On the use and misuse of popularism as a tool to inform policy decisions.
Monday, December 22, 2025
Did Labor Action Over Vaccine Mandates Compel Southwest to Cancel Thousands of Flights?
The strange story of Southwest’s operational collapse this weekend
Major Insurers Running Billions of Dollars Behind on Payments to Hospitals and Doctors
Disputes between insurers and hospitals are nothing new. But this fight sticks more patients in the middle, worried they’ll have to pay unresolved claims.
Book Review: The ‘Mystery’ Illnesses Informed by Culture
Illness may be even less straightforward than you think.
Never Mind the Pandora Papers: Why Secrecy Still Rules in the UK
Thanks to poor drafting and a lack of enforcement, anti-secrecy legislation intended to make it clearer who owns UK companies isn’t working
2:00PM Water Cooler 10/8/2021
~ Today’s Water Cooler ~
Mzukisi Qobo: The Old Mantra About Growth Has Reached Exhaustion
A perspective from the Global South on the end game for growth.
UK Nurses Threaten to Strike After Government Offers Measly Below-Inflation Pay Rise
With vax mandates looming and industrial action on the table, the UK’s overstretched National Health Service could be in for a winter of even more discontent.
The Neverending Brexit: Flailing Johnson Set to Try to Renege on Commitment to Respect Good Friday Agreement
Boris Johnson is expected to eyepoke the EU by reneging on the Norhtern Ireland protocol, presumbly to distract from domestic shortages.
Why America Needs a National Program of Paid Sick and Family Leave
Family leave is productive as well as humane, but American management has been keen to keep its boot on workers’ necks.
2:00PM Water Cooler 10/7/2021
~ Today’s Water Cooler ~
Reallocation Effects of the Minimum Wage
Raising minimum wages is good for workers and (surprise!) company operations! Too bad those whiny managers worry they will skim less.
