When I insist that standard measures sharply underestimate economic growth, it’s easy to accuse me of motivated reasoning. Before you make this accusation, however, consider the whole picture. What possible agenda could I advance by simultaneously claiming that GDP has greatly increased, but brought us little joy?
Tag: money
Reflections on The Sopranos
I just finished re-watching the entirety of The Sopranos, HBO’s classic Mafia drama. I saw it season-by-season when it originally aired (1999-2007), and I still hew to the allegedly philistine view that the ending was not only bad, but insulting. Overall, though the show’s reputation is well-deserved. Here are the top social science insights I take away.
Social Media Regulation: Speak of the Devil and in Walks Zuck
In a recent column on the mating dance between Big Government and Big Tech, I noted that “Big Tech wants to be regulated by Big Governments because regulation makes it more difficult and expensive for new competitors to enter the market.” Two days after I hit “publish” on that column, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for government regulation of social media in a Washington Post op-ed.
Big Government and Big Tech versus the Internet and Everyone
Governments around the world began trying to bring the Internet under control as soon as they realized the danger to their power represented by unfettered public access to, and exchange of, information. From attempts to suppress strong encryption technology to the Communications Decency Act in the US and China’s “Great Firewall,” such efforts have generally proven ineffectual. But things are changing, and not for the better.
Reviewing Paranoia
Hysteria and paranoia aside, what’s wrong with the book? Salam engages in extreme reverse engineering, where even the most favorable facts about immigration somehow become extra reasons to oppose it.
I Wish My Work Was More Like Hip Hop
Rappers deal with beefs and frustrations through their art. The product they make is also their therapy. This is an amazing thing. I want to find out how to do this in other kinds of work.
“Tax Debt”
There’s no more ridiculous a phrase than “tax debt”. You can no more have a “tax debt” than you can be in debt to a mugger who didn’t get all the money he wanted from you during the mugging.
I’m Shocked — Shocked! — that Wealthy Parents Love Their Kids Too
The public heartburn over Loughlin and Huffman seems less about them bribing their kids into good schools than about them being able to AFFORD to bribe their kids into good schools. Suppose the scandal had unfolded in a different way. What if, instead of rich people writing checks they could afford, it was working class parents scraping together money they really couldn’t afford, or trading menial work or even sexual favors a la Mrs. Gump, for illicit “admissions assistance?”
Two Economic Tragedies
Two economic tragedies: 1. Refusing to acknowledge any forms of value that don’t make money. 2. Resenting markets for not rewarding all the things we value in terms of money.
What the College Admissions Scandal Reveals
The signaling theory of education is correct. Except a degree is not a signal of employability. It’s a signal of adherence to the dominant social status religion of the day.