Category Archives: Economics

Link and Comments: Federal Deficits and Pandemic Relief

Posted on Thursday 23 July 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

One of the themes of my blog here is that reality is complex. While many if not most people (especially conservatives) cling to simple, black and white, alternatives to every issue, and think the right answer is always white, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Economics | Comments Off on Link and Comments: Federal Deficits and Pandemic Relief

Links and Comments: Secrets of Success, the 2010s, Gibson’s future, History v. Narratives

Posted on Friday 3 January 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Here are a few items from recent papers. 1) Nicholas Kristof: The Four Secrets of Success. Which are: 1. Take a class in economics and in statistics 2. Connect to a cause larger than yourself. 3. Make out. 4. Escape … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Psychology and Economics; SF and Fantasy

Posted on Monday 8 October 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Several items from Sunday’s NYT. First a review of a new book by Steven Johnson, FARSIGHTED: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most; the review is by Adam Grant: How Do We Make the Long-Term Decisions That Matter?. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Psychology, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Psychology and Economics; SF and Fantasy

Krugman and Republican Tax Policy

Posted on Thursday 23 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman is one of my go-to pundits, relentlessly pointing out the evidence of history as undermining conservative goals, even though his scope, politics focusing on economics issues, results in his rehashing certain themes over and over. Here’s one: On … Continue reading →

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Freedom of Media and Partisan Divide

Posted on Tuesday 21 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From the opening essay in the March issue of Harper’s, Tyranny of the Minority by Rebecca Solnit. It’s about Repubican efforts to disenfranchise people unlikely to vote Republican, with this interesting aside: In 1987, for example, Republican appointees eliminated the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics | Comments Off on Freedom of Media and Partisan Divide

Links and Comments: Balancing the budget; the existential threat of atheists

Posted on Wednesday 6 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Balancing the federal budget has a simple-minded, intuitive appeal, but it’s not actually necessary. The nation is not a family; and even families don’t balance their budgets from year to year. (E.g. mortgages.) Vox: Families don’t balance their budgets, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Economics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Balancing the budget; the existential threat of atheists

Links and Comments: Politics and Ideology; About Changing One’s Mind

Posted on Monday 4 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Politics and Ideology: This theme has been around for some time: Republican economic policies rely on ideologies (ideas about government non-interference, about individual freedom, about the moral turpitude of the poor, etc.), while the actual evidence shows that the country’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Morality, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Politics and Ideology; About Changing One’s Mind

A Month’s Worth of Links and Comments

Posted on Friday 1 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times, March 20: In the Age of Information, Specializing to Survive The Internet makes it easy to learn almost anything. And yet And yet, even as the highbrow holy grail — the acquisition of complete knowledge — seems … Continue reading →

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Jordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong, Post 3

Posted on Thursday 19 March 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. Third post (after this and then this) about this fascinating book, an examination of several basic principles (linearity, inference, expectation, regression, and existence) and how they apply to every-day, real world situations, situations that … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Economics, Mathematics | Comments Off on Jordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong, Post 3

Link and Comment: the Fed

Posted on Monday 2 March 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I read three daily newspapers now — the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, which I have delivered by paper to my home in Oakland — and still the Los Angeles Times, via a web browser subscription that … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Links | Comments Off on Link and Comment: the Fed