As with so many ideas for government expansion into areas of the economy, the concept of universal preschool seems appealing. However, once you consider whether government should have a role educating children below school-age and think about the policy implications of it doing so, it immediately becomes clear that this idea fails every test. As […]
Global warming: a review and how to respond
People on both sides of the global warming debate often seem to talk at cross purposes and frequently in emotional tones. While climate science is incredibly complex, the policy implications seem to me to be relatively straightforward, yet get lost amongst the shrill clamor of the academics, politicians and media pundits. In this piece, I’ll […]
The (relative) unimportance of inequality
The topic of income inequality has received a lot of media attention, primarily because it has been a feature of president Obama’s recent speeches, including this week’s State of the Union. It’s a shame, because as a metric it’s pretty lousy for both determining sound policy prescriptions and measuring their success. It’s easy to illustrate […]
Minimum wage raises hurt the poor and unemployed
Minimum wages are back in the headlines as a result of initiatives in states, proposals in some cities, as well as efforts by President Obama to raise the federal rate. The way to think about whether or not raising the minimum wage is a good idea is to consider who is supposed to benefit from […]
Let’s stop supporting the slaughter of wildlife with subsidies and mandates
A report out today estimated that more than 600,000 and as many as 900,000 bats were killed by wind turbines in the United States in 2012 alone. It’s well known that wind farms slaughter birds, including rare and endangered ones, on a large scale. But until this report came out, I had no idea bats were […]