Of course, the fiscal cliff is attracting a lot of attention (including by me). This is understandable, as it has been built up for two years, follows directly from the current partisan-cum-policy wrangling of the Democrats and GOP, and — most importantly — stars Barry O. and Johnny B. in a wacky “odd couple-meets-buddy film” … Read more
On the eve of the most universal of American family holidays, I am thinking of the question of names. In particular, the interaction of surnames and marriage. In the interest of both “setting the stage” and providing at least the appearance of a disclaimer, I should acknowledge, that (1) I am married and (2) my … Read more
There has been a resurgence of interest in the question of which groups may or may not explicitly support and endorse candidates for election. In particular, some church groups have begun to provide explicit endorsements of specific political candidates, and a lawsuit was recently filed seeking to force the IRS to enforce the requirement that these … Read more
With the 2012 election firmly in the rearview mirror, the discussion has turned to the impending fiscal cliff. In a nutshell, the looming budget cuts (sequestrations) and tax increases are the result of the 2011 budget deal that increased the debt ceiling and staved off the need for further budget wrangling between the GOP and Democrats … Read more
Somewhere in the midst of this year’s elections, there is a debate about the structure of the federal government’s tax system. A common complaint about the system (and, increasingly, the Affordable Care Act) is dubbed “double taxation.” In this post, I describe the complaint and note its nonsensical nature. In a nutshell (and framed in … Read more
At least among social scientists and their supporters/detractors, there was a fairly active discussion of the House of Representatives version of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, passed back in May. For example, Christopher Zorn wrote this, Ezra Klein presented a well-intentioned take on the issue, Brendan Nyhan presented this defense, and … Read more
The Pew Research Center released a report today about economic segregation (complete pdf report) in the United States, authored by Paul Taylor and Richard Fry. It is an interesting and well done policy piece that summarizes its findings as follows. Residential segregation by income has increased during the past three decades across the United States and in 27 of … Read more
This weekend, the Olympics drew our attention to those who leave everyone behind, leading us to question the nature of time itself (and I started thinking about algebra). So, I naturally began to think about measurement and education… Recently, increased attention has been paid to the Obama Administration’s granting of waivers (or, “flexibility”) to states from the … Read more
Putting real politics aside for a moment, I have a few comments on Andrew Hacker‘s op-ed in today’s New York Times, entitled “Is Algebra Necessary?” I will first answer his question. Then I will discuss a few logical weaknesses of Hacker’s argument. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am very proud to be a Unicorn, … Read more
A frequent talking point (e.g., like this) in this year’s presidential campaign is about the economic burden of federal regulations. Given this focus, I thought it might be helpful to wade into the arithmetic behind this burden and the ways in which any president might alleviate it in the coming years. I focus on the two … Read more