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Malcolm Gladwell on the new Albert Hirschman biography
It is an excellent overall review, here is one good excerpt of many: “We may be dealing here with a general principle of action,” Hirschman wrote: “Creativity always comes as a surprise to us; therefore we can never count on it and we dare not believe in it until it has happened. In other words, [...]
Food Aid Reform in the Farm Bill
Simon Lester A number of my Cato colleagues have offered good criticisms of developments related to the latest farm bill here, here, here, here, here, and here. (That’s a lot of “heres,” but farm subsidies deserve a lot of criticism!)...Show More Summary
A View from Ankara
Christopher A. Preble Ankara, Turkey — We arrived in Ankara this evening after some sightseeing on the Aegean coast, from the resort town of Kusadasi we traveled to the ancient city of Ephesus. These are the most impressive ruins from...Show More Summary
Federal Judge to Kentucky Bureaucrats: Stop Prohibiting Free Competition
Ilya Shapiro Last Thursday, a federal district court judge issued an injunction blocking the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet – the genteel name given the Bluegrass State’s department of transportation – from enforcing the state’s anti-competitive licensing law for movers. In Bruner v. Show More Summary
The Great Canadian Sperm Shortage
As I was researching yesterday’s post on The Oocyte Cartel I came across an old MR post from 2003 on plans in Canada to restrict the import of American sperm: The US is a world leader in sperm exports primarily because sperm banks in the U.S. are run on a for-profit basis. As a result, US sperm [...]
The Demos on Arming Syrian Rebels
Public opinion clearly shouldn’t drive policy – especially foreign policy – even in a democratic regime. However, it is interesting to see that the American public seems more realistic when it comes to Syria than many elites, particularly those on the Right who would have the US wade more deeply into the internal affairs of Syria. […]
India to send the world’s last telegram on July 14th
At the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India‘s state-owned telecom company, a message emerges from a dot matrix printer addressing a soldier’s Army unit in Delhi. ”GRANDMOTHER SERIOUS. 15 DAYS LEAVE EXTENSION,” it reads. It’s one...Show More Summary
NH Court: You Can Choose a School So Long as It's Secular
Jason Bedrick Earlier today, a New Hampshire district court upheld the “Live Free or Die” state’s nascent scholarship tax credit (STC) program, but limited the use of scholarships to non-religious private schools. Earlier this year,Show More Summary
We Need Real Change at the G8 Meeting
Doug Bandow The G8 is meeting in Northern Ireland’s Belfast. The group of important industrial states is chaired this year by British Prime Minister David Cameron. London’s three top objectives are trade, taxation, and transparency. No doubt, there will be a flurry of ponderous public statements and breathless press analyses. Show More Summary
Richard Epstein's Ricochet Post on the NSA
Tim Lynch Over at the Ricochet website, Richard Epstein elaborates on his defense of the NSA surveillance programs that were recently exposed by Edward Snowden. In this post, I want to scrutinize some of Epstein’s observations and arguments. Epstein begins by waving off the track record of government abuse generally. Show More Summary
Cato Brief Gains National Acclaim
Ilya Shapiro Remember Bond v. United States, that typical story of adultery, federalism, and chemical weapons? Cato has actually filed four briefs in Bond, most recently last month, the last three making the point that the presidentShow More Summary
First Impressions from Turkey
Christopher A. Preble
Kusadasi, Turkey, on the Aegean Sea – My impressions from my first 24 hours in Turkey are decidedly personal and narrow–I’m observing Turkish society through a straw. So notwithstanding the images of protest and...Show More Summary
Detroit facts for today
…the city’s per capita income, averaged over its 684,799 residents, is just $15,261 per year. (That’s less than half the income of neighboring Livonia.) Auto insurance alone eats up a good $4,000 of that, for residents with a car. And then comes the litany of municipal woes: Detroit has the highest violent crime rate of [...]
Maracich v. Spears: The Privacy Case Where Every Justice Switched Sides
Walter Olson Two weeks ago, in Maryland v. King, the Supreme Court was deeply split on a case pitting wider access to a government database for purposes of more thorough law enforcement versus fears about intrusion on privacy and unprofessional standards among law enforcers. Show More Summary
Who are the three highest paid officials on the Pentagon budget?
The football coaches at Army, Navy and Air Force. Here is more (mostly on other topics), hat tip to @jtlevy. Here are some comparable answers for state government employees.
Bad Arguments About Public Goods
Andrew J. Coulson Get a good education and you’ll probably lead a more fulfilling, more successful life than you would have without it. Since those benefits accrue directly to you, education is partly what economists call a “privateShow More Summary
Assorted links
1. Jamal Anderlini at the FT on Chinese overcapacity. 2. Education and the job market in China, and theft of caterpillar fungus by brutal gang. 3. Did the Hanging Gardens of Babylon even exist? 4. The TV culture that is Norway. 5. Inside Tokyo’s luxury fruit parlor (with photos too). 6. What is the bond [...]
Salinas v. Texas
Tim Lynch Today, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Salinas v. Texas. Surprisingly, the Court did not answer the primary question court watchers were expecting, which was whether a prosecutor can deride a person’s reliance upon the right against self-incrimination when that person has not been arrested. Show More Summary
Siding with the Heritage Foundation in the “Austerity” Fight with Paul Krugman and the Washington Post
Daniel J. Mitchell
I’m not reluctant to criticize my friends at the Heritage Foundation. In some cases, it is good-natured ribbing because of the Cato-Heritage softball rivalry, but there are also real policy disagreements.
For instance,...Show More Summary
The Framers and Love
Ilya Shapiro As some of you are aware, I recently got married, right here on Cato’s roofdeck, overseen by the eagle of liberty. I’ll spare you the details – there were plenty of “constitutional moments,” including personalized pocket...Show More Summary
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