Author: Matt Bruenig

Public broadcasting is extremely common in the world. Wikipedia’s incomplete list of public broadcasters by country lists over 300 public broadcasting outlets across nearly every country in the world, including “major broadcasters” in the United Kingdom (BBC), Australia (ABC), Canada (CBC/SRC), and the United States (PBS/NPR). Despite the prevalence of public broadcasting in the world,… Continue reading Is National Public Radio Actually National Private Radio?

Over the last decade or so, a confused idea that started in the nonprofit sector has gradually seeped into liberal discourse more generally. According to this idea, “equality” is bad or inadequate and what we need instead is something called “equity.” Bernie Sanders was asked to explain the difference between them on Real Time this… Continue reading Equality and Equity

One of the meta-questions surrounding the oddly large volume of writing about transgender youth these days is the question of who makes decisions for children. Liberalism generally endorses the view that people should be able to make decisions for themselves. All of the expository devices of liberal philosophy take rational individuals as the fundamental unit… Continue reading Who Decides for Children?

Periodically, the Census puts out something it calls synthetic work-life earnings (SWLE) estimates. To derive these estimates, what you do is you find the current median income at age 25, age 26, age 27, age 28, and so on until age 64. Then you add all of those median incomes together. SWLE estimates are somewhat… Continue reading The Total Fertility Rate Is Kind of a Nonsense Statistic

Over at the Guardian, Martha Gill argues that a shortage of “Mr Rights” is why the birth rate has fallen so much in developed countries. Specifically, Gill states that “the dramatic rise in childless women – and their inability to find the right partner – is driving a good deal of the rich world’s birthrate… Continue reading Childlessness Did Not Cause Birth Rate Decline