tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57084442007-04-17T00:46:06.924-05:00Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comBlogger342125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1147617161075571832006-05-14T09:13:00.000-05:002006-05-14T09:32:41.143-05:00

It is stating the obvious to say that I haven't spent much time blogging lately. There are basically three reasons. 1. A lack of time. With finals, a child who has spent too much time home sick from day care, and research related activities, I haven't had the time to blog. As finals have ended and the boy is healthy, this is probably a temporary problem. 2. A lack of inspiration. There are

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1145631530092763322006-04-21T09:44:00.000-05:002006-04-21T09:58:50.183-05:00

Picking this year's first round of the NBA Playoffs is made more difficult by the fact that I have watched very little professional basketball this year in the wake of the horrible season by the Knicks (I would guess they had the lowest winning percentage per payroll of any team in professional sports history). It is made easier by the fact that only six teams have won an NBA title in over 20

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1145321622053222712006-04-17T19:38:00.000-05:002006-04-17T19:53:42.106-05:00

There has been much coverage in the past several weeks about the severe criticism of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by former generals. This criticism presents a particular problem for the Administration which hinges its credibility and Republican election hopes on the premise that they know what they are doing in the War on Terror. Criticisms from generals will resonate much more than

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1144937735621947852006-04-13T08:53:00.000-05:002006-04-13T09:15:35.713-05:00

When I teach my students about benefit cost analysis, I tell them that the hardest cost to measure is opportunity cost. Knowing the opportunity cost of an action involves knowing or assuming something about the state of the world if the action wasn't taken. For example, the opportunity cost of complying with an environmental regulation is the benefits that would have been achieved had firms

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1144165138430687082006-04-04T10:23:00.000-05:002006-04-04T10:38:58.566-05:00

Last week I wrote a post entitled "Public Policy is Hard." Nowhere is that banal statement more true than in the issue of immigration. Every decision has real costs and real benefits and affects thousands of real people's lives. The issue cuts in odd ways politically with Republican businesses and Democratic Hispanic groups allied against Republican cultural conservatives and Democratic unions.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1143998131971319212006-04-02T12:04:00.000-05:002006-04-02T12:15:32.010-05:00

East: Atlanta 91-71 New York 88-74 Philadelphia 86-76 Washington 65-97 Florida 58-104 A few years ago, after picking against Atlanta for a couple of years, I swore I would not do so again until they missed the playoffs. They haven't done me wrong yet. Edgar Renteria will have a bit of a renaissance in Atlanta and a strong lineup will carry them to victory. The Mets have everything riding on

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1143841646839670762006-03-31T16:29:00.000-05:002006-03-31T16:47:26.960-05:00

An odd imbalance has struck baseball. Arguably 5 of the best 6 teams in the majors are in the American League. The AL has swept the last two World Series and won the last six All Star games. This makes it harder to predict in both leagues as it is hard to imagine any of the top 5 teams in the AL not making the playoffs and hard to figure who the 4th team in the NL to make the playoffs should

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1143660627280212132006-03-29T14:29:00.000-05:002006-03-29T14:30:27.296-05:00

Our son has reached the age where he requires constant attention and energy. He is into everything particularly those things that he is not allowed to play with such as the modem wires, the garbage can, the refrigerator, and the toilet. Childproofing is a noble venture. However while we have placed gates on the stairs, doo-hickeys in the electrical sockets, and more things at a height of four

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1143494309486909042006-03-27T16:15:00.000-05:002006-03-27T16:20:22.540-05:00

Two articles in the Sunday New York Times gave me cause for depression about the extent to which government policy can achieve its objectives. Both dealt with cases of massive government policies which have at a minimum failed in their stated goals and in the case of the Iraq war, possibly made those goals even harder to achieve. The Iraq case was highlighted for me in a review of Francis

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1143045756080203042006-03-22T11:28:00.000-05:002006-03-22T11:42:36.170-05:00

Still catching up on the goings-on in the real world from last week. In one of the more important recent regulatory developments, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals overturned arguably the most significant regulation issued by the Bush Administration. (An article describing the case is here and the opinion itself is here.) While the Bush Administration will appeal either to the DC Circuit en banc

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1142904060181744812006-03-20T20:05:00.000-05:002006-03-20T20:21:00.260-05:00

While I was watching college basketball and stressing over my son's pinkeye, it appears as if the 2008 presidential campaign has begun. In the past few weeks, The New York Times Magazine has run cover stories on Chuck Hagel and Mark Warner, the Republicans have had their first meaningless straw poll in Tennessee, and the current President has seemed like more of a lame duck than ever. While

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1142471365561371432006-03-15T19:51:00.000-05:002006-03-15T20:09:25.663-05:00

As opposed to picking the seeds, one has a better shot at actually picking the winners in the NCAA tournament. With millions across the world playing, there is some easy money out there. Of course to pick some of that up, you need some logic, and an awful lot of luck. On the luck, you are on your own, but here is my logic: 1. Go back to the preseason polls and see who the top teams were.

