Well, it’s the silly season again, and Republican candidates are scrambling all over each other to get their tax simplification plans in place. Governor Rick Perry, for example, proposes a simple 20% flat rate (NYTimes, 5 Nov 2011), which is most assuredly a part of a secret jobs creation program for editorial cartoonists.  Cain’s 9-9-9 [...]

The tragedy of the commons refers to the tragedy that befalls resources that are held in commons. Like the overgrazed commons of a British sheep town, since no one feels ownership, no one feels compelled to preserve the commonly held resource. Some of the current examples include water and air quality, which are often viewed [...]

“All politics is local” is a mantra we hear a lot. As I was reading The Myth of the Rational Voter (Caplan), it occurred to me that there is a similar paraphrase that might be equally important: All economics are local          (1) Caplan puts forth the arguments that our regular, Stephen Kallestad, makes … that [...]

Well, there is a kerfuffle or two in Northfield, while nothing interesting is happening out east, so we will focus on some local stuff this week. First on the agenda, the LoGroNfld alarm over a public prayer event with an agenda. Not since the prayer incident in the City Hall have we seen the forces [...]

Your correspondent just returned from the 2011 Annual Research Meeting of the AcademyHealth meeting held in Seattle. At this meeting I heard some truly interesting talks about health care, politics and the public debate. While looking for additional resources I also came upon a presentation from last year’s meeting (ARM2010) that provides interesting background on [...]

The election is behind us and it looks like the statistics did not lie. Statistically, the longest any one party has led all three Federal bodies (President, Congress, House) is four (4) years (since the two party system evolved). So it should have been no surprise at all that at least one of the three [...]

Low key this week, if I get enough interest we’ll meet and talk about mathematics behind the Laffer curve, plots of the distribution of wealth, and some other esoterica.  

We are not meeting formally for the Labour Day weekend, but a topic presents itself. Last month, Bridgewater Township declined to approve the annexation of farmland just west of town (the Gil-Prawer farms). So, given the information on the Bridgewater Township website and the comment by Township Board Chair Castore, what do you think? We [...]

We are not meeting formally for the Labour Day weekend, but a topic presents itself. Last month, Bridgewater Township declined to approve the annexation of farmland just west of town (the Gil-Prawer farms). So, given the information on the Bridgewater Township website and the comment by Township Board Chair Castore, what do you think? We [...]