Mike Konczal has a new white paper out theorizing on when public provision of some good is superior to handing out coupons that people can use to buy the good privately. What follows are two fairly unstructured thoughts about it. First, technically it is the case that coupons and public provision are very different from… Continue reading Mike Konczal on the coupon state
Author: Matt Bruenig
Federalism sets the stage for corporatism
The New York Times has a fantastic piece about the amount of cash incentives state and local governments provide to businesses. The Times found that local governments provide over $80 billion to firms each year. I do not have anything meaningful to add to the story, but it deserves pointing out very clearly what mechanics… Continue reading Federalism sets the stage for corporatism
Back of the envelope math on universal income-based repayment
I am a fan of the idea that college should be free at the point of delivery, and financed through a universal income-based repayment (IBR) scheme. This would work basically by levying an extra income tax on those who hold college degrees, and using the revenue from that tax to publicly fund colleges. I think… Continue reading Back of the envelope math on universal income-based repayment
Free college would be a huge score for the rich
In my post yesterday, I detailed the actual cost of attending college broken down by students’ household income. You see, colleges do not charge all students the same rate. They charge rich students more and poor students less. The difference is considerable too. For both private and public schools, poor students pay just 55-57 percent… Continue reading Free college would be a huge score for the rich
Instead, how about you rely on charity to achieve your distributive goals?
Anyone residing on the left has heard it many times before. We shouldn’t reform our distributive institutions to achieve our distributive goals; instead, we should keep the present distributive institutions in place and try through individual charity to achieve what we want. That is, don’t tax the rich and feed the poor. Let the rich… Continue reading Instead, how about you rely on charity to achieve your distributive goals?