At one point in Theory and Practice, Kant sets out to establish who should have voting rights. In one very fascinating paragraph, he concludes thusly: Anyone who has the right to vote on this legislation is a citizen (citoyen, i.e. citizen of a state, not bourgeois or citizen of a town). The only qualification required… Continue reading Kant’s great dodge
Author: Matt Bruenig
Virtue ethics and sovereign debt
Analysts tend to write about policy and political institutions in very consequentialist ways. That is, they describe the immediate consequences of some institution or policy, and then use those expected consequences to argue that the institution or policy is good or bad. Discussions around fiscal deficits and the federal debt almost uniformly utilize such a… Continue reading Virtue ethics and sovereign debt
Matt Yglesias on transfers versus teacher salaries
Matt Yglesias has a piece today on the importance of teachers that he openly described as trollish. The basic idea of the piece is that if you accept the viewpoint that socioeconomic conditions are more important for educational achievement than teacher performance, then you must also think that it makes sense to cut teacher salaries… Continue reading Matt Yglesias on transfers versus teacher salaries
Another way to spend money on education
The educational achievement of a child involves many inputs: parents, household situations, neighborhoods, nourishment, and of course schools. As a result of the education reform movement, all non-school inputs are currently sidelined. If a child performs poorly, we are made to believe that school-side problems are to blame. It must be failing teachers, failing school… Continue reading Another way to spend money on education
On trickle-down economics
I am writing this basic explainer post by request. The primary goal is not to criticize trickle-down economics, but to actually explain what it is. To do that, I think it is helpful to first explain what it is not. For some reason, lay advocates of trickle-down economics often wrongly describe it as a demand-side… Continue reading On trickle-down economics