New post at Policy Shop. Excerpt: But, as Hacker correctly points out, my view is almost certainly an outlying one. For cultural or other reasons, Americans tend to be more supportive of equality-producing measures that get baked into paychecks than they are of equality-producing measures that go through more overt government channels. As a result,… Continue reading Policy Shop: The Most Viable Way to Give a Boost to Low-Income Workers
Author: Matt Bruenig
MOOC of the day
Check out this $3,675.00 MOOC offered by a company called Barbri, complete with recorded video lectures and everything. Law graduates sign up en masse for it to study for the legal bar exam. Barbri claims to have the highest pass rate of all bar preparation services. Someone should study its attrition rates and related quality… Continue reading MOOC of the day
Argumentation 101
Let’s say I am arguing with a right-winger about implementing a universal basic income (“UBI”). They say to me “I oppose it because 1) it wont actually make the lives of the poor better and 2) I think private charity is the correct institution for this kind of thing.” The right-winger’s reasoning is clear, but… Continue reading Argumentation 101
Elizabeth Warren’s goofy student debt proposal
Elizabeth Warren has a bill out to cut student interest rates. I am in favor of refinancing student loans, but Warren’s proposal is just downright strange, excepting its value as a public relations gimmick. The jumping off point for Warren’s policy is an observation that the Federal Reserve operates something called the discount window. Through… Continue reading Elizabeth Warren’s goofy student debt proposal
Why discussions of government benefits are so wrong
Earlier this week, The Heritage Foundation released a report purporting to detail the costs of granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants. This report set off a flurry of wonky debates, with both conservative and liberal commentators criticizing the methodology and assumptions used by the report’s authors. The discussion that sprung up around this report followed the… Continue reading Why discussions of government benefits are so wrong