If corporations *really didn’t care* about whether they’re poisoning their customers or not, Tide wouldn’t be running a commercial on social media in which Rob Gronkowski tells people not to eat Tide pods. Observations: 1. Brand names and reputations matter. 2. The present value of revenue from long-lived and healthy customers is probably a lot […]
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Recent Reads
“Recent” as in “I read these in early March.” Tyler Cowen, The Complacent Class. This is a depressing volume from a self-described optimist. It’s a useful exploration of trends in productivity given that it’s easy to focus on the sector that is most dynamic (information technology). Elsewhere, Cowen has discussed other sectors—government, schooling—where productivity is […]
An X-Prize Proposal: Can You Falsify Darwin?
As a Christian, I find myself increasingly dismayed with the anti-science or pseudo-science that pervades a lot of theological discourse. I was refreshed when I read Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About Christianity? In particular, I enjoyed his chapter on the theory of evolution in which he stated that it is perhaps reasonable to infer […]
More Recent Reading
Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: A conspiracy theory trashing the intellectual legacy of 1986 Nobel Laureate James Buchanan. Note the lack of a link: this book will worsen your understanding of the world rather than improve it. James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent: Societies are comprised of individuals who have to make […]
Salvation: Brain Candy For The Gym
I watched the first few episodes of “Salvation” after looking through Amazon Prime for something to watch on the elliptical at the gym as there are only so many podcasts you can listen to and YouTube lectures you can watch before you need a break. The first four episodes are online, and it’s worth a look […]
Even More Recent Reading
Tyler Cowen, Stubborn Attachments. You can find this for $0 on Medium, and it’s a preface to his most recent book The Complacent Class. His argument is inspiring if not airtight: he argues that we should not discount the welfare of future generations, and if this is the case it has pretty radical policy implications: […]
More in the Recent Reading Series
Doing the Best I Can, Kathryn Edin & Timothy Nelson: I bought this on Bryan Caplan’s recommendation, and it doesn’t disappoint. He’s right that it’s absolutely engrossing: the authors do extensive interviews that give readers a look into the lives of unwed urban fathers. The cultural difference is particularly puzzling as the authors point to […]
Recent Reading e7
Robert Nelson, The New Holy Wars I reviewed this for The Freeman in 2011 and reread it for an IHS discussion colloquium at Samford recently. Nelson reads economics and environmentalism as theological systems, meaning that they involve sets of transcendent ordering principles. It aged well; especially the chapter on Frank Knight. Neil V. Sullivan, Bound […]
Recent Reading E8
Jesse Burkhead, Public School Finance: Economics and Politics (Syracuse, 1964). As part of an ongoing investigation of the claims in Nancy MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains,” I was led to the three editions of James M. Buchanan’s textbooks “The Public Finances.” Buchanan’s citations are sparse, but in the second edition (I think), he refers readers to […]