inequality. He argues that the fact that the Republicans are captive to interests that won’t permit them to address income inequality requires that they make […]
Read more...This excellent article by Robert Knutter in the American Prospect, “Friendly Takeover,” is required reading for anyone who cares about either the Democratic party or social democracy (it is also featured in Economist’s View). It describes how Robert Rubin succeeded in getting the Democrats to adopt many of the practices of Eisenhower Republicans, most importantly, […]
Read more...We now have proof that liberals are more productive. First, it has now been established that slobs are more productive. This article in Extreme Tech,”Are You a Slob? Good, You’re More Productive,” reports that tidiness actually wastes time: Karen Jackson would be the first to admit her desk looks like a disaster area. Her stacks […]
Read more...OK, I am being completely unfair, I just wanted to get your attention. The blog New Economist pointed me to a couple of posts by what it calls “the always readable Cato Institute gadfly Will Wilkinson” on the subject of happiness research. He finds most of it to be lousy. I have no doubt he […]
Read more...Articles in Slate (which we found via Economist’s View via Marginal Revolution) and the New York Times point out the dark side of home ownership. Is this merely a needed bout of contrarian thinking, or is this the very early signs of a shift in attitudes towards home ownership? As I will address below, I […]
Read more...For those of you who like having the facts, rather than asserting the obvious and hoping you are right, Linda Beale of ataxingmatter has a good post, “The Bush Tax Cuts–good for whom?,” which has a clear presentation of who got the bennies, and why that might not be so good from an economic standpoint. […]
Read more...Robert Reich, in a post, “Time to Join a Union (Or At Least Have the Right To)” argues in favor of legislation in Congress (unlikely to pass) that would make it easier to form unions. There is a case to be made for increasing labor’s power relative to capital. Even with a minimum wage increase, […]
Read more...Linda Beale’s blog ataxingmatter pointed us to an excellent article on the failings of the current health care system by Clark Havighurst and Barack Richman at Duke University, Distributive Injustice in American Health Care. It’s a bit of a nuisance getting the article itself (you have to register and get it e-mailed to you) but […]
Read more...I must confess that I’m reporting on an event that I don’t completely understand. Last week, there was a “debate” in the House of Commons on the politics of wellbeing. Except the format seemed to be 6 panelists of sorts (2 MPs, one economist, one psychologist, a TV figure who has a reputation as an […]
Read more...Gods, what an awful word, and what an awful prospect. But as much as Blinder may be technically correct, my bet is that “offshoring,” or sending US jobs overseas, won’t go nearly as far as Blinder fears. The alarming news came in Blinder’s testimony to the Joint Economics Committee, recounted at TPM Cafe, which I […]
Read more...First we have Wal-Mart promoting diversity and now conservatives giving unions some due. The item in question is a post, “Do Unions Increase Productivity?” on the Economist’s Free Exchange, which is generally fairly right-wing in orientation (although I’m sure they’d describe themselves as free marketeers). This post in turn was engendered by a post on […]
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