Author Archive | Tyler Cowen

Here is one story. The case for pure illegality of resale price maintenance (RPM) has never been very strong. Since we don’t understand price stickiness well, it is no surprise we also don’t understand RPM very well either. At least on the surface that is an argument for a case-by-case approach if not something even […]

There is a new and very detailed study of this topic, here is the abstract: The right to an equal and fair trial regardless of wealth is a hallmark of American jurisprudence. To ensure this right, the government pays attorneys to represent financially needy clients. In the U.S. federal court system, indigent defendants are represented […]

A few days ago, on MarginalRevolution.com, I offered access to a secret blog (over forty posts) to anyone who would pre-order my forthcoming book Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist, due out August 2 from Dutton. The deal, which still stands for all, […]

The basic characteristics of this Chicago Tradition are: a strong work ethic, an unshakable belief in economics as a true science, academic excellence as the sole criterion for advancement, an intense debating culture focused on sharpening the critical mind, and the University of Chicago’s two-dimensional isolation. Much of the credit for the creation of this […]

An article in the Oct. 19th issue of the journal Nature [subscription only, I’m afraid] pointed to the proliferation of online archives collecting together the papers of a number of well-known scientists, both historical (Einstein, Darwin, Lamarck, Newton, Lavoisier) and more recent (Pauling, Crick). One small item caught my eye; some of the archivists dealing […]

This, courtesy of Frank Cammuso and Hart Seely on Slate. It’s probably not so funny if you’re not (as I am) a crazed obsessive when it comes to Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” — but very, very clever if you are. Best part: “Condeleeza’s pebbles.”

. . . divided government. I must say that I’m pretty happy about Tuesday’s results, because it returns us to the state in which I think we function best: with Congress and the Presidency in the hands of different parties. It’s more common than one might suppose; in 34 of the 54 years since Eisenhower […]

The answer is here, along with a listing of the top ten.

Megan from Sacramento, who has a law degree, opines: I liked the people I went to law school with, and they are more socially adept than many of my friends, but going to law school did not improve my view of lawyers. I thought law was insular and self-reinforcing, and the lack of an external […]

That’s what Ohio State University (Mansfield) professors J.F. Buckley and Norman Jones are alleging, in a complaint that they have filed with the University. A conservative OSU reference librarian (Scott Savage) suggested that several books be included in the first-year reading program; one of the books — The Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian — […]

in the April 1 issue of the Harvard Law Record. Thanks to Orin for the pointer.

The comments to one of my posts pointed to this claim by Sen. McCain: [Speaking to the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, McCain took] questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan. McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to […]

A brief response to Orin’s post below: Perhaps Orin is right, and I’m mistaken; it’s hard to tell exactly how these short phrases are likely to be understood. But my sense is that the “illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans won’t do” argument is mostly aimed at quieting people’s concerns that illegal immigrants will take […]

I rarely blog about immigration-related matters, because I have no expertise on the subject, and because I think this is the sort of subject that it’s hard to make bottom-line conclusions about without real expertise There are lots of considerations cutting in various directions, and I have no real sense of how to estimate the […]