http://www.nathanielward.net Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:14:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/12/what-im-reading-december-23rd/ http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/12/what-im-reading-december-23rd/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:44:19 +0000 Nathaniel Ward http://www.nathanielward.net/?p=568

Richard Epstein: Harry Reid Turns Insurance Into a Public Utility. “The argument seems to be that price controls alone can force out the waste and inefficiency that are posited to be the hallmark of private markets. By this twisted logic, rent control is the perfect path to efficient competitive markets.”

Creating Incentives for Learning. “Mr. Toby’s main proposal, then, is to require good grades and test scores from those seeking federal student loans. This requirement, he believes, would improve incentives for academic performance and mitigate the inevitable trade-off between widening access to college and maintaining educational standards.”

Exactly Why the Founders Divided the Legislative Branch. E.J. Dionne argues against checks and balances: “In a normal democracy, such majorities would work their will, a law would pass, and champagne corks would pop. But everyone must get it through their heads that thanks to the bizarre habits of the Senate, we are no longer a normal democracy.”

Debunking Conspiracy Theories. “Today no conspiracist publication or Web site wants for the outward flourishes of scholarship. The footnotes are compendious, the sources are seemingly authoritative. It is only when you get in amongst them that you discover what the footnotes actually refer to.”

]]> http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/12/what-im-reading-december-23rd/feed/ 0 http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/10/what-im-reading-october-11th/ http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/10/what-im-reading-october-11th/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:11:51 +0000 Nathaniel Ward http://www.nathanielward.net/?p=541

The New Yorker Explores What ‘Management Science’ Really Is.

How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect. “When those patterns break down — as when a hiker stumbles across an easy chair sitting deep in the woods, as if dropped from the sky — the brain gropes for something, anything that makes sense. It may retreat to a familiar ritual, like checking equipment. But it may also turn its attention outward, the researchers argue, and notice, say, a pattern in animal tracks that was previously hidden. The urge to find a coherent pattern makes it more likely that the brain will find one.”

The Administrative State Strikes Again. “We’ve long thought the Railway Labor Act should be rewritten for numerous reasons, but that is Congress’s job.”

]]> http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/10/what-im-reading-october-11th/feed/ 0 http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/06/what-im-reading-june-5th/ http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/06/what-im-reading-june-5th/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:17:51 +0000 Nathaniel Ward http://www.nathanielward.net/?p=450

Competitive Altruism. This article misses a key point that economists since Adam Smith have understood: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”

VATs Mean Big Government “The income tax system we have today is a nightmarish combination of class warfare and corrupt loopholes. Adding a VAT does not undo any of the damage it imposes. All that happens is that politicians get more money to spend and a chance to auction off a new set of tax breaks to interest groups. That’s good for Washington, but bad for America.”

The Health Care Fight Got Tougher. The Blue Dogs have agreed in principle to a “public option” government-run health insurance provider, one that would “compete” with private sector plans.

]]> http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/06/what-im-reading-june-5th/feed/ 0 http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/05/what-im-reading-may-26th/ http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/05/what-im-reading-may-26th/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 15:00:00 +0000 Nathaniel Ward http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/05/what-im-reading-may-25th-2/

Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

Chuck DeVore’s Quixotic Attempt to Twitter and Parody-Video His Way Into the U.S. Senate “‘They say the Internet is forever and things I write could be used against me in the future. If Alexander Hamilton and Lincoln lived today, would they be using their technology to get their message across? Yes,’ DeVore declares. ‘What are the Federalist Papers but the technological equivalent in the 1700s of the blogs?’”

In Defense of Distraction. Sam Anderson asks if it’s possible to retain our focus in a distraction-filled modern world–and does it matter? For what it’s worth, this took three sittings to get through.

Not Helping. This Facebook group makes out Republicans or conservatives as sore losers.

The Healthcare-Competitiveness Fallacy

]]> http://www.nathanielward.net/2009/05/what-im-reading-may-26th/feed/ 0