From the monthly archives:

August 2008

Debating Global Warming Policy

August 29, 2008

The conversation of what to do about global warming is winding down over at Cato Unbound. I’ve found the discussion fascinating, and I learned a lot. I’d like to see a lot more discussions like this one about climate change policy, and I hope we set a decent example. There were some mildly raised voices, [...]

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Greeting FARKers

August 27, 2008

For those of you interested in a vigorous debate about what to do about global warming (which, FYI, I certainly do not deny), please let me direct you to the current issue of Cato Unbound on precisely this topic!

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Eat Local, Yokel

August 27, 2008

My Marketplace commentary this morning briefly discusses “food miles” and the “eat local” movement.
One commenter writes, “Eating locally and seasonally keeps more of the food dollar in the local economy.” But it is not the comparative advantage of some localities to grow anything. In that case, refusal to trade beyond local bounds will leave the [...]

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Inequality and Politics

August 27, 2008

Commenting on Larry Bartels’ Unequal Democracy, Frank Pasquale writes:
We are frequently told that inequality–even the extreme growth in inequality witnessed over the past 30 years–is an inevitable concomitant of globalization, or is necessary for economic growth, or can’t be remedied by politics. Bartels’ work complements the growing consensus–led by people like David Cay Johnston, Jacob [...]

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David Gordon on Rawls

August 26, 2008

In the latest issue of the American Conservative, David Gordon has written a smart and lucid essay on John Rawls and his use by libertarians, like me. I agree entirely with Gordon’s concluding suggestion that Rawls will be the Herbert Spencer of the 20th Century, though I wonder how we’re supposed to take this? That [...]

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New on Free Will: Siva Vaidhyanathan

August 25, 2008

Hi! Remember me? In this week’s Free Will I chat with Siva Vaidhyanathan about his book-in-progress on “The Googlization of Everything.”
The house in Iowa City is almost organized. Ordinary blogging will commence shortly.

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Keeping Our Cool

August 11, 2008

Posting here will continue to be light as Kerry and I make our way to the Hawkeye State, but please turn your attention to the new issue of Cato Unbound, “Keeping Our Cool: What to Do About Global Warming,” featuring a lead essay by the estimable Jim Manzi. Commenters include: Joseph Romm, climate wonk at [...]

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See-You-Later Party

August 9, 2008

If you’re local, please come by and say “see ya later” to me and Kerry tonight. Details here.

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The Perils of Thumbnail-Enviro-Blogging

August 6, 2008

Ah, blogging. My post below was intended as, well, as a “thumbnail sketch” — “a brief outline or cursory description” — offered for critique by my commenters. It was the product of perhaps ten minutes of deliberation, laying out in stark terms the countours of a few lines of thought I have found appealing at [...]

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No Limits to Growth

August 4, 2008

Here is a thumbnail sketch of my position on the sustainability of economic growth. What do you think is wrong with it?
(a) energy is not scarce; the historically most efficient sources (oil, coal, etc.) are;
(b) a well-functioning price system will shift energy consumption to (cleaner) alternative energy sources as prices for historical extracted sources of [...]

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Happiness Inequality

August 4, 2008

Read Justin Wolfers first in a trilogy of posts on U.S. happiness inequality at Freakonomics.
Also check out Eduardo Porter’s account of Stevenson and Wolfer’s paper:
It seems odd that happiness would become more egalitarian over a period in which the share of the nation’s income sucked in by the richest 1 percent of Americans rose from [...]

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I Heart Adam Smith

August 2, 2008

I’m really glad I got a chance to finally read A Theory of Moral Sentiments closely. It is I think deeply incoherent in a way that highly recommends it, because it is the incoherence of lived moral reality.
To be happy is to be loved and praised. Also, to be happy is stoic indifference to love [...]

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Ranting Cant

August 2, 2008

I endorse this explanation, and prediction, from Crispin Sartwell:
as i’ve said, the insane jackup of rhetoric with regard to global warming, “the greatest crisis the species has ever faced,” the death of the planet, etc, is the secular humanist liberal apocalypse. it’s a sheer competition for who’s most dire, most obsessed, and who’s more unanimous [...]

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