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1142179579077743812006-03-12T10:58:00.000-05:002006-03-12T11:06:19.093-05:00

Picking the NCAA brackets is a fool's errand since one is trying to guess the result of a deliberative process between 8 people who nobody knows. Still it's fun so here goes an attempt at the top 16 seeds: Washington DC region Duke UCLA Pittsburgh Iowa Atlanta region Memphis Texas LSU Boston College Minneapolis region Villanova Ohio State Tennessee Florida Oakland Region Connecticut

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1141868465433365952006-03-08T20:18:00.000-05:002006-03-09T13:40:12.573-05:00

March is the best month of the year for sports fans in my book. Spring training and the NCAA tournament make it unlike any other time of year, even October. I was getting ready for a couple of posts on the NCAAs as this blog takes its yearly detour toward mostly sports for a month. Then two baseball related stories captured front pages, not just in the sports section. Kirby Puckett joined the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1141402651616459522006-03-03T11:04:00.000-05:002006-03-03T11:17:31.693-05:00

Enforcement of federal regulations is often the last step in the policymaking process. While I've noted the limited attention that the writing of regulations gets, enforcement gets even less. That's why it struck me to see this on the front page of the Times yesterday. Only a disaster like the deaths at the Sago mine in January can bring media attention to regulatory enforcement. There is no

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1141143461000224382006-02-28T11:04:00.000-05:002006-02-28T11:17:41.073-05:00

At the end of 2005 there was widespread consensus that the President's approval ratings had bottomed out. It was unlikely, in a deeply polarized electorate, that Bush could lose many of the 40% who were supporting him in December. To put it more cynically, if Katrina, wiretapping, social security privatization, and Iraq couldn't convince these people to turn on Bush, then nothing could. Well

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1140747877767623442006-02-23T21:12:00.000-05:002006-03-08T20:44:18.680-05:00

Larry Summers is an economist by training so I am inclined to be sympathetic with the way he looks at problems. He is one of the best economists in the world and so I am inclined to give him a great deal of respect. It is therefore with considerable disappointment that I view his forced resignation from the presidency of Harvard University. Summers has his faults. He is famously brusque and

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1140446497972374092006-02-20T09:19:00.000-05:002006-02-20T09:41:38.670-05:00

Sammy Sosa retired quietly this week. Within the next few weeks, it will become apparent that Rafael Pameiro's career is over. Barry Bonds has announced that he will retire at the end of the season, but not before passing Babe Ruth and chasing Hank Aaron's home run record. And then, next January, Mark McGwire is eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time. In a year when steroid testing

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1140225208558988512006-02-17T20:00:00.000-05:002006-02-17T20:13:28.573-05:00

I am currently teaching health economics to a class of undergraduates. We began this week, and will continue next week, studying the market for physician visits. One of the key aspects of this market is the principal-agent relationship between doctor and patient where the patient (usually) has to trust that the doctor will recommend what is in the patient's best interest but the doctor may have

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1139497768680310482006-02-09T09:49:00.000-05:002006-02-11T20:23:33.820-05:00

I recently stumbled upon this essay about the market for doctoral students. I do not know anything about the author but the essay rings very true. It also agrees with an assertion made by a friend of mine (and commenter on this blog) that there are just too many damn doctoral students out there. The basic argument is that it is in the interest of current professors to recruit as many doctoral

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1139260077115081192006-02-06T16:05:00.000-05:002006-02-11T20:38:49.970-05:00

One of the problems with writing a blog, is that by the time you both have an idea for an entry and time to write it, someone else has probably already done so and done so better than you would have. I've solved that problem by not checking other blogs nearly as often as I used to. Still the other day, I checked one of my old favorites, "Legal Fiction" and saw an entry that perfectly captures a

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1138820975773497822006-02-01T13:55:00.000-05:002006-02-01T14:09:35.846-05:00

If there is any group of individuals having a worse couple of weeks than the Senate Democrats, it would be the New York Knicks and their fans. After a six game winning streak gave us a ray of hope at the beginning of January, they have lost 9 of 10 games, their GM has been accused of sexual harassment, they've had a player go into the stands to defend his wife, and the team's future looks darker

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1138669337350926142006-01-30T19:23:00.000-05:002006-01-30T20:02:17.416-05:00

While the vote on the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court is not until tomorrow, it was effectively decided today when the Democratic filibuster was defeated by the embarassing margin of 72-25. Tomorrow Alito will be confirmed with between 58 and 65 votes and the country will have taken a significant step toward being a worse place to live. Make no mistake about it, Alito will

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1138149717383113952006-01-24T19:40:00.000-05:002006-01-24T19:41:57.396-05:00

The question of minimum wages is one that is sure to set economists debating. Last week's Sunday Times magazine had an interesting article on the "Living Wage." Across the country states and municipalities are implementing Living Wages higher than the federal minimum wage. Some of these apply only to state and local employees and contractors but some, like the one put in place by Santa Fe

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5708444.post-1137856851432019712006-01-21T10:20:00.000-05:002006-01-21T10:20:51.443-05:00

I recently watched the American Experience documentary (ok, rewatched . . . for the 5th or 6th time) on the Kennedys. I was struck by how increasingly pivotal the events of 1968 (not just my birth) were in our nation's history. Turning points in history are occasionally obvious as in the case of the 1860 election and the start of the Civil War and the 1932 election and the beginning of the

Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536744705517798588noreply@blogger.com