Via the magic of an alert for inbound links, I find an artblogger riffing on a recent post here who, oddly enough, brings up that old game theory classic the Snowdrift Game: The situation of the Snowdrift game involves two drivers who are trapped on opposite sides of a snowdrift. Each has the option of […]

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James Boyce at HufflePuff: No one is dumber than a Newspaper Executive. Back in the day at Duke, I was an econ major, much to the amusement of many of my friends now. I learned a little something called “supply and demand.” Let me use small words. If someone really wants what you’re selling, you […]

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Ramesh Ponnuru on Specter’s party flip: My initial reaction on hearing the news was that after generating a bunch of Democratic House seats, the Club for Growth has now produced its first Democratic senator. I assume that Specter’s votes will now move leftward. There’s probably an Exit, Voice and Loyalty sort of point to make […]

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You know, if it’s good enough for Marcy Wheeler, I may as well mention that I’m probably going to be living the penurious freelancer life for at least a few weeks while I figure out what I want to do post Condé-layoffs. I’m also going to be blogging here much more regularly in my newly […]

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Earlier this afternoon: Rachel: do the libertarian wonks supporting seasteading intend to continue their wonkery once they move to the sea colony? or would they have to like, build stuff for the first few years? Julian: Build stuff? Don’t be silly.  The Market will provide Rachel: So the equilibrium is a place populated partly by […]

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Well,  good news and bad news, dear readers. The bad news is that, while it’s been  fun and interesting to hop aboard an expanding publication known primarily for its hard tech coverage, and to try to bring their trademark geeky rigor to the task of reporting on tech policy and politics, it also turns out […]

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In the interest of deterring my own future self from defecting from my longstanding scheme to quit smoking at 30, I’m announcing publicly that I’m now officially smoke-free.  While I’d like to believe it’s possible for even ex-smokers to—eventually—enjoy the occasional cigarette without careening into a life of sin and degradation, I’m thinking that it […]

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Earlier today, Americans for Tax Reform sent around a press release with some anti-“stimulus” talking points, and one bit of innocuous-looking phrasing jumped out at me: In fact, many economists – left, right, and center – believe that this spending package is wasteful and will not grow the economy. Years ago, when I worked at […]

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Oh, FireDogLake: Conservative ideologues looking to punish workers and the American middle class for auto industry failures are driven by an authoritarian worldview George Lakoff calls the strict parent model. Senate Republicans see their opposition to the rescue of Detroit as whipping the children. They are not that different from the failed father who thinks […]

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Naomi Klein, call your office: “Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” [Rahm] Emanuel said in an interview on Sunday. “They are opportunities to do big things.”

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