Against Makeup?
Though yesterday I complained:[Robert] Frank offers no evidence whatsoever that the activities he dislikes and wants to tax in fact cause more inefficient status-seeking than the activities he likes...
View ArticleSpent's Main Argument
Geoffrey Miller's The Mating Mind is probably the one book that has most influenced my thinking. So I'll honor Miller by taking several posts to discuss his new book, Spent. Yesterday I reviewed its...
View ArticleSpent = Gold + Schlock
On Sunday I reviewed Frank's Luxury Fever, which advocated taxing "conspicuous" relative to "inconspicuous" consumption. I noted:Frank offers no evidence whatsoever that the activities he dislikes and...
View ArticleGottschall's Gotcha
Jonathan Gottschall reviewing Miller's Spent in Seed:Miller may have made this final point a bit too well. I was not many pages into Spent before I found myself helplessly attuned to Miller’s own...
View ArticleAgainst Admirable Activities, Again
When my kids were young and played a new game, the pattern was clear: If they won, they liked that game and wanted to play it again. If they lost, they didn't like that game. Tyler Cowen once told me...
View ArticleReply to Moldbug
A Mencius Moldbug has written a confused and rambling 7400 word critique of futarchy. But since Mencius seems to have passion and potential, let me try to communicate. Most readers may prefer to skip...
View ArticleMissing Liberaltarians
Officially, the libertarian world view is equally distant from standard liberal and conservative political views. See for example, the World's Smallest Political Quiz, where liberals like social but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tax Unhappiness?
Last week I described how Robert Frank wants to discourage "conspicuous consumption" via big houses, cars, and barbecues, because he thinks they cause large positional (i.e., relative status) harms on...
View ArticleMoving Hiatus
This evening at midnight Eastern Daylight Time, this blog will begin to move to a new hosting site. For a smooth transition, please don't comment from then until 2am EST.
View ArticleAgainst Makeup?
Though yesterday I complained:[Robert] Frank offers no evidence whatsoever that the activities he dislikes and wants to tax in fact cause more inefficient status-seeking than the activities he likes...
View ArticleSpent's Main Argument
Geoffrey Miller's The Mating Mind is probably the one book that has most influenced my thinking. So I'll honor Miller by taking several posts to discuss his new book, Spent. Yesterday I reviewed its...
View ArticleSpent = Gold + Schlock
On Sunday I reviewed Frank's Luxury Fever, which advocated taxing "conspicuous" relative to "inconspicuous" consumption. I noted:Frank offers no evidence whatsoever that the activities he dislikes and...
View ArticleGottschall's Gotcha
Jonathan Gottschall reviewing Miller's Spent in Seed:Miller may have made this final point a bit too well. I was not many pages into Spent before I found myself helplessly attuned to Miller’s own...
View ArticleAgainst Admirable Activities, Again
When my kids were young and played a new game, the pattern was clear: If they won, they liked that game and wanted to play it again. If they lost, they didn't like that game. Tyler Cowen once told me...
View ArticleReply to Moldbug
A Mencius Moldbug has written a confused and rambling 7400 word critique of futarchy. But since Mencius seems to have passion and potential, let me try to communicate. Most readers may prefer to skip...
View ArticleMissing Liberaltarians
Officially, the libertarian world view is equally distant from standard liberal and conservative political views. See for example, the World's Smallest Political Quiz, where liberals like social but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tax Unhappiness?
Last week I described how Robert Frank wants to discourage "conspicuous consumption" via big houses, cars, and barbecues, because he thinks they cause large positional (i.e., relative status) harms on...
View ArticleMoving Hiatus
This evening at midnight Eastern Daylight Time, this blog will begin to move to a new hosting site. For a smooth transition, please don't comment from then until 2am EST.
View Article